Traffic Violations & Court Appearance

[Alidar Jarok]

OphaClyde wrote:

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If you can prove you were wrongly charged, fight it. If not, is it worth your time off work to head to court, and most likely have to pay for parking as well, to ultimately pay the same fine? Or even a reduced fine?

That's a good point about parking, especially since the California website implies that, absent a guilty plea, you're simply arraigned the day you show up to court and rescheduled for a different day at court (but I could be wrong about that).

[tighr]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

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That's a good point about parking, especially since the California website implies that, absent a guilty plea, you're simply arraigned the day you show up to court and rescheduled for a different day at court (but I could be wrong about that).

That's exactly correct, as I pointed out in my earlier post.

I've only done it once, but the day I did it I stood in line outside the courthouse for about two hours before getting to the clerk's desk. You don't even see a judge, just the clerk.

The first actual day in court is the arraignment. If you plead not guilty, you have to come back a third time for your actual trial. I plead no contest, so I did not have to return for that third time.

[Trekker4747]

Captain Ice wrote:

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That works too.

Perhaps this video puts it best....

At first I was wondering what kind of fools were the police and firefighters in that video to park the vehicles on the tracks. Then they said it was in Detroit and it all made sense.

[tighr]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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At first I was wondering what kind of fools were the police and firefighters in that video to park the vehicles on the tracks. Then they said it was in Detroit and it all made sense.

Ugh. All the more reason why train tracks should never be at grade crossings. In addition to the potential for accidents, they also are a menace to just general flow of traffic.

There is a train track on my way to work, and without fail every morning there is a freight train that will come to a complete STOP in the crossing in order to allow an Amtrak train to pass on the adjacent set of tracks. Every day. Depending on what time I leave for work in the morning, I will either just beat this train or miss the train, or get stuck waiting for it to start up from a dead stop to full speed pulling 150+ railcars.

[Gryffindorian]

All right. I realize that I messed up big time and have no desire in fighting the ticket anymore. I'm going to plead no contest but would like to have the charges reduced and will take traffic school.

I'm curious how you accomplished this feat if you couldn't pull forward or if you couldn't back up.

The traffic was stop and go along that road. So when I thought the path around the tracks was clear, I made a move but there were far too many vehicles ahead of me in both lanes. I will never drive in that part of town again.

[Kestra]

Thanks for the update, and for being able to admit that you were in the wrong. I don't think you should stop driving there because of this incident. This type of thing can happen anywhere. Chalk it up to learning how to become a better driver and don't pull forward until you are absolutely certain that not only the car in front of you has cleared, but that there is plenty of space for you to clear the tracks as well.

[tighr]

Gryffindorian wrote:

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The traffic was stop and go along that road. So when I thought the path around the tracks was clear, I made a move but there were far too many vehicles ahead of me in both lanes. I will never drive in that part of town again.

You misunderstood my question. My original quote was referencing the fact that you were PULLED OVER by a squad car. Were you currently on the tracks when pulled over? If so, how did you pull over if you were currently on the tracks and unable to pull forward or backward? This implies that you had some available course of action had a police officer not been present.

[Alidar Jarok]

The police almost certainly wait until there's a safe place to pull over. They aren't required to pull you over instantly.

[Gryffindorian]

tighr wrote:

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You misunderstood my question. My original quote was referencing the fact that you were PULLED OVER by a squad car. Were you currently on the tracks when pulled over? If so, how did you pull over if you were currently on the tracks and unable to pull forward or backward? This implies that you had some available course of action had a police officer not been present.

I did mention that traffic was stop and go, but not stopped permanently. Of course, when the light turned green, all the vehicles were able to move again. I saw the patrol car signaling me, and I drove farther down to a safe spot. I hope that clears any confusion.