@$%@$%^ Ticket in Orange County

Was your light green or red when you made the right turn? They can and will ticket you if you don't fully stop at a red light when turning right.

I got pulled over a few years ago for making a right turn on a red light without fully stopping, into a residential neighborhood (Garden Grove) in the middle of the night. He also said I didn't even slow down for the light (?!?!). After checking my ID and records he came back to the car and asked me what happened in a traffic incident I had been involved with about 5 years prior (when a guy made a left turn on a red light, right into oncoming traffic, hitting me as I was proceeding on a green light). I told him that neither incident had anything to do with the other and began to ask for his badge # and name (I felt he was pestering me unnecessarily). He ended up stuttering and told me he would let me off with a warning this time...never did catch his badge # though.

 

I got a ticket back in June in Los Angeles for turning left where no left turn was allowed (until 7pm, this happened at 6:45). I didn't see the sign (my wife did 3/4 into the turn).

I was in the wrong, so I didn't fight it (besides, I live in San Diego and would have to take off work to go to LA on the slight chance I would win). I was able to take traffic school (other than a couple of "fixit tickets" the last ticket I got was speeding in the desert on Christmas Eve back in 1980). I did it online, which allowed me to spread it out over a while. The fact that I requested traffic school gave an extention.

 

I just got a ticket last week for running a STOP sign. It was a residential area, I was going 5mph and I was about to tell him I was maximizing my fuel economy, but I didn't
Anyway, I didn't make a full stop. He gave me a ticket. I have a court date the first week of March. Maybe I'll do what your friend suggested and change the date.

 

BTW bshef, your avatar is pretty hilarious

 

Was traffic school not an option in your cases, maggie and bshef? When I've gotten a ticket in the past (knock on wood it's been awhile) I was able to attend traffic school so it didn't show on my record. Mind you, spending 3 hours on 2 consecutive Tuesday evenings sitting on hard wood seats in the local courthouse was not my idea of fun, but neither was the option of having a mark on my record and possibly raising my insurance cost.

 

I've never heard of traffic school

 

I've heard of this trick, but I can't verify that it works as I have never tried it.

When you get a ticket, you send a check for more than the ticket was. Let's say the ticket was $75, and you send them $78. When they receive your payment they will issue you a check for $3. When you get it, don't cash it, throw it out. Supposedly what happens is that when they receive your payment they put it in their system, the system records it as paid but waits for the record that you cashed the extra $$, before marking it as complete and ready to send the info to your insurance and DMV (or whatever you call it). But since you never cashed it, the info never gets to be sent, but the system never complains becasue you did pay your ticket.
If anyone ever tries that let me know if it worked

 

Assuming you're not being sarcastic, usually traffic school is offered when one receives a traffic violation/ticket. I'm not sure if maybe some jurisdictions don't allow it as an option, but everyone I've ever known that has gotten a ticket either locally or elsewhere has been able to attend traffic school to erase the ticket from their record. It can be offered at a location like a local courthouse or hotel conference room, you can do it online or through a video/DVD. Look over your citation and see if they offer it, or check out your local courhouse's website.

Traffic School-DMV website

 

no, I wasn't sarcastic. I've never heard of it. I just checked the website you sent and there is no such thing in RI, no wonder I've never heard of it.

 

No problem. Sometimes it's hard to read into emotions thru words online so I have a tough time telling if someone's being serious or messing w/me.

 

I would take it to court. Tell the judge you think the cop made a mistake, maybe he looked down or away and didn't notice you stop. Maybe the sun was in his eyes? Tell the judge you haven't had a ticket in 15 years as evidence of how you drive. Also, explain the feature on the Prius that shuts off the ICE at stops, and how you drive it gently away from stops, and how you recall the engine shutting down. Do not admit you could be wrong. Also ask the Judge, if he's on the fence about your guilt to defer sentencing for a year. If you get no more tickets during that time you ticket is dropped.

The last ticket I got was 54mph in a 25mph with the cop using a laser gun. It was on downward straight stretch of a well known winding mountain road near where I live. The residents (including me) had complained of ninja bikes racing and ricers drifting their cars. The judge let me and another resident who had been cited go on the grounds the vehicles would probably have been out of control at speeds we were clocked at. You never know!

Also while I was waiting, there was a guy before me who was sited for not stopping at a stop sign at the airport. His defense was the cop would not have been able to see him from where he was parked. He had built a scale model of the entire area with little cars and trucks to show the judge and back up his claims. It was quite impressive. I thought he should get off just for the effort he put into the model and I think the Judge did too since he let him go.

 

Too bad. When I got the letter from the court with my bail amount (ie the amount of my fine) there was an option to do traffic school. I checked that and they sent me a huge list of the ones they accepted and moved the date. There were ones you went to (8 or 12 hours, depending on when you last got a ticket) and some were online. I used an online school which cost about $14. The advantage was that I could work it at any time and could break it up into several days.

 

Well, my Prius saved me from a ticket this week.

A few mornings ago it was really foggy. I was heading through residential towards the freeway, it was foggy so I was going the speed limit. Didn't mind in my Prius and figured if anybody didn't like it they could pass me as I was at least going the speed limit and there were two lanes so they could pass me on the left.

Well, as I'm heading toward the last light I see a policeman with a radar gun just as I was almost on him. He didn't even look at me. But the guy who was speeding by me on the left? Well when the two of us stopped at the light the policeman comes over and points distinctly at him and motions him over. I saw there were several others to the side waiting for their citations.

I, on the other hand, drove safely off to work.

 

I was surprised the last time I did traffic school online to find out that I had to GO somewhere to do a test as opposed to just complting the test online like before. In California you can attend traffic school every 18 months. Not that I need to go that often but it has come up a "few" times.....

 

A side benefit to Traffic School is that you get to hear about the new laws.

 

That is the very definition of running a red light. If you can't do the time...

 

Urban legend:
http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/ticket.asp

 

I've actually gone more often than that. There was one time period, in my first few years of driving, where I managed to get myself 3 tickets during a 16-18 month stretch. Each time I applied for traffic school. Each time they accepted it. That was 6 years ago. I have no violations on my driving record. Twice I got stuck going to a local courthouse for the traffic school which was taught by an off-duty sherriff's deputy and once I went to a Hilton in Santa Ana for another traffic school class (I got to choose from a list of acceptable places that time).

My husband was panicking when he got his last ticket because only 16 months had passed since his prior ticket/traffic school attendance. I told him to check the 'traffic school' box and send in his citation anyways, and they accepted it. He got to do the online version and has removed that violation from his record. I don't think they're enforcing the 'once every 18 months' thing as much as we think they are.