passing turn gone wrong

What is the name of your state? Florida

I was taking my son to school about a week ago. We had turned into the residential area that the school was in and noticed that there was a sixteen wheeler (big rig) trying to navigate through the street ahead of us. This was odd, because you never see big trucks on those streets, anyway we ended up directly behind him. I followed the truck approximately two blocks when we came to a four way stop intersection. We both stopped and proceeded through it. I noticed a police officer off to the left a little way up and by this time there was quite a few cars behind me as well as another police officer directly behind me. About 100 to 150 yards up the street, the truck stopped in the middle of the road, to me for no apparent reason. I waited a minute or two and he still didn't move, so I nosed on out, looked for on coming traffic, and went around him. Now not the officer behind me but the one on the left, pulled me over and gave me a ticket for making an illegal left hand turn over a double yellow line. I stated that the truck driver was stopped and not going anywhere, and he stated that the driver was trying to get his attention because he needed directions. The officer acted as if I should have known what was going on, but that was impossible because the truck had a box trailer that was impairing my view so that I could not see the driver of the truck, and when I previously glanced at the police car up on my left as I was going through the intersection, he was in his car. Now I am stuck with this ticket that I am having a hard time coming to grips with paying it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

trickey1970 writes:


I noticed a police officer off to the left a little way up and by this time there was quite a few cars behind me as well as another police officer directly behind me. About 100 to 150 yards up the street, the truck stopped in the middle of the road, to me for no apparent reason. I waited a minute or two and he still didn't move, so I nosed on out, looked for on coming traffic, and went around him. Now not the officer behind me but the one on the left, pulled me over and gave me a ticket for making an illegal left hand turn over a double yellow line. I stated that the truck driver was stopped and not going anywhere, and he stated that the driver was trying to get his attention because he needed directions. The officer acted as if I should have known what was going on, but that was impossible because the truck had a box trailer that was impairing my view so that I could not see the driver of the truck, and when I previously glanced at the police car up on my left as I was going through the intersection, he was in his car. Now I am stuck with this ticket that I am having a hard time coming to grips with paying it. Any thoughts would be appreciated. [Emphasis added by JY]

Find the specific statute that you allegedly violated. It will be listed on the ticket. You can either do an internet search or find the FL MVC in a bookstore or your local library. See what it says and see if there are any exceptions to the usual requirement of driving on the right.

I find it very interesting that the trucker violates the ROW rules that require him to move and that’s ignored. I also find it interesting that you waited much longer than many red light cycles before going around, lending further credibility to your defense of necessity. And last, the trucker was trying to get the cops attention. Was the cop ignoring him?