ThePacster
Junior Member
Almost not sure of how I got into this situation, but here is what happened to the best of my recollection.
It was a Sunday afternoon about 12:30. Fairly bright outside and no clouds in the sky. I was on the highway taking a friend back to his house. We were on Georgia Highway 78, and the very end of this highway it sort of merges back into a regular straight at a traffic light. So essentially, before this light it appears to be highway, after it you're on regular road.
Anyway, we're approaching the end of the highway and it's a red light so I come to a stop, with several cars infront of me as I'm in the middle lane. I look to the lane to the left of me, and see that I could be a bit closer to the stop light so I turn into the left lane and continue to wait on the light. The light turns green and we're on our way. There is some construction in the area so I inevitably have to merge back into the other lane, but we continue on our way.
Now officially back on normal streets I am in the left of two lanes when my friend in the car brings to my attention that a police officer is behind us with his blue lights on. I check my speedometer and reassure him not to worry, since I was only going about 50 mph, but I still found it odd that a police car was behind me and it was making me nervous. We passed through another green light and I took the first opportunity I could to change into the right lane with my turn signal if I'm not mistaken, thinking the police officer would simply pass me to pursue whatever it may be he was after.
However, the officer changed lanes also and I saw this, I was approaching a QuickTrip and I looked toward it wondering if I should have pulled in, but immediately past the QuickTrip was another traffic light. At this point the officer finally turns on his siren, and as I look up I see him motioning me to pull over and as soon as I go through light I immediately pull over into a parking lot.
He approaches the car and first asks me why I didn't immediately pull over, and I told him truthfully that I didn't realize I had done anything wrong. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking straight enough at the time to explain myself further. He goes on to say that I was speeding, going 66 mph in a 45 mph zone and I was shocked and confused at this point, but I gave him my license and waited for my ticket.
After waiting for about five minutes, we noticed another police car pull into the parking lot which we thought was odd so we didn't pay it any mind at first, but the officers then come back to my car and ask for my friend's license as well which I definitely thought was out of the ordinary. But then again, I know nothing of law and how things work. Stranger still after another five to ten minutes of waiting a third police car pulls into the parking lot. We sit in the car watching and waiting. They're all simply standing there talking about something, occasionally laughing, and all looking through some sort of manual or handbook for something. What they could have been looking for I haven't the slightest clue.
The whole ordeal of waiting was about twenty minutes, but he eventually gave us back our licenses and pinned me with two tickets; one for speeding and one for refusing to yield to his blue lights. Here's the catch.
Being totally bewildered by the speeding ticket I had to ask him, where was I actually speeding. He told me the area of highway just before the red light on the highway was the area I was speeding in. On this highway I have always simply driven with the flow of traffic, so I've never questioned what the speed limit was, so I had to drive back down the highway two times before I could find the sign that said the speed limit was 45 mph. When I found the sign, I was disappointed to see that this speed limit sign was in eyeshot of the red light I stopped at. So I don't know if they consider the speed limit zone to be some distance before or actually at that sign, but I was slowing down for a red light regardless of either case but I will give him benefit of the doubt even though I was driving with the flow of traffic around me.
Not realizing I was speeding is what lead in to the second ticket. Not only that, but the fact that I simply did not notice his blue lights on behind me. Perhaps it's simply me but in broad daylight his lights simply were not enough to grab my attention in my rear view mirror the way it is adjusted. This rear view mirror is also designed reduce glare, so this combined with the positioning of my rear view mirror leaves it virtually out of my line of sight unless I'm purposely looking into it since I was simply focusing on the road. I suppose it also doesn't help that the officer did not put on his siren until moments before I actually pulled over. Had he done so sooner I'd imagine I would have found an opportunity to pull over sooner than I did.
I've also taken the liberty of creating a map in google to give a layout of the area. The google map link was too large, so I've cropped a printscreen here to show the relevant part of the map
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/ThePacster/map.png
Now the officer claims I refused to yield to his blue lights from Point A to Point C. However, I realize his lights were on behind me until Point B. So, from Point B to C I realized he was behind us, changed into the right lane, and pulled over at Point C where he first put on his siren. The entire distance from Point A to Point C is about 1 mile, so from Point B to Point C it seems like things happened fairly quickly in my memory but I think you get the idea.
Any suggestions on how to handle this when I go to court would be greatly appreciated, as I really have no idea what I'm doing since I've never been in any situation involving police before.
It was a Sunday afternoon about 12:30. Fairly bright outside and no clouds in the sky. I was on the highway taking a friend back to his house. We were on Georgia Highway 78, and the very end of this highway it sort of merges back into a regular straight at a traffic light. So essentially, before this light it appears to be highway, after it you're on regular road.
Anyway, we're approaching the end of the highway and it's a red light so I come to a stop, with several cars infront of me as I'm in the middle lane. I look to the lane to the left of me, and see that I could be a bit closer to the stop light so I turn into the left lane and continue to wait on the light. The light turns green and we're on our way. There is some construction in the area so I inevitably have to merge back into the other lane, but we continue on our way.
Now officially back on normal streets I am in the left of two lanes when my friend in the car brings to my attention that a police officer is behind us with his blue lights on. I check my speedometer and reassure him not to worry, since I was only going about 50 mph, but I still found it odd that a police car was behind me and it was making me nervous. We passed through another green light and I took the first opportunity I could to change into the right lane with my turn signal if I'm not mistaken, thinking the police officer would simply pass me to pursue whatever it may be he was after.
However, the officer changed lanes also and I saw this, I was approaching a QuickTrip and I looked toward it wondering if I should have pulled in, but immediately past the QuickTrip was another traffic light. At this point the officer finally turns on his siren, and as I look up I see him motioning me to pull over and as soon as I go through light I immediately pull over into a parking lot.
He approaches the car and first asks me why I didn't immediately pull over, and I told him truthfully that I didn't realize I had done anything wrong. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking straight enough at the time to explain myself further. He goes on to say that I was speeding, going 66 mph in a 45 mph zone and I was shocked and confused at this point, but I gave him my license and waited for my ticket.
After waiting for about five minutes, we noticed another police car pull into the parking lot which we thought was odd so we didn't pay it any mind at first, but the officers then come back to my car and ask for my friend's license as well which I definitely thought was out of the ordinary. But then again, I know nothing of law and how things work. Stranger still after another five to ten minutes of waiting a third police car pulls into the parking lot. We sit in the car watching and waiting. They're all simply standing there talking about something, occasionally laughing, and all looking through some sort of manual or handbook for something. What they could have been looking for I haven't the slightest clue.
The whole ordeal of waiting was about twenty minutes, but he eventually gave us back our licenses and pinned me with two tickets; one for speeding and one for refusing to yield to his blue lights. Here's the catch.
Being totally bewildered by the speeding ticket I had to ask him, where was I actually speeding. He told me the area of highway just before the red light on the highway was the area I was speeding in. On this highway I have always simply driven with the flow of traffic, so I've never questioned what the speed limit was, so I had to drive back down the highway two times before I could find the sign that said the speed limit was 45 mph. When I found the sign, I was disappointed to see that this speed limit sign was in eyeshot of the red light I stopped at. So I don't know if they consider the speed limit zone to be some distance before or actually at that sign, but I was slowing down for a red light regardless of either case but I will give him benefit of the doubt even though I was driving with the flow of traffic around me.
Not realizing I was speeding is what lead in to the second ticket. Not only that, but the fact that I simply did not notice his blue lights on behind me. Perhaps it's simply me but in broad daylight his lights simply were not enough to grab my attention in my rear view mirror the way it is adjusted. This rear view mirror is also designed reduce glare, so this combined with the positioning of my rear view mirror leaves it virtually out of my line of sight unless I'm purposely looking into it since I was simply focusing on the road. I suppose it also doesn't help that the officer did not put on his siren until moments before I actually pulled over. Had he done so sooner I'd imagine I would have found an opportunity to pull over sooner than I did.
I've also taken the liberty of creating a map in google to give a layout of the area. The google map link was too large, so I've cropped a printscreen here to show the relevant part of the map
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/ThePacster/map.png
Now the officer claims I refused to yield to his blue lights from Point A to Point C. However, I realize his lights were on behind me until Point B. So, from Point B to C I realized he was behind us, changed into the right lane, and pulled over at Point C where he first put on his siren. The entire distance from Point A to Point C is about 1 mile, so from Point B to Point C it seems like things happened fairly quickly in my memory but I think you get the idea.
Any suggestions on how to handle this when I go to court would be greatly appreciated, as I really have no idea what I'm doing since I've never been in any situation involving police before.