(Georgia) 40-6-1 and 40-6-395: What do you think?

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.

You're required to pull to the shoulder and stop when an emergency vehicle is opertaing it's lights/siren. Even if you don't think he's after you, you're supposed to get out of the way.

There's no "explaining" to do. Shutting up and handing over your information is what you are expected to do.

The "I didn't think I did anything wrong" is not an excuse. Georgia doesn't even give you a "I want to stop in a safe area" exemption it seems. A marked car and a uniformed officer you'll have to trust.

Next time an emergency vehicle of ANY sort comes up behind you with lights/siren. Move to the right and stop. That way you will get the hell out of their way if they are on an emergency elsewhere, or you'll know for sure they're after you. If he wants you to move elsewhere to be safe (like the quick stop) he'll tell you.

The officer wasn't exactly barreling down the street at 90 mph, but I was in the left lane a two lane street going both ways, I couldn't exactly pull over to the left into oncoming traffic, there was no shoulder for me to pull over to. All I could do to get out of his way is move to the right lane, which I did when I had the opportunity. What I didn't expect was for him to change lanes also, and since I was already passing the gas station I couldn't exactly slam on my brakes and swurve into the gas station or one of the orange construction worker barrels lining the side of the street due to all the construction on the street, that would have made things even worse.

You pull to the right and stop until they pass (or they get out and come to your window). You've not said anything that mitigates your inability to stop for an emergency vehicle (let alone one that is trying to pull you over).

Nobody said slam on the brakes, but driving over a mile isn't stopping either.

The ticket says he was following me for about a mile. Due to how bright it was outside and the positioning of my mirror I did not see him, and the distance from where the passenger in my car brought it to my attention that the officer was behind me to when I pulled over was what seems to be less than half a mile. Now when I see fire trucks and whatnot zooming down the street from either side sirens blaring and lights flashing I know to slow down and move over so they can do their business. However, and this is perhaps because I'm just not that bright when it comes to the law and the road, but when I saw him behind me I wasn't in the mind set of "let me pull over and see what I've done wrong." and yes I admit I did not come to a stop, but that's not to say I didn't change lanes expecting him to move on past me. He obviously wasn't going extremely fast when I noticed him behind me so I assumed changing lanes would be enough for him to simply move on, but again that's simply my bad judgment.

When he changed to the right lane as well I realized it was me and I started looking for a place to pull over and I did infact pull over. Outside of the Quik Trip there were nothing but orange barrels as far as the eye could see along the road and I wasn't going to just stop in the right lane obstructing traffic, so I found the next available spot to pull over which was shortly after the Quik Trip.

I'm usually bad at explaining things like this, but with this ticket in hand, I really don't think I deserve to pay $840 in fines for what feels like a misunderstanding of circumstance for simply trying to find a safe place to pull over. My record is clean and I've never been in trouble of any sort, so having to go to court is a very new and nerve wracking experience for me. I was referred to this forum to post hoping to get some advice on what I should do or say to perhaps make the sentencing or payment more lenient, and just general advice on the situation. All I've found so far is simply shaking a finger at me telling me I'm in the wrong and more or less an idiot which I won't deny, as I can be pretty dense when it comes to things that are common knowledge things to most people. So, if this is going to be the general direction of this thread the moderators can go ahead and close it.

My court date is tomorrow, and I didn't realize how severe the fines were until very recently since for some reason they didn't have my tickets in the system to see the fines until this week even though it's been nearly two months. Hopefully I will be able to handle things on my own tomorrow. Good day to you all.