Hi,
It was snowing lightly all day today and earlier the roads were fine, however once the sun went down the roads turned to a sheet of ice. We were slowly pulling out of a parking lot and after almost out of the turn the car's back tires started to slide. It slid enough that it slowly banged into the car in the adjacent lane. My car did not sustain any damage and the other car only had some slight bumper damage. The cops were called to the scene and the cop decided to issue us a citation for a marked lane violation. This does not seem like the intention of this law. We were not trying to get in the other lane or driving fast or doing any quick maneauvors. The road was a sheet of ice and cars were sliding all over the place. While we were waiting I saw 5 people slide!! They were just lucky enough to not make contact with another vehicle. There was another accident just to get in the turning lanes from the mall. The road conditions were clearly poor and not much could be done. Why should we be charged for something that could not have been helped? Even at slow speeds which we were going sometimes you cannot get traction. It's like being charged a violation for damaging a poll because someone punched you in the face. This is not just a $100 fine but a 2 point surcharge and will cost thousands over the next 6 years, which is in addition to the surcharge the insurance company might issue. Therefore, we now have to fight two surcharges in court for the same incident? Not only that, but Massachusetts charges you $25 to fight each one, plus we have to take time out of work.
This is also frustrating because I"ve known many other accidents that people have had where fault is clear but no citations were given. Last year my friend even hit a telephone poll and totaled his vehicle, the policy arrived on scene and did not issue a citation for the accident due to the weather conditions. When I asked the cop why we were getting a citation he said, "that's the way we do it here". This seems like an abuse to me, the town just trying to get whatever income they can.
Does anyone know of any case law involving such a situation (where the weather caused an accident) that we can use in court?
It was snowing lightly all day today and earlier the roads were fine, however once the sun went down the roads turned to a sheet of ice. We were slowly pulling out of a parking lot and after almost out of the turn the car's back tires started to slide. It slid enough that it slowly banged into the car in the adjacent lane. My car did not sustain any damage and the other car only had some slight bumper damage. The cops were called to the scene and the cop decided to issue us a citation for a marked lane violation. This does not seem like the intention of this law. We were not trying to get in the other lane or driving fast or doing any quick maneauvors. The road was a sheet of ice and cars were sliding all over the place. While we were waiting I saw 5 people slide!! They were just lucky enough to not make contact with another vehicle. There was another accident just to get in the turning lanes from the mall. The road conditions were clearly poor and not much could be done. Why should we be charged for something that could not have been helped? Even at slow speeds which we were going sometimes you cannot get traction. It's like being charged a violation for damaging a poll because someone punched you in the face. This is not just a $100 fine but a 2 point surcharge and will cost thousands over the next 6 years, which is in addition to the surcharge the insurance company might issue. Therefore, we now have to fight two surcharges in court for the same incident? Not only that, but Massachusetts charges you $25 to fight each one, plus we have to take time out of work.
This is also frustrating because I"ve known many other accidents that people have had where fault is clear but no citations were given. Last year my friend even hit a telephone poll and totaled his vehicle, the policy arrived on scene and did not issue a citation for the accident due to the weather conditions. When I asked the cop why we were getting a citation he said, "that's the way we do it here". This seems like an abuse to me, the town just trying to get whatever income they can.
Does anyone know of any case law involving such a situation (where the weather caused an accident) that we can use in court?