Failure To Obey Highway Markings

Okay so I was driving to work and it had snowed previously that week. The roads were clear except for spots that were shaded from the sun. So as i went around a turn a deer is standing in the road and apply the brakes as a natural reaction. My SUV fishtales on some ice and i roll it three times over a hill, deer gets away unharmed while i total my car. I was fine, hop out of the car and 30-40 minutes later the cops come and give me a ticket for failure to obey highway markings. I did no damage to any property of the owner.

The very next morning another person wrecks in the same spot but they take out all the mailboxes and break a small break in half. She gets rushed away by an ambulance and the cops give her no ticket.

I would like to know what i could do to fight this in court. Thanks.

What US State?

Well, you could ask that the citation be changed to something more appropriate such as failure to control speed to avoid an accident, or careless driving, but I have a hunch those charges carry more points and higher fines and the officer was trying to cut you a break.

You failed to state the State and who is responsible for maintaining the roadway; city/state/fed...
Where there any warnning signs posted?

Certainly the ice should have been delt with before someone was injured the next morning.
You should at least notify the injured party and let them know that an accident involving ice happened the night before and an officer responded and took charge of the scene.
Yes there is some liability here.
I recommend that you ask for a continuence. The injured parties lawyer will probably welcome the oppertunity to question the officer that wrote you the ticket, or at least help you with the right questions to ask....

Ice causes accidents if you let it.

Good luck

What injured party? You mean the one involved in another accident that had nothing to do with this poster? Officers have a pretty wide lattitude for discretion when writing tickets, and just because one wasn't issued at the scene because THAT driver was taken to the hospital, doesn't mean that driver won't be getting one in the mail or left for her at the hospital later. And whether THAT driver gets a ticket or not is completely irrelevent to whether OP is guilty of some traffic offense.

InsaneJane said:

You failed to state the State and who is responsible for maintaining the roadway; city/state/fed...
Where there any warnning signs posted?

Certainly the ice should have been delt with before someone was injured the next morning.
You should at least notify the injured party and let them know that an accident involving ice happened the night before and an officer responded and took charge of the scene.
Yes there is some liability here.
I recommend that you ask for a continuence. The injured parties lawyer will probably welcome the oppertunity to question the officer that wrote you the ticket, or at least help you with the right questions to ask....

Ice causes accidents if you let it.

Good luck

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are you saying the city/state/fed road crews have a duty to remove ice? and with 100% effectiveness?

sorry, try again, that is an incorrect response.

I can see it now. Every winter they bring out 10's of thousands of signs that say; caution, there might be ice on the road. I wonder how often they must be posted to be legally effective at removing liability?

The fact that someone else wrecked and didn't get a ticket is meaningless.
The fact that they didn't clear the roads doesn't necessarily get you out.
Tickets issued after the fact are legitimate as well.

THE FACT YOU DIDN'T GIVE THE NAME OF YOUR STATE MEANS WE CAN'T POSSIBLY VENTURE A GUESS AS TO YOUR REAL DEFENSES.

Going off the road is kind of prima facie evidence you didn't stay in the marked lane, but depending on how the statute is written, you may not be in fact, guilty.

justalayman said:

are you saying the city/state/fed road crews have a duty to remove ice? and with 100% effectiveness?

sorry, try again, that is an incorrect response.

I can see it now. Every winter they bring out 10's of thousands of signs that say; caution, there might be ice on the road. I wonder how often they must be posted to be legally effective at removing liability?

Click to expand...

Sorry justalayman, without knowing the location I can not even point a finger. You know that there probably isn't a 100% correct and complete response without all of the info. But thank you for your valued input.

Failure to obey highway markings is what the ticket was for. I don't know if the OP was crossing the rockies or on a private drive.... But your imagination makes me wonder how many caution signs they do have out there.

I'm thinking the deer is a plant, much like the squirrels that appear in that auto insurance commercial.

InsaneJane said:

Sorry justalayman, without knowing the location I can not even point a finger. You know that there probably isn't a 100% correct and complete response without all of the info. But thank you for your valued input.

Failure to obey highway markings is what the ticket was for. I don't know if the OP was crossing the rockies or on a private drive.... But your imagination makes me wonder how many caution signs they do have out there.

Click to expand...

my point is: they do not have to put out warning signs to avoid liability. It was cold, the roads must be presumed to be icy somewhere so a person must drive with due caution.

The other point is; there is no legal obligation to clear the snow or ice from the roads. If they aren't cleared, it is at the driver's own risk that they drive.

davew128 I'm thinking the deer is a plant, much like the squirrels that appear in that auto insurance commercial.

Click to expand...

like a red herring?

I live in an area that is well populated with deer. The current thought on action when confronting a deer in the road is; hit it. You will generally be damaged less by hitting it than losing control of the vehicle and flipping over 3 times. If there is other traffic on the road, it is that much more important to just hit the deer. If you do a head on with somebody else, you are assured there will be more damage than if you hit the deer and a lot greater chance of injury to a passenger in the vehicle.

It happened in Virginia. there isnt even speed limit signs on this road much less warning signs for ice. and i forgot to mention that the lady who got in the accident the next morning was a police dispatcher and ive talked to a couple police officers and they have told me to fight it in court. Also when the officer gave me the ticket he said he was required to give me one but i dont understand why the other person wasnt required a ticket.

Because like I said, officers have a lot of discretion when deciding whether or not to give any particular driver a ticket or not. And he didn't have to tell you the truth about being "required" to give you a ticket, he just didn't want to seem like as much of a jerk to you. They are not required to treat all drivers the same, and while it's likely her working for the police influenced the decision not to give her a ticket, it also has nothing to do with YOU.

Get over the ice thing. It's neither here nor there. They don't have to tell you roads might be icy, you're supposed to be an intelligent person (a stretch for some areas of the commonwealth, I know). They also don't need to tell you what speed you need to go to be safe.

IF you were charged with 46.2-804, I would argue that leaving the roadway (be it intentionally or inadvertently) isn't covered by the statute. It's talking about moving between lanes. Of course, this is a lesser offense than what you could have been charged with.

As ecmst says, there's no strict requirement that the write you up for something because you wrecked (even if you struck another vehicle), though they frequently do.

Deer jump out onto the highway all the time in deer country. It's a fact of life. Here in Idaho I have had deer run so close that I could hear the deer breathing. Sometimes you come around a corner and there are cows standing in the road too. We simply adjust our speeds, especially at certain times of the day.

My friend, an LEO, totaled his government SUV when a deer jumped out in front.
He was right in front of me. We had to shoot the deer.
It happens to the best of us.

Why not just go to court and tell them that a deer jumped out in front of you? You had tough luck. happens all the time. Plead innocent and I bet the judge drops/changes it or at pretrial they drop it.

OP hasn't mentioned what kind of highway marker they failed to obey.
My suspicion when I first read this post is that it was a deer crossing, or watch out for deer type sign. So, when the officer came out to the accident, and OP said they swerved to miss a deer, the officer would be appropriate in writing the ticket for "failure to obey highway markings"