96Mustang460cid
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Oklahoma
I was driving on a 2 lane highway (one lane each direction) when I came up to a group of four slow moving vehicles. This group of vehicles were close together and I thought they were together. The speed limit on the highway was 65 and this group was going ~35 mph. When I came to a passing zone, I had good line of sight, waited for one oncoming car, and proceeded to pass this group of vehicles.
I put my turn signal on, switched to the left lane, and accelerated. I passed two vehicles successfully. Suddenly, the third vehicle turned their turn signal on and beginning coming over into the left lane. Upon seeing the turn signal, I immediately hit my brakes, honked my horn, and moved over as far left as possible without running myself off the road. The passenger front of my truck hit the drivers rear of this vehicle.
The highway patrol comes and interviews both of us. She claims to have been making a left turn to visit a friend. The pictures show that no house is down that road.
Since a picture is worth a thousand words:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/96Mustang460cid/Accident/OffsetCloseview.jpg
After the collision, we came to a stop at the middle-right, top of the screen at the dirt driveway. Down the dirt road is a oil well site that has no home.
The police officer did not write me a ticket that day. Instead, he mailed it to me. The ticket stated, "Failure to ensure safety of movement before passing vehicle."
http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=82279
In researching the citation code, I found it has three sublistings. Here is a cut-paste of the specific one reference by the ticket:
3. Every driver who intends to pass another vehicle proceeding in the same direction, which requires moving his vehicle from one lane of traffic to another, shall first see that such movement can be made with safety and shall proceed to pass only after giving a proper signal by hand or mechanical device.
This is what I actually got the ticket for. Before moving to the left lane, I ensured a safe distance was available to pass all the slow moving vehicles. I had adequate line of sight and good weather conditions. Before switching lanes, I gave adequate notice by properly signaling with my left turn signal.
My arguments
a) The other party gave inadequate notice since they did signal until they were physically moving their truck into my lane. At that point, I was going so much faster than them that I could not safely avoid the accident.
b) The other party was not turning left like they claimed (see picture posted above). Instead, they were attempting to pass by moving into the left lane, but didn't see me.
c) If there were turning, why did they move into the left lane so far before the turn. Furthermore, why didn't I hit the side of their truck if they were turning?
If I were to nit-pick the situation (I'll spare that in this thread), I come up with multiple holes in the story and problems with how the officer handled the situation...
So, I am driving halfway across the state of OK to fight this ticket: partly for the benefit of me and partly for my company's insurance (I was in a company vehicle). I want to make sure I have 'all my ducks in a row' when I go to court. In court, I plan to basically state what I did in this post.
With that being the case, does anybody see any major points I'm not bringing up? Or should delve into further?
Thanks,
Michael
I was driving on a 2 lane highway (one lane each direction) when I came up to a group of four slow moving vehicles. This group of vehicles were close together and I thought they were together. The speed limit on the highway was 65 and this group was going ~35 mph. When I came to a passing zone, I had good line of sight, waited for one oncoming car, and proceeded to pass this group of vehicles.
I put my turn signal on, switched to the left lane, and accelerated. I passed two vehicles successfully. Suddenly, the third vehicle turned their turn signal on and beginning coming over into the left lane. Upon seeing the turn signal, I immediately hit my brakes, honked my horn, and moved over as far left as possible without running myself off the road. The passenger front of my truck hit the drivers rear of this vehicle.
The highway patrol comes and interviews both of us. She claims to have been making a left turn to visit a friend. The pictures show that no house is down that road.
Since a picture is worth a thousand words:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/96Mustang460cid/Accident/OffsetCloseview.jpg
After the collision, we came to a stop at the middle-right, top of the screen at the dirt driveway. Down the dirt road is a oil well site that has no home.
The police officer did not write me a ticket that day. Instead, he mailed it to me. The ticket stated, "Failure to ensure safety of movement before passing vehicle."
http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=82279
In researching the citation code, I found it has three sublistings. Here is a cut-paste of the specific one reference by the ticket:
3. Every driver who intends to pass another vehicle proceeding in the same direction, which requires moving his vehicle from one lane of traffic to another, shall first see that such movement can be made with safety and shall proceed to pass only after giving a proper signal by hand or mechanical device.
This is what I actually got the ticket for. Before moving to the left lane, I ensured a safe distance was available to pass all the slow moving vehicles. I had adequate line of sight and good weather conditions. Before switching lanes, I gave adequate notice by properly signaling with my left turn signal.
My arguments
a) The other party gave inadequate notice since they did signal until they were physically moving their truck into my lane. At that point, I was going so much faster than them that I could not safely avoid the accident.
b) The other party was not turning left like they claimed (see picture posted above). Instead, they were attempting to pass by moving into the left lane, but didn't see me.
c) If there were turning, why did they move into the left lane so far before the turn. Furthermore, why didn't I hit the side of their truck if they were turning?
If I were to nit-pick the situation (I'll spare that in this thread), I come up with multiple holes in the story and problems with how the officer handled the situation...
So, I am driving halfway across the state of OK to fight this ticket: partly for the benefit of me and partly for my company's insurance (I was in a company vehicle). I want to make sure I have 'all my ducks in a row' when I go to court. In court, I plan to basically state what I did in this post.
With that being the case, does anybody see any major points I'm not bringing up? Or should delve into further?
Thanks,
Michael