Dangerous driving and unsafe start/burning rubber in NY! plz help.

[LUMI]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

Hello, awesome forum, glad i found it!


I was driving my friends AWD escalade truck and was at a light. I was trying to merge into the next lane for about a mile and was unable to, and the driver next to me would not let me merge. At the light i accelerated a little heavy to get in front and get to the next lane so i can make a turn coming up.

To my surprise, there was a cop right beind me and pulls me over. (i was doing the speed limit and didnt even merge into the next lane yet)
He gives me the dangerous driving ticket and unsafe start burning rubber. He said i was drag racing HAHAHA!!!!

Anyways some funny thing i find here, next to me where the lane i wanted to get into, was a 4 cyliudner economy car, like a toyota prius or something. drag racing that?

I had 3 people in the car, one being a a AUX officer and a good friend, ALL of us have clean record and driving license, so why would we drag race? And i drag race in a truck which isnt even mine? i never got a ticket in my life i am 22. And all of us were poiting out we were trying to get into the next lane.

The truck is AWD but the officer says i was able to BURN RUBBER!! CMON!

So what you guys think? i am going to 100% fight this!

Also the ticket states: 'Place of occurence' and the officer put a intersection that was about 4 blocks away from where he stated to me i did these things, or where i tryed to merge. a 100% totally false place of occurence? i dont even think i was on the block where he says on the ticket i did this.

What do you guys think? Any thing i can use for dismissal?

Thanks alot!

 

[Zigner]

Even on the an AWD car, your tires CAN lose traction when going over certain surfaces.

Next time that you need to get over, slow down instead of speeding up. As a 22 year old driver, I can understand that it's not in your nature...but with a few more years under your belt, you'll understand.

 

[LUMI]

Even on the an AWD car, your tires CAN lose traction when going over certain surfaces.

Next time that you need to get over, slow down instead of speeding up. As a 22 year old driver, I can understand that it's not in your nature...but with a few more years under your belt, you'll understand.

Thanks for the reply!

I was trying to get over for a while and there was too much traffic, and slowing down was only gonna make more traffic. Its not like i was speeding, i just went a little fast so i can make it out front. And the cop thought i was drag racing a prius hahah (dangerous driving) unbelievable!

Also it was dry 70*F night on a street paved road. This AWD car just cannot Burn runbber as the cop put it.

I am really interested about the place of ocurrence and how it was 100% incorrect.

 

[Zigner]

Thanks for the reply!

I was trying to get over for a while and there was too much traffic, and slowing down was only gonna make more traffic. Its not like i was speeding, i just went a little fast so i can make it out front. And the cop thought i was drag racing a prius hahah (dangerous driving) unbelievable!

Also it was dry 70*F night on a street paved road. This AWD car just cannot Burn runbber as the cop put it.

I am really interested about the place of ocurrence and how it was 100% incorrect.

When you accelerate over painted surfaces (ie: directional arrows or painted crosswalk stripes, it's entirely possible for your vehicle to "chirp" the tires...

As for where it occurred, that probably won't affect things too much...

A side story (that others on this board have heard before). In my youth, I was pulled over for "exhibition of speed" (same thing as you were stopped for basically). The car I was driving was a stick and I chirped the tires on the 1-2 shift. Luckily, I was able to talk my way out of a citation. The kicker is this: I was driving a 1974 PINTO!

 

[You Are Guilty]

Your options are to pay the fine or contest the ticket. If the officer shows, he will give his version of events, then you will have an opportunity to cross examine him. Then you get to testify, as will any of your witnesses. The judge will decide who is more credible and if that's you, the ticket will be dismissed. Otherwise, you get to pay the fine and court costs. All in all, pretty straightforward.

 

[LUMI]

For me its easier to pay the fine than to go to court and take off of work and so on. But because points are invovled and because its a entirely untrue story from the cop i want to fight it, i wanan fight for the truth.

Would the 'occurence' of the violation being wrong and in a different place than where it happened hold any water?

 

[You Are Guilty]

For me its easier to pay the fine than to go to court and take off of work and so on. But because points are invovled and because its a entirely untrue story from the cop i want to fight it, i wanan fight for the truth.

Would the 'occurence' of the violation being wrong and in a different place than where it happened hold any water?

Not in the way you're thinking. The ticket is not the evidence that is used against you in court. The testimony of the issuing officer is. So inaccuracies like that on the face of the citation are not, in and of themselves, going to get you off.

Where they may help is if the officer has no independent recollection of the stop, and is forced to rely on his written notes and/or the ticket to refresh his memory (which happens often). If the officer failed to make any notes in his memo book, he will have to rely on the information on the ticket. In which case, if he testifies that the information in the ticket is correct, you can attack his credibility by proving his testimony was wrong.

Of course, this doesn't mean you get off either, but done artfully (i.e. by a lawyer who does it for a living), it can dramatically increase your chances. When done by a layperson, more often that not, all that happens is that both the cop and the judge get pissed off.

 

[I_Got_Banned]

When done by a layperson, more often that not, all that happens is that both the cop and the judge get pissed off.

Or the defendant says too much and instead of casting doubt on the officer's testimony, he/she incriminate him/herself...

Examples:

At the light i accelerated a little heavy

Or...

Its not like i was speeding, i just went a little fast

 

[HighwayMan]

What section were you cited for violating in regards to "dangerous driving" - there is no such state statute. This sounds like it occurred in NYC, did it?

IF that's the case, who wrote you? Precinct cop or Highway Patrol?

 

[HighwayMan]

If it was NYC the TVB will most likely consider the charges duplicative. I believe you will win the dangerous driving and be found guilty of the unsafe start - if the officer testifies correctly.

 

[LUMI]

yes it was in NYC, It was a NYPD car but my cousin said that on the rear corner panel it said task force.

 

[HighwayMan]

Okay, so then the "dangerous driving" is a violation of the NYC Traffic Rules - I forget the specific statute.

It has to be pretty bad for a judge to convict you of that - I believe it is treated (points-wise) like reckless driving, which is 5 points. Based on what you said this won't fly.

Unsafe start, however, just might. As I said I would count on winning the dangerous driving and losing the unsafe start.

Task Force is probably as good as Highway Patrol at testifying.

 

[You Are Guilty]

It is entirely possible to be convicted of unsafe start simply for a chirp of the tires. (Don't ask me how I know ) But one never knows who's going to be hearing your case on any given day and there are certainly some judges who are much more lenient than others.

Please come back and let us know how it turned out.

 

[boonehead]

The truck is AWD but the officer says i was able to BURN RUBBER!! CMON!

Even if you have awd, traction control and brand new tires a Escalade has over 400hp and 400+ torque. CMON! you don't believe those tires were not able to lose traction from a quick jab to the pedal?

 

[Maestro64]

The truck is AWD but the officer says i was able to BURN RUBBER!! CMON!

Even if you have awd, traction control and brand new tires a Escalade has over 400hp and 400+ torque. CMON! you don't believe those tires were not able to lose traction from a quick jab to the pedal?

Actually there is no way the Escalded slipped or burn rubber. The modern dynamic & traction control systems in these vehicles will not allow the tires to slip, as soon as the tire slips a fraction of an inch the the anti-locking brakes kick in and the power is cut to the engine and this is all done in a faction of a second. Also, if the car it has the correct tires they are soft compound which would grab and will not make a sound if they did slip.

My car puts out this kind out power and I have a manual trans and I can rev the engine up dump the clutch and it wheels will not chirp or spin, it does nothing but slowly accelerate at that point. The only way to get the car to brake loose is turn off all the control systems. Most car on the road today do not have these systems so most people have no clue that spinning the wheels can not happen unless you over ride the systems.

It sounds like the officer did not like the fact you accelerated away from him quickly, and the fact is was NYC, they have a zero tolerance to anyone driving fast or what they deem as dangerous due to the fact of all the pedestrian they have walking around. Trust me if you slowed or stopped to try and merge in you would have gotten a ticket too for causing a traffic jam

As IGB pointed out, the judge is not interested in hearing the reality of the situation, since the judge would not be interested in walking out into the parking lot to see in fact your vehicle could burn rubber to use the officers terms.

This is just another one of these subject laws, like exhibition of speed or accelerating too quickly which you can not prove or disprove one way or another. It is up to someone's opinion which in this case the officer since you out accelerated him. It does not mean it was unsafe since one car's ability to accelerate faster than another does automatically not mean it is unsafe. The last time I check your not found guilt base on opinions but facts.

To put this in prospective, most police crown vics cruisers go 0 to 60 in 7.8 seconds and most luxury cars can out accelerate that without a problem so if you drive one of those cars you run the risk of being ticket for just pressing on the gas and pulling away from the officer.