failed to yeild to pesdestrians

[jdubs]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?
california

So I was driving in Los Angeles and prepared to turn right on a street but there were 2 teenagers starting to cross the intersection, so I waited with my blinker on for them to cross.

The street they were on is about 20 feet wide and it literally took them over a minute to cross - they were meandering and walking as slow as possible.

I found this behavior irratating because they were aware I was waiting to turn and literally could not have been walking any slower. So when they were about 3 or 4 feet from the sidewalk I honked at them and proceeded to drive around them. I gave my a car some gas but I was probably never closer than 6 or 7 feet.

I look up and there were about 6 cops sitting there on their motorcycles and one of them pulled me over and gave me a ticket for failing to yield for a pedestrian. I think the cop was upset with me for honking and stepping on the gas too much (his question was "what the hell was that?") but I looked up the statute and in California you don't have to wait for pedestrians to be on the sidewalk before you turn. I also did in fact yield to them - I sat there waiting for 45 seconds for them to cross the street.

In Cal if you plead guilty you can get traffic school and your insurance won't be affected, but if you plead innocent and lose you don't get the traffic school option. I really don't think I broke any laws. Any advice?

[rmet4nzkx]

traffic school.

[CdwJava]

Ditto, traffic school. You don't have a big leg to stand on.

- Carl

Plead not guilty and take it to trial. Odds are the officer will not show up. Then you win.

You also need to know that traffic school is still available, at the judge's discretion, after losing at trial. The idea that it is not is a common misconception, almost one of those "urban legends." The other people who have already responded to your message should have pointed that out. I don't understand why they didn't.

For info on how to fight your ticket have a look at HelpIGotATicket.com and the book Fight Your Ticket, by David Brown, available at your local library.

NACOL

[racer72]

Originally Posted by NotACopOrLawyer

Plead not guilty and take it to trial. Odds are the officer will not show up. Then you win.

And when the cop does show up, you look like an idiot because you have no defense.

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by NotACopOrLawyer

Plead not guilty and take it to trial. Odds are the officer will not show up. Then you win.

You also need to know that traffic school is still available, at the judge's discretion, after losing at trial. The idea that it is not is a common misconception, almost one of those "urban legends." The other people who have already responded to your message should have pointed that out. I don't understand why they didn't.

Your county must be the only one in the state that allows officers to have a 50% no-show rate. Most other counties have agencies that would not tolerate that. So saying that the officer most likely won't show up is NOT a universal fact.

Second, in every county I know of traffic school is removed from the table when the defendant takes the stand in his own defense. Yes, the court does retain the option to grant it, but it is so rare that I have seen it granted only two or three times in 14 years of going to traffic court.

- Carl

Cdw and I have had this discussion before.

See the threads:

"Wrong Registration Info..." (last post was 5-2)

and

"Ticketed in Carpool Lane..." (last post was 3-31)

NACOL