Failure to Obey Traffic Sign- Fight or Not? -CA
What is the name of your state?
Calfornia.
Ok, here's the story now: I thought about my possible defenses for this particular incident and it doesn't look good. Right now it's *just* (anything "just" is never good) Failure to obey traffic sign. If I try and defend my case, I incrimidate myself automatically and add Driving in the Wrong Direction (read story below). If I lose, I may end up having to pay for that infraction as well...so, should this be something I should fight or should I just plead guilty, swallow my pride and pay the bill?
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Dark and stormy 11pm, Southern California. Road conditions were wet, but not what I would consider flooded. I take the normal route home from work, which consists of some back streets. One particular back street crosses over railroad tracks. The tracks are being widened, so the typical road construction signs have been sitting in place for at least one year...."Bike Lane Closed" and "Construction Ahead". All fairly normal. I drive up the back street as I normally would and see two people on the right hand side who flash their flashlight. Policemen. I slow and the officer says "Slow down, the roads are wet. The road ahead is blocked, drive to the left." Pylons are guiding traffic from a usual 2 lanes to 1 lane. Eventually, maybe 50-70 yards later there is an intersection with several options.
1) Turn Left
2) Turn Right
3) Drive ahead (blocked by barrier)
4) U-turn
5) Oncoming traffic.
The street that I'm currently on is 2 lanes, then a center divide, then 2 lanes of oncoming traffic. I hesitate at the intersection, being the lead car and weigh my options. Pylons were as stated, guiding traffic to the left. Where normally one would go straight, there was a barricade. Slightly ahead and left of the barricade was a squad car, but no officers in sight. To turn right would be to navigate slightly around a pylon into a residential neighborhood. To turn left would take me into an apartment complex. As it looked like the pylons continued into oncoming, it looked as if the lane had naturally merged into oncoming.
Now as I see it, when there are obstructions in the road (debris, potholes, fallen tree, etc) California transportation department sometimes sees it fit to cordon off a piece of the road to navigate around something, for example they will turn a 2 lane road (1 lane each direction) into a single lane. This was my thought when the officer said that the road ahead was blocked and to drive to the left. As I near the crest of the hill I can see flashing lights also at the bottom, which I expected would be another squad car directing the other cars from that direction and directing me back into the regular lane. This was not to be, for the flashing lights were actually the lights of a tow truck hauling someone's car out of a muddy ditch that had accummulated during the freak SoCal storm. After a brief chat with the tow truck driver, he had finally told me what was actually going on, that the road was not blocked, but CLOSED to oncoming traffic and that I should make a u-turn. Point taken.
Upon making my U-turn, I come across the same cruiser parked in the same spot, this time greeted by different police officers than the one I had previously met. After another brief greeting, they had instructed me to pull over. I had inadvertantly "went around the barrier", thus "Failure to obey traffic sign". Only now they had seen it fitting to get out of their cruiser (or appear from wherever they had been) and have placed an officer in front of the cruiser to direct traffic to make a U-turn. At least 3 people at the intersection from the time I was stopped to the time they placed an officer there to direct traffic had stopped and motioned to the officer they were confused and to get a better understanding of the situation, where they should drive, etc.
What should I plead in this particular case? I believe (but would be hard to explain) that the first officer had given vague instructions on the situation ahead and that I had actually followed his directions to a "T": That being the order to "Drive to the left", which I had done. As this has been a particularly popular road and CalTrans is pretty on the ball with cleaning up road messes, the intersection is pretty clear of all former traces of this debacle. I was confused, as were other motorists as to the conditions of the road ahead and believe this to be just a case of the driver's misinterpretation of the officer's words, yet I know that won't hold any sort of weight in court. Any advice to how I should continue with this would be greatly appreciated....and flame all you want, I'm here because I need advice....it's not like this stuff happens to me every day. =)
btw: I have up until recently a pretty clean driving record. 1 non-fault accident and haven't had traffic school in years. I also have a pending red-light camera ticket. Should I save traffic school for this particular incident or the camera? What are some of the penalties of Failure to Obey? I know that paying the camera ticket is a pretty penny, but I'm sure Failure to Obey holds it's own jewels. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
*sorry for the unabridged version, I thought it would help explain things a bit.
What is the name of your state?
Calfornia.
Ok, here's the story now: I thought about my possible defenses for this particular incident and it doesn't look good. Right now it's *just* (anything "just" is never good) Failure to obey traffic sign. If I try and defend my case, I incrimidate myself automatically and add Driving in the Wrong Direction (read story below). If I lose, I may end up having to pay for that infraction as well...so, should this be something I should fight or should I just plead guilty, swallow my pride and pay the bill?
------------------
Dark and stormy 11pm, Southern California. Road conditions were wet, but not what I would consider flooded. I take the normal route home from work, which consists of some back streets. One particular back street crosses over railroad tracks. The tracks are being widened, so the typical road construction signs have been sitting in place for at least one year...."Bike Lane Closed" and "Construction Ahead". All fairly normal. I drive up the back street as I normally would and see two people on the right hand side who flash their flashlight. Policemen. I slow and the officer says "Slow down, the roads are wet. The road ahead is blocked, drive to the left." Pylons are guiding traffic from a usual 2 lanes to 1 lane. Eventually, maybe 50-70 yards later there is an intersection with several options.
1) Turn Left
2) Turn Right
3) Drive ahead (blocked by barrier)
4) U-turn
5) Oncoming traffic.
The street that I'm currently on is 2 lanes, then a center divide, then 2 lanes of oncoming traffic. I hesitate at the intersection, being the lead car and weigh my options. Pylons were as stated, guiding traffic to the left. Where normally one would go straight, there was a barricade. Slightly ahead and left of the barricade was a squad car, but no officers in sight. To turn right would be to navigate slightly around a pylon into a residential neighborhood. To turn left would take me into an apartment complex. As it looked like the pylons continued into oncoming, it looked as if the lane had naturally merged into oncoming.
Now as I see it, when there are obstructions in the road (debris, potholes, fallen tree, etc) California transportation department sometimes sees it fit to cordon off a piece of the road to navigate around something, for example they will turn a 2 lane road (1 lane each direction) into a single lane. This was my thought when the officer said that the road ahead was blocked and to drive to the left. As I near the crest of the hill I can see flashing lights also at the bottom, which I expected would be another squad car directing the other cars from that direction and directing me back into the regular lane. This was not to be, for the flashing lights were actually the lights of a tow truck hauling someone's car out of a muddy ditch that had accummulated during the freak SoCal storm. After a brief chat with the tow truck driver, he had finally told me what was actually going on, that the road was not blocked, but CLOSED to oncoming traffic and that I should make a u-turn. Point taken.
Upon making my U-turn, I come across the same cruiser parked in the same spot, this time greeted by different police officers than the one I had previously met. After another brief greeting, they had instructed me to pull over. I had inadvertantly "went around the barrier", thus "Failure to obey traffic sign". Only now they had seen it fitting to get out of their cruiser (or appear from wherever they had been) and have placed an officer in front of the cruiser to direct traffic to make a U-turn. At least 3 people at the intersection from the time I was stopped to the time they placed an officer there to direct traffic had stopped and motioned to the officer they were confused and to get a better understanding of the situation, where they should drive, etc.
What should I plead in this particular case? I believe (but would be hard to explain) that the first officer had given vague instructions on the situation ahead and that I had actually followed his directions to a "T": That being the order to "Drive to the left", which I had done. As this has been a particularly popular road and CalTrans is pretty on the ball with cleaning up road messes, the intersection is pretty clear of all former traces of this debacle. I was confused, as were other motorists as to the conditions of the road ahead and believe this to be just a case of the driver's misinterpretation of the officer's words, yet I know that won't hold any sort of weight in court. Any advice to how I should continue with this would be greatly appreciated....and flame all you want, I'm here because I need advice....it's not like this stuff happens to me every day. =)
btw: I have up until recently a pretty clean driving record. 1 non-fault accident and haven't had traffic school in years. I also have a pending red-light camera ticket. Should I save traffic school for this particular incident or the camera? What are some of the penalties of Failure to Obey? I know that paying the camera ticket is a pretty penny, but I'm sure Failure to Obey holds it's own jewels. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
*sorry for the unabridged version, I thought it would help explain things a bit.
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