What is the name of your state? MA
Two questions, first is an easy one, second is less so.
1) If a cop writes you up on a ticket for "failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk" (this pedestrian was coming from the middle of a divided highway with no barrier in the middle), but notes your gender incorrectly on the ticket, and you clearly gave him your driver's license, provided information, and were compliant, what is the best way to get off the ticket? The ticket is written incorrectly despite your having given them all the information they asked for at the time of the citation. Is there a defense that is based on the importance of a correct citation (I have seen people get off on the date being written incorrectly on their ticket)? If not...
2) How would I be able to best approach a defense for this following situation?
I was driving a rental car down Mass. Ave (a traffic-heavy 4-lane two-way street with no divider) during rush hour. The rental car was acquired on short notice from my insurance company because my boyfriend had wrecked my car earlier during the weekend and I needed a rental on short notice to get to work while the car was in the shop. The rental place couldn't get me a compact car, so I was driving a mid-sized sedan with a lot of blind spots for someone who is as short as I am, even with the seat up and all the way forward (I adjusted the vehicle to as safe a configuration as possible for someone of my height - 5'0).
I am coming down Mass Ave in the right lane (there are 2 lanes of traffic in each direction), maintaining 25 in a 30 zone due to heavy traffic. There is a street on the left side of Mass Ave (the other side relative to the direction I'm going), which T-intersects Mass ave. At this T-intersection, there extends a crosswalk, but there is no light on mass ave, no stop sign, and nothing but white lines indicating that there is a crosswalk. A bored cop happens to be hanging out at a shop on Mass Ave with his friends (I also have been to this shop and know the owner, who knows this cop) near this crosswalk.
As I approach the crosswalk, there is a large SUV/truck that is making a left turn onto the street that T-intersects Mass Ave - the traffic is moving on the other side in the opposite direction. I assume he is stopped and waiting for the traffic, since it is moving. I slow down and go through the crosswalk.
Three blocks later, as I happen to be yielding for ANOTHER pedestrian on a corner, who flags me on because the other side of traffic is not yielding for her, the bored cop pulls me over and accuses me of not yielding to a pedestrian (how ironic that the only reason he manages to catch up to me at all in this traffic is because I am yielding to a pedestrian). I assumed he meant the pedestrian that just flagged me on, so I said "no, I did yield, she flagged me on," and I keep firmly asserting that the pedestrian on the corner that I yielded for flagged me on. This must have pissed him off because he was talking about another pedestrian I apparently didn't even see at all up the street at the aforementioned T intersection.
Going back to the T-intersection: he claims that I "almost ran over!" a woman who was in a crosswalk because "I wasn't paying attention at all!"
I told him that I slowed down in the intersection (still not realizing that he did not mean the woman I had just yielded for), and he said "slowing down isn't stopping." Obviously, we did not understand each other until after I read the citation and realized he meant back up at the other intersection, so the insistance that I did stop for a woman probably didn't work to my advantage at all. However, to my defense for the citation he did write me up on:
1) I had some very serious visibility issues in the rental car I was driving (there were no other safer options at the time of rental as the rental agency is tiny and this was the safest option available)
2) A large vehicle to my left was making a left turn (had his blinker on), thus further obstructing my visibility.
3) Traffic was moving on the other side of the street in the opposite direction, so I had assumed that the large vehicle was stopped for traffic, and not for a pedestrian.
4) I slowed down and proceeded with what I figured was reasonable action/caution through the crosswalk. Even the cop said "slowing down is not stopping." Again, there is no stop sign at this crosswalk. There is nothing to mark this crosswalk except the white lines. I was going 5 miles under the speed limit. Had I honestly not had a visual obstruction due to the vehicle I was in and the one next to me, I would have certainly yielded for the pedestrian that I would have seen.
5) There is no middle divide on Mass Ave - there is only a line. The woman was proceeding from the middle of the street, and I can't vouch for her equally cautious approach to this poorly-placed crosswalk.
Is this enough to win this traffic ticket, or do I need something more?
Two questions, first is an easy one, second is less so.
1) If a cop writes you up on a ticket for "failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk" (this pedestrian was coming from the middle of a divided highway with no barrier in the middle), but notes your gender incorrectly on the ticket, and you clearly gave him your driver's license, provided information, and were compliant, what is the best way to get off the ticket? The ticket is written incorrectly despite your having given them all the information they asked for at the time of the citation. Is there a defense that is based on the importance of a correct citation (I have seen people get off on the date being written incorrectly on their ticket)? If not...
2) How would I be able to best approach a defense for this following situation?
I was driving a rental car down Mass. Ave (a traffic-heavy 4-lane two-way street with no divider) during rush hour. The rental car was acquired on short notice from my insurance company because my boyfriend had wrecked my car earlier during the weekend and I needed a rental on short notice to get to work while the car was in the shop. The rental place couldn't get me a compact car, so I was driving a mid-sized sedan with a lot of blind spots for someone who is as short as I am, even with the seat up and all the way forward (I adjusted the vehicle to as safe a configuration as possible for someone of my height - 5'0).
I am coming down Mass Ave in the right lane (there are 2 lanes of traffic in each direction), maintaining 25 in a 30 zone due to heavy traffic. There is a street on the left side of Mass Ave (the other side relative to the direction I'm going), which T-intersects Mass ave. At this T-intersection, there extends a crosswalk, but there is no light on mass ave, no stop sign, and nothing but white lines indicating that there is a crosswalk. A bored cop happens to be hanging out at a shop on Mass Ave with his friends (I also have been to this shop and know the owner, who knows this cop) near this crosswalk.
As I approach the crosswalk, there is a large SUV/truck that is making a left turn onto the street that T-intersects Mass Ave - the traffic is moving on the other side in the opposite direction. I assume he is stopped and waiting for the traffic, since it is moving. I slow down and go through the crosswalk.
Three blocks later, as I happen to be yielding for ANOTHER pedestrian on a corner, who flags me on because the other side of traffic is not yielding for her, the bored cop pulls me over and accuses me of not yielding to a pedestrian (how ironic that the only reason he manages to catch up to me at all in this traffic is because I am yielding to a pedestrian). I assumed he meant the pedestrian that just flagged me on, so I said "no, I did yield, she flagged me on," and I keep firmly asserting that the pedestrian on the corner that I yielded for flagged me on. This must have pissed him off because he was talking about another pedestrian I apparently didn't even see at all up the street at the aforementioned T intersection.
Going back to the T-intersection: he claims that I "almost ran over!" a woman who was in a crosswalk because "I wasn't paying attention at all!"
I told him that I slowed down in the intersection (still not realizing that he did not mean the woman I had just yielded for), and he said "slowing down isn't stopping." Obviously, we did not understand each other until after I read the citation and realized he meant back up at the other intersection, so the insistance that I did stop for a woman probably didn't work to my advantage at all. However, to my defense for the citation he did write me up on:
1) I had some very serious visibility issues in the rental car I was driving (there were no other safer options at the time of rental as the rental agency is tiny and this was the safest option available)
2) A large vehicle to my left was making a left turn (had his blinker on), thus further obstructing my visibility.
3) Traffic was moving on the other side of the street in the opposite direction, so I had assumed that the large vehicle was stopped for traffic, and not for a pedestrian.
4) I slowed down and proceeded with what I figured was reasonable action/caution through the crosswalk. Even the cop said "slowing down is not stopping." Again, there is no stop sign at this crosswalk. There is nothing to mark this crosswalk except the white lines. I was going 5 miles under the speed limit. Had I honestly not had a visual obstruction due to the vehicle I was in and the one next to me, I would have certainly yielded for the pedestrian that I would have seen.
5) There is no middle divide on Mass Ave - there is only a line. The woman was proceeding from the middle of the street, and I can't vouch for her equally cautious approach to this poorly-placed crosswalk.
Is this enough to win this traffic ticket, or do I need something more?
