Help with citation please, possibly defective?

[MasterJunior]

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

Hello, on my way to work today I received a citation for being in the HOV lane and "cutting in cut into the 2 inside lane infront of veh".

The reason I entered the HOV lane was because the car behind an 18 wheeler to the lane right of me was coming into my lane partially in front of me but his car was going to hit mine from the side if I didnt move. I swerved into the HOV lane and back into my lane right after, which had to be done quickly because there was a car right in front of me cruising slowly in the HOV lane. The cop car was slightly ahead of that car driving on the emergency lane slowly (might explain why the car in the HOV was going so slow) which I caught a glance of when I entered the HOV lane looking at my left mirror quickly to check if things are clear of course and then looking ahead at this car coming at me quickly before getting out of the HOV lane. I was not even in that lane for 2 seconds.

She comes up behind me now and pulls me over off the exit, which is 1 exit before the exit I should take. I told her what happened and that I believed I didnt cut anyone off, I used my turn signals. When I asked her about the tickets she told me sign and if I dont I go to jail. Which I wasnt about to find out if she could take me for that.

She put down the wrong drivers license number and all the wrong information with it, age, expiration date, height. Basically another person I guess. If that information helps you guys any.

So I would like to know if theres anything I can do in this situation, is it possible the citation is defective and have this dismissed? Thank you very much, I appreciate your time and effort in reading this and for those who reply with their knowledge. I really do, this brings me back a little spark of wanting to learn more about the law.

[seniorjudge]

By all means, move to have it dismissed.

Will it work? I don't know, but let us know.

[PMC the 1st]

Originally Posted by MasterJunior

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

Hello, on my way to work today I received a citation for being in the HOV lane and "cutting in cut into the 2 inside lane infront of veh".

The reason I entered the HOV lane was because the car behind an 18 wheeler to the lane right of me was coming into my lane partially in front of me but his car was going to hit mine from the side if I didnt move. I swerved into the HOV lane and back into my lane right after, which had to be done quickly because there was a car right in front of me cruising slowly in the HOV lane. The cop car was slightly ahead of that car driving on the emergency lane slowly (might explain why the car in the HOV was going so slow) which I caught a glance of when I entered the HOV lane looking at my left mirror quickly to check if things are clear of course and then looking ahead at this car coming at me quickly before getting out of the HOV lane. I was not even in that lane for 2 seconds.

She comes up behind me now and pulls me over off the exit, which is 1 exit before the exit I should take. I told her what happened and that I believed I didnt cut anyone off, I used my turn signals. When I asked her about the tickets she told me sign and if I dont I go to jail. Which I wasnt about to find out if she could take me for that.

She put down the wrong drivers license number and all the wrong information with it, age, expiration date, height. Basically another person I guess. If that information helps you guys any.

So I would like to know if theres anything I can do in this situation, is it possible the citation is defective and have this dismissed? Thank you very much, I appreciate your time and effort in reading this and for those who reply with their knowledge. I really do, this brings me back a little spark of wanting to learn more about the law.

This citation is easy enough...
On the court date (arraignment) explain to the Judge everything that happened (which would be everything discussed on this thread), and that you violated no law. You did not violate the HOV law, since your judgment at the time actually prevented a freeway accident (failure for you to act as quickly as you did would have caused an accident with an 18-wheeler). The officer will argue that she saw you zooming out in front of her. Because of this, there is no way she could have known that you moved into the HOV lane to avoid a traffic collision.
This on top of the fact that inaccurate data written down on the citation itself can call the officer's level of judgment into question.
Advise the Judge you want to plead innocent on the charge and to set up a trial date as soon as possible. If you really, really are innocent, take it all the way to trial. If there is some doubt to your guilt, take it to trial, and on the trial date, the prosecutor will offer you a reduced charge. Accept the reduced charge if it is an infraction only.
(note: the trial date isn't an actual trial date. It's just another opportunity for you to accept an offer from the prosecutor that's disguised as a trial date).

[I_Got_Banned]

Originally Posted by MasterJunior

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

Hello, on my way to work today I received a citation for being in the HOV lane and "cutting in cut into the 2 inside lane infront of veh".

The reason I entered the HOV lane was because the car behind an 18 wheeler to the lane right of me was coming into my lane partially in front of me but his car was going to hit mine from the side if I didnt move. I swerved into the HOV lane and back into my lane right after, which had to be done quickly because there was a car right in front of me cruising slowly in the HOV lane. The cop car was slightly ahead of that car driving on the emergency lane slowly (might explain why the car in the HOV was going so slow) which I caught a glance of when I entered the HOV lane looking at my left mirror quickly to check if things are clear of course and then looking ahead at this car coming at me quickly before getting out of the HOV lane. I was not even in that lane for 2 seconds.

She comes up behind me now and pulls me over off the exit, which is 1 exit before the exit I should take. I told her what happened and that I believed I didnt cut anyone off, I used my turn signals. When I asked her about the tickets she told me sign and if I dont I go to jail. Which I wasnt about to find out if she could take me for that.

She put down the wrong drivers license number and all the wrong information with it, age, expiration date, height. Basically another person I guess. If that information helps you guys any.

So I would like to know if theres anything I can do in this situation, is it possible the citation is defective and have this dismissed? Thank you very much, I appreciate your time and effort in reading this and for those who reply with their knowledge. I really do, this brings me back a little spark of wanting to learn more about the law.

You stated that the car which was in the lane to your right which at the time was partially in front of you was merging in front of you. . . And that you had concluded that this car was going to hit yours from the side if you didnt move. . .

Realistically, you had 3 options:
1. Speed up: but since the car was slightly ahead of you that might have been an unwise move.
2. Merge to the left & into the HOV lane. But regardless of whether the. Cop was there or not, this was a dangerous move. In fact, if another car was in the HOV lane (just to your left) then your merging to the left is in fact just as dangerous as the one that the driver to you right was making into your lane! So if there had been a car to your left, then you would have been able to avoid getting hit from the right side BUT you would have ended up hitting a car to your left. So regardless of how dramatic you might be able to make your story sound, it still was a dangerous move and my guess, the reason for the citation. But wait... You still have choice # 3.
3. The third option that you had was to slow down... Step on your brakes long enough and hard enough to where you see that you're out of the offending vehicle's way & yet not so much so that your car is now a sitting duck for vehicles that may have been behind you.

Let me offer a hypothetical here and ask you what you would do. Let's assume:
A. This incident occured on a bridge (typically bridges have a maximum of a 1 foot (maybe 2 feet) of shoulder to the left of the fast lane, the left most lane).
B. Let's further assume that you were in the left most lane and. . .
C. There was no HOV lane for you to move into?

You glance to your right and see a car that is slightly ahead of you merging into your lane. What would you do?

Slam your car into the wall/railing to your left (depending on the bridge that you're on) so as to avoid an accident from your right???

Of course not... You would slow down! Right?

Lastly, had you been unfortunate enough to hit the car to your right, and although he's the one who "cut you off"... But since he was ahead of you, one can argue that you were the one who hit him & the accident could have been your fault!!!

I realize that it took a bit of time to read this, and normally a driver must react in a very short time, my point is "slowing down" should have been the instinctive choice that you made and if it wasn't, then what would you say should be your last resort in any dangerous driving situation????

That's right, "slowing down"!!!

Now let me guess that in your reply, you're gonna say that you couldn't slow down because you had a monsterous vehicle coming at you from behind and you were sure that if you didn't get out of the way, it would have eaten you up!

But I think that if you were observant enough to notice and MENTION that there was a vehicle that would have slowed you down had you decided to stay in the HOV lane then you would have MENTIONED that monterous vehicle that was allegedly riding your rear bumper!

Lastly, I don't know how having the wrong driver's license number would affect your citation. It probably won't earn you a dismissal.
I wouldn't just totally ignore it if I were you. My guess is and as a last resort, the court can use the vehicle information, assuming it was filled in correctly by the officer, to get you back on the hook for this citation.

[MasterJunior]

thanks for the replys, I_Got_Banned, yes the car came in from the right but it was not "that" far ahead of me, the car was RIGHT next me, slightly ahead, meaning about half of this car was side by side and coming INTO me. Now I watch my mirrors a lot so I knew that the HOV was empty, I wouldnt blindly swerve into another lane but given the situation even if I wasnt completely sure most peoples instincts would have been to move left. If using my brakes to avoid this was possible I would done so. Im not going to be like oh you cut me off, let me go into the next lane and fly by you, lol. So when I saw he was "slightly" ahead of me I mean were both at the starting line of a race and hes cheating a few feet (about half the car, less or more).

PMC the 1st, you need to read what happened again, your a little off on the layout, but thanks for the reply

EDIT: so is there any real advice on what I could/should do with besides just fighting it, I mean whats possible here?

[MasterJunior]

sooooooooooo as far as her putting the wrong person down for the ticket nothing can be done about that?

[MasterJunior]

well its done, to give an update, i went to court today, letem know about the wrong person thing and they dismissed it

no trial :P