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Help with Trial By Written Declaration

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johnrussell

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

A few weeks ago, I was stopped by a police officer. The officer cited me for a VC 22350 - unsafe speed and VC 15250(a) - not having my license. I plan to do a trial by written declaration and I have read some great information already posted.

The back story is I have a Class B commercial driver's license with passenger endorsement for work. At the time I was working and driving the 15-passenger van, the ones you see for airport shuttles like SuperShuttle. Anyway, I work in an after-school setting where I pick up the kids in those vans. I had picked up my last kid at the school, who had been waiting for sometime since school was out 20 minutes ago. I was driving the appropriate speed given the conditions, clear and light traffic despite the officer circling medium traffic on the ticket. Anyway, as I had already left the school, I noticed 3 kids crossing the street in which I braked accordingly and only continued when they reached the other side of the street. Unfortunately, I was stopped and the officer basically told me that he stopped me because he felt that I didn't see those kids. I did see them and I braked accordingly in a manner where I did not have to slam on the brakes because I had plenty of time. I was going approximately 30 mph and I know that I can argue that I had passed the school zone limit of 25 mph, but the officer cited that the safe speed was 25 mph. In addition, a week later, I received a Notice of Correction and Proof of Service in the mail in which the officer changed the safe speed to 10 mph. Basically a crawl and given the time of 3pm, not realistic given that it was official after school hours and all the kids had already been picked up, especially since my kid was already waiting for 20 minutes.

Furthermore, I had accidentally forgot my wallet and ID in my personal car back at the site. I understand that there are no excuses for not having my ID on me, but I felt that had I not been stopped then I would not have to pay that extra fine. But besides the point, I feel that is something easily fixed and not the focus for the written declaration because I'm more distraught about the speeding portion.

It took the officer 10-15 minutes to get back in which I had complied to turn off the engine. However, I had 10 kids complaining that the van was hot as the temperature was roughly 80 degrees. The windows were down but the kids wanted the doors open, but I felt that I would be in more trouble with the officer if I had done so and decided to keep the doors closed.

The officer did not use a radar gun, but rather was concerned about the kids crossing the street and felt that I did not see them, which was the primary reason for the stop.

Lastly, I did have a colleague who was waiting with that kid for 20 minutes and saw that I was indeed driving safely given the road conditions and stopped accordingly, but was not in the vehicle with me. Can I have that person be a witness and write a statement for me in the trial by written declaration?

I really appreciate any assistance or guidance because this was my first ticket and my personal vehicle is a Prius, so that typically says what kind of a driver I am but I know that it is irrelevant to the case. Truthfully, I was a bit depressed and distraught the past couple of weeks trying to figure this all out on my own, but I feel a bit better and ready to fight to have this dismissed!!

Thanks for listening.
 


justalayman

Senior Member
given the fact you have a CDL and your livelihood depends on it, I would suggest you not go the self representation route and hire an attorney. Yes, it is more expensive but losing the battle could have serious consequences for you and your job.



Furthermore, I had accidentally forgot my wallet and ID in my personal car back at the site. I understand that there are no excuses for not having my ID on me, but I felt that had I not been stopped then I would not have to pay that extra fine.
especially when you make arguments such as that you should not represent yourself. That is no different than; if the cop wasn't there you would not have received any ticket. Arguing you got a ticket not because of you weren't doing anything wrong is one thing. Arguing a point because you got caught but wouldn't have if......

is a bad perspective to have at all. It makes it sound like you are blaming somebody else for your error and in a court that is not how you want to sound.
 

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