Questions about Tickets - Note: Very long!! Pls be patient

[aquariuz]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey

Hi, I have 2 questions regarding the tickets I got recently for moving violations. I will split them into 2 parts.

1) I got a ticket for rolling through a stop sign. Apparently, according to the officer, I didnt stop long enough. Well, this was my first moving violation ticket and I was very shaken by it. The officer was nice enough to tell me that since it was my first violation, I could go to court n try to get my points dropped and just pay for the ticket. Now I have no problem paying the ticket, I just dont want the points, and since Im only 23 yrs old n trying to get my own car, I really could do good without it. Now my question to this matter, Should I bring a lawyer with me to solve this matter? I know Im already wrong and I am willing to admit it, as long as they will drop the points. Will the presence of a lawyer better the odds of winning (dropping the points) or will it just be the same odds if I do it all by myself??

2) Not long after that, about 3 weeks to a month, I got another ticket for something that will be explained thoroughly as I need your advice on this matter. I have a feeling I was ticketed unfairly. I apologize before hand for this will be really long.

As I was leaving home, I made a turn around the corner of my block. I had previously noticed that the road was partially blocked due to sidewalk construction, but seeing that the car in front of me made the turn, I decided that it was alright to go into the road. Once inside that road, I realized that an extend of the road was partially closed, about a block or so. What I mean by partially closed is that the left hand side of the driver's side (meaning the opposite lane) was closed and that my lane was open on both sides of the blockade.

Half way down the road, out of nowhere, a cop appeared from the sidewalk and pulled me over, while the car in front of me rolled along unscathed. I was shocked n baffled, especially how he chose me rather than the car in front. He asked me for this and that, like the regular pullover, n he told me that im getting a ticket because i ignored the blockade. I said I was sorry about it, but i didnt blatantly ignored it, I was just following the car in front of me. He didnt buy it n was persistent to give me a ticket. I just kept quiet, thinking that i was wrong. He went into his Truck, which by the way, was unmarked and was not a standard police cruiser (the Dodge Durango). Instead he was sitting in a black Nissan Pathfinder pick up truck with only that kind of badge that you stick on the windshield. Even he wasn't dressed properly as an officer on duty. I was annoyed that as an officer on duty, he wasnt taking care of the traffic, but rather was standing around behind the parked worker vans, waiting for someone to pass by. However, I said nothing to him.

Not long after he got into the van, a car passed by from behind, which meant they went through the blockade n ignored it. I was very very annoyed at how he just ignored that car. And not long after that 2 more cars went in, and he just carried on writing my ticket. I decided to call him, asking him why are those car allowed to go in, and all he said was that he handles one car at a time. And all that time, maybe another 2 or 3 cars passed by. I was furious. He eventually came back, and I told him why weren't the other car pulled over, and he smiled and repeated his answer. Not satisfied with such an answer, i said you could've pulled them over, and issue tickets later ( I've seen cops do that, and i know he could if he wanted too) and with a smirk on his face, he said that am I questioning his job and his judgment. I said I'm not questioning, I just feel its unfair, and he told me to better leave before he issues another ticket. And all this time we were talking, maybe another 2 cars strolled in. I was fuming, and i said I will see him in court.

Now, if what he said was true, that he only handles one person at a time, why didnt he pull over the car behind me after I moved away?? Yes, another car drove into the road right after i pulled away from the cop, and he did not pull that car over. That was the last straw, I called the police department and scheduled for a court date.

I have seen hundreds of road blocks before, either in NY or NJ and I know that there is no difference in how they block a road. If no car is to pass that road, both lanes are closed with road blocks and on one side of the road, the officer on duty parks his cruiser perpendicular to the traffic and has the lights on. He will be standing right next to his cruiser and direct traffic, signaling drivers that they cant enter that road. This is more or less what I normally see during a road block. And when the road is only partially blocked, the opposite traffic is free to go through.

In my case, none of this existed. He claims the street was totally blocked, but yet, only one side of the road was blocked and on both sides of the road block, cars are coming in and out, with the exception that the other side they cant go through completely because of all the construction vehicles. Other than for that reason, cars were coming in and out. And as I have said, He did not park his cruiser (which was not an official vehicle) at the appropriate place, and he was not within eyesight of drivers and was not directing traffic.

Sorry it was such a long story, but I feel it's necessary to let you know the whole story. Please advice me on what to do with this situation. Will I be getting points for this case, and if I do go to court to fight it, should I take along a lawyer, and again, will it better the odds?? Please advice. Thank you.

[seniorjudge]

Q: Will I be getting points for this case, and if I do go to court to fight it, should I take along a lawyer, and again, will it better the odds?

A: By all means, seek legal advice. Your odds are the same with or without a lawyer: About 50-50, more or less.

[cepe10]

New Jersey requires traffic control devices meet the requirments of the manual for uniform traffic control devices...

[url]http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/2003/part6/part6f3.htm#section6F63[/url]

Standard:
A sign (see Section 6F.09) shall be installed with the appropriate legend concerning permissible use by local road users. Adequate visibility of the barricades from both directions shall be provided.

It sounds like the required signage to indicate to the motorists what was poermissible was not in place and thus the cited law is not enforceable

You may want to bring this up in court. A lawyer will probably not help too much because they know very little of traffic engineering requirements. If you get an open minded judge who respects the letter of the law you will get the dismissal.

You can also ask for lenience and question the peace office on the stand as to his arbitrary and capricious enforcement...sometimes it is just nice to make someone like that commit perjury on the stand