red light ticket

[racer72]

Do you like to be called names for doing the job you were hired to do? Lose the attitude before you step foot in the court room will be the biggest thing you can do to help yourself.

 

[LSCAP]

Check with your insurance agent. Not all tickets raise your insurance.
In my state nine mile over the speed limit doesn’t raise your rates, but ten does.

If you explain to the DA, sometimes you get a break to a lesser charge and “Court Costs.”
And yes. Lose the attitude. It can hurt anything you say.

 

[I_Got_Banned]

I got a ticket for running a red light. The light was yellow when I went through it n only turned red after i was in the intersection but hte cop swore it was red even though he was coming from the perpindicular direction (i was driving north he was comin from the west).

Was it daytime or nighttime?

If it was daytime then you might have a point... But if it was noghttime, then you have to consider that he can see the glow of the red light even if he was perpendicular to the direction in which it illuminates.

Keep in mind that depending on the location of the cop and the location of the traffic light, he might still be able to see when it changes. So unless you can show the court that it was difficult for the cop to see it, (and if so, I'd take pictures to show the Judge) you're better off not going down that road...

I want to go to traffic court and fight it but from what i understand if the *** hole cop shows up im pretty much screwed cuz from what ive heard they always take the words of the cop over the driver.

The reason for that being that the cop doesn't stand to financially gain by lying... Whereas most people would lie about their citation and assuming the court will believe their story, they save money in a number of different ways.

i want to avoid gettin the points going on my liscense and insurance going up.

See what I mean???

i have a clean driving record and dont even have so much as a parking ticket for the 4 years ive had my liscense. this would be my first offense.

I can never understand the logic behind that statement.... And everybody who gets their first citation is almost guaranteed to say it!!!!!!!!!!!

Consider this... EVERYBODY starts out with a new license and a CLEAN DRIVING RECORD. And if everytime that somebody got a citation, for him/her to assume that it should be dropped based on his/her CLEAN DRIVING RECORD is absurd! Think of another one, will ya?

 

[Zigner]

If the officers light was green when you entered the intersection, he can reasonably state that your light was red.

 

[Maestro64]

The only questions that has to be answer was it red when before you crossed the stop line, this is the white line across the road before you enter the intersection. It does not matter if the light turned red while in the intersection or what the officer's light was when he decided you ran the a red light.

PA laws follow the MUTCD which clearly states you can not cross the stop line after the light is red. Nowhere in the law does it say anything about being in the intersection when it turns red. All lights in PA are required to meet the MUTCD which means that after being yellow all lights must stay red for a period of time to allow cars which entered on yellow to clear the intersection before allow opposing traffic to move.

If the officer stated it turned red while in the intersection, he made your case for you since all you need to do is point out the law where it says a violation is crossing the stop line after turning red...

If the officer says he you crossed after it turned red, your battle is hard since now you have to show the officer did not have clear sight of the stop line or the lights facing you.

If he used his light as the reference then the fight is even harder since you now have to show the light may not have followed the MUTCD meaning it turned green immediately after yours turned red. There are plenty of lights in PA which do this and are in violation of the MUTCD.

PA has written into the code that any traffic control device not meeting the requirements of the MUTCD can not be enforced.

 

[Maestro64]

I can never understand the logic behind that statement.... And everybody who gets their first citation is almost guaranteed to say it!!!!!!!!!!!

Consider this... EVERYBODY starts out with a new license and a CLEAN DRIVING RECORD. And if everytime that somebody got a citation, for him/her to assume that it should be dropped based on his/her CLEAN DRIVING RECORD is absurd! Think of another one, will ya?

Here is how this works in your favor in PA...

The locals courts and police will consider this as reason to reduce the violation to a non-point ticket. This ticket could be reduced to a Failure to Obey a Traffic Control Device a 3111 offense which carries no points and cost about the same as most speeding and other traffic offense fines. So you get no points, and the town and the court gets their $100+ fine. Even thought the courts and local police are not allow to do this in PA, since the state is the only authority to drop the points it happens every day in PA courts.

The officer will usually approach the person ahead of time when they enter the court room and ask them why they are fighting the ticket and if the answer is because of the points, and the officer see you have a good record they will usually offer to convert the ticket to a no point violation in exchange for you to pay the fine.

Ever time the police do this they demonstrate to the community it is not about safety, it is about $.

 

[Zigner]

If he used his light as the reference then the fight is even harder since you now have to show the light may not have followed the MUTCD meaning it turned green immediately after yours turned red. There are plenty of lights in PA which do this and are in violation of the MUTCD.

HOWEVER, even if the green comes to quick after the other direction turns red...the GREEN that the officer has would mean that the OP's light was RED. THAT means that if the light for the officer was green when the OP crossed in to the intersection (ie: when he crossed the limit line), then the OP's light was red.

 

[patstew]

The officer will usually approach the person ahead of time when they enter the court room and ask them why they are fighting the ticket and if the answer is because of the points, and the officer see you have a good record they will usually offer to convert the ticket to a no point violation in exchange for you to pay the fine.

Ever time the police do this they demonstrate to the community it is not about safety, it is about $.

And here I thought it was about overcrowded courts and priorities. Silly me.