Krizteenah
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Florida
As I was driving down US1 in Coral Gables, I was pulled over for "running a red light." This, however, is not the case. The only way I can describe it was that as soon as I PASSED THE CROSSWALK, into the intersection, it turned red. [I know this because I have a small car with literally not rear end.] As I continued down US1, I was pulled over, maybe a quarter of a mile past the light when the officer turned on his lights. [Edit: This is going on the law that if you are in the intersection when the light is yellow, obviously, you have the right to continue on, which is how half of Miami makes its left-hand turns, though I was going straight on this occasion. I did not speed up, or slow down with hesitation, but keep going; I steadily kept my speed of 45 mph, which is the legal speed. Yes I know, people don't GO the speed limit, but I was because I was on the phone, so I try to drive particularly careful, HAHA, irony.]
Now, I will say that I was on the phone [with my mother, who was looking up my bank account balance, we were not talking at the time because she had set down the phone, so I wasn't actually paying attention to the phone itself], and the officer snidely remarked that if I had NOT been on my phone, maybe I would have noticed the light turning red. Last time I checked, talking on a phone while driving isn't illegal, not that I usually allow it, but I really needed to know if I had money, and since I had a while to go straight, it wouldn't be so bad for a minute or so. I mention this because my boyfriend, who works for DOC, thinks the cop just really hated that I was on a phone and wanted to get me... I dunno, we're paranoid.
He also tried to give me a second citation because my driver's license had not been updated. He ended up not filing that one because I explained that I was a student, not a permanent resident. Though he did take it away, he seemed unhappy about it, but that's my opinion.
Something else that bothered me was that when he pulled me over, another car showed up, and was shining lights all over in my car, not that it's illegal, I don't think, but I felt slightly harassed by the whole situation.
My last note on this is that though I was at the end of a pack of cars driving down the road, there had been a black Honda who was erratically lane changing and generally making itself a nuisance. Can I use this as a defense in court, that even though the yellow light is a few seconds, I was kind of keeping an eye on him, and when I saw that the light was yellow, I didn't feel I had sufficient time to safely stop my vehicle [even though I insist I was in the intersection at the time the light turned red]. I mean, driving isn't just one thing, I was obviously trying not to get into an accident, as well.
[Sorry, I tell every detail of everything, causing large amounts of words, bad habit sometimes...]
As I was driving down US1 in Coral Gables, I was pulled over for "running a red light." This, however, is not the case. The only way I can describe it was that as soon as I PASSED THE CROSSWALK, into the intersection, it turned red. [I know this because I have a small car with literally not rear end.] As I continued down US1, I was pulled over, maybe a quarter of a mile past the light when the officer turned on his lights. [Edit: This is going on the law that if you are in the intersection when the light is yellow, obviously, you have the right to continue on, which is how half of Miami makes its left-hand turns, though I was going straight on this occasion. I did not speed up, or slow down with hesitation, but keep going; I steadily kept my speed of 45 mph, which is the legal speed. Yes I know, people don't GO the speed limit, but I was because I was on the phone, so I try to drive particularly careful, HAHA, irony.]
Now, I will say that I was on the phone [with my mother, who was looking up my bank account balance, we were not talking at the time because she had set down the phone, so I wasn't actually paying attention to the phone itself], and the officer snidely remarked that if I had NOT been on my phone, maybe I would have noticed the light turning red. Last time I checked, talking on a phone while driving isn't illegal, not that I usually allow it, but I really needed to know if I had money, and since I had a while to go straight, it wouldn't be so bad for a minute or so. I mention this because my boyfriend, who works for DOC, thinks the cop just really hated that I was on a phone and wanted to get me... I dunno, we're paranoid.
He also tried to give me a second citation because my driver's license had not been updated. He ended up not filing that one because I explained that I was a student, not a permanent resident. Though he did take it away, he seemed unhappy about it, but that's my opinion.
Something else that bothered me was that when he pulled me over, another car showed up, and was shining lights all over in my car, not that it's illegal, I don't think, but I felt slightly harassed by the whole situation.
My last note on this is that though I was at the end of a pack of cars driving down the road, there had been a black Honda who was erratically lane changing and generally making itself a nuisance. Can I use this as a defense in court, that even though the yellow light is a few seconds, I was kind of keeping an eye on him, and when I saw that the light was yellow, I didn't feel I had sufficient time to safely stop my vehicle [even though I insist I was in the intersection at the time the light turned red]. I mean, driving isn't just one thing, I was obviously trying not to get into an accident, as well.
[Sorry, I tell every detail of everything, causing large amounts of words, bad habit sometimes...]
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