ticket after an accident

[colombeenor]

What is the name of your state? maryland
heyy
i live in maryland and i had a accident 2weeks ago .what had happened was .i was trying to make a left turn and the vehicle on the opposite direction was going straight . because i saw the STOP on the floor , after stopping myself, i thought she was going to stop too. but she didn`t (she was talking and looking at someone in her car at the same time ) and she hit me !!! .
we call the police and it turns out that everything was my fault
1-i was trying to enter a "DO NOT ENTER " way
2-the stop says to STOP FOR PEDESTRIANS so she was not even suppose to stop said the police officer .
it was hard but all good for me because nobody was hurt except the cars BUT....
then he gave me a violations ticket (FAILURE TO YIELD BEFORE MAKING LEFT TURN )
now i have a provisional licence so i can not afford the points that that ticket is going to cost me so i decided to FIGHT IT
IF THE POLICE OFFICER SHOWS UP SHOULD I PLAID ''NON-GUILTY'',OR ''GUILTY WITH EXPLANATION''
HELLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gawm]

Do they have traffic school in Maryland? Your first hearing would be just an arraignment. The officer won't be there. The judge will ask you how you want to plead. If you take it to court then they will give you another court date. If the officer or lady that you hit doesn't show up you will be home free. If they do and you lose you will a pay a little more than if you just paid the ticket at the arraignment. If your state has traffic school I would opt for that.

[colombeenor]

thanks!!
we do have driving school here in maryland
how can that arrange my situation ??
i `d already did that school before getting the licence and will just have to do that again if my licence is suspended and if the MVA(maryland motor vehicle) asked me to .
i think i will just have one hearing.
like i didn`t pay the ticket, they will send me a letter about the court location and the date .
and the officer will be there but i don`t know about the girl (who hitted ME) .
because he(police officer) gave me a paper to send to sign and send to court if i wanted to plaid gulty with explanation but i didn`t...because i think that that will stil means points taken off my licence and consequences .
so i`m more concerned about what to said for my defense (i am sure he is going to show up `)
thanks for the concern .

[cepe10]

In MD courts I have been in recently - if the withness doesn't show up (the other driver) the judge will ask the trooper if he was a witness - he will say he didn't witness it and at that point in the cases I saw the judge dismissed it instantly.

If both the LEO and other witness shows up you may want to plead no contest and ask for leniency - probation before judgement.

[cepe10]

By the way the first trial in district court is your only time you will be in court unless you appeal the decision to circuit court in MD

[colombeenor]

does no contest means guilty ?and if i plaid guilty with explanation could i have the chance to see the citation waived?
and probation before judgement ? how can that help me?
i`m going to try to find that girl i had the accident with and talk to her

thanksss

[cepe10]

no contest is like guilty - you accept the consequences but imo does not count as a guilty conviction if a civil lawsuit is brought like guilty would.

citation won't be waived for explaination if you plead no contest or guilty - the best i think you can hope for is probation.

probation before judgement - you would not recieve the points if you keep your driving record clean for a period of time - i think one year or so....

[colombeenor]

hi
do you think the will give me the choice to choose probation before judgement?
and can i still chose it after plaiding non-guilty and found guilty ?
i want to make sure that i go for any chance i have for winning with non guilty
do you have any ideas about what i can say to explain myself before the judge ?
i need to make a decision before the court date GUILTY WITH EXPLANATION OR NON-GUILTY .and my decision will be based on the fact that i have reasons .i already thought about taking a picture of that WRITTEN STOP ON THE FLOOR (guess it can help to explain clearly ) what do you think.
really thank you

[cepe10]

See what happens when you get there - they may call your case, and the officer may just explain he did not witness the event and at that point the judge may dismiss if the other witness is not there.

If you want "probation before judgement" in Maryland in my opinion you have to act very humble and remorseful before the judge (they like to play King) and plead either no contest or guilty.

Bringing in pictures and explaining what happened will enforce the fact that you are concerned

You may even wnat to research the manual on traffic control devices if you want to challenge whether the intersection was marked correctly.

A stop bar with the identification STOP is typically considered the same as a stop sign.

A stop Bar with a "stop for pedestrians" sign sounds confusing and the fact that the other driver was apparently not going to stop for either pedestrians or cars sounds pretty marginable in this case.

[url]http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno-2003r1.htm[/url]

Bottom line if you were entering a "do not enter" that is going to be a problem for your defense...

[colombeenor]

everything you said make perfect sense
don`t you think that if the do not enter was the reason of the citation he would have clearly stated it ?
the citation said failure to yield right of way on left turn(something like that ) if he is going to talk about the do not enter don`t you think he would have given the citation for that?
so you think is bad idea to do the pictures?