Too fast for conditions & Laying Drags

[Church]

Georgia

I have a tendency to turn rather hard, I was driving last night and took a turn on my way home, my tires screeched and I started up the hill to get to my house. Then next thing I know someone is running at me with a flashlight, I was about to take off assuming it was some random crazy person but I saw the badge just as I was about to accelerate. He stops me and gives me a ticket for Too fast for conditions (40-6-180) ans Laying drags (40-6-251) I don't see how I could recieve either, he was in someone's yard talking to them I assume he heard the tires, and my car accelerating up the hill. Can he issue me a ticket for something that he isn't even sure happened?

[racer72]

Can he issue me a ticket for something that he isn't even sure happened?

You don't know what he saw. His assumptions will trump yours. I would suggest talking to a local attorney.

[cepe10]

Sounds like you are not guilty. I would question him on the stand according to the letter of the law. did he persoinally witness you spin the car around? and what specific persons or property were in danger?

40-6-251.

(a) No driver of any motor vehicle shall operate the vehicle upon
the public streets, highways, public or private driveways, airport
runways, or parking lots in such a manner as to create a danger to
persons or property by intentionally and unnecessarily causing the
vehicle to move in a zigzag or circular course or to gyrate or spin
around, except to avoid a collision or injury or damage.


And the other one is beyond vague... the ridiculous interpretation here would render everyone with a violation everytime their tires slipped slightly when driving in snow or rain or loose gravel/dirt even when it is just part of driving....

40-6-180.

No person shall drive a vehicle at a speed greater than is
reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard for
the actual and potential hazards then existing. Consistently with
the foregoing, every person shall drive at a reasonable and prudent
speed when approaching and crossing an intersection or railroad
grade crossing, when approaching and going around a curve, when
approaching and traversing a hill crest, when traveling upon any
narrow or winding roadway, and when special hazards exist with
respect to pedestrians or other traffic or by reason of weather or
highway conditions.


Now if you had gone out of the travelway their might be a case but as is he just wanted to harrass you and may not even bother to show up for court considering how weak this is...

[cepe10]

You will also want to direct the court to 10/28/96 STATE v. ARMSTRONG.


Officer Fouchia was working an off-duty job in uniform and in a marked police car in the parking lot of a shopping center on Christmas Eve. He heard tires squealing and saw white smoke coming from the rear tires of a pickup truck which bounced as it made a turn in the parking lot. Pedestrian and vehicular traffic were both heavy. The officer observed people walking near the truck and recognized the driver's manner of driving as dangerous to the pedestrian traffic.

[14] He followed and then stopped the truck, and as he approached it, driver Armstrong rolled the window down. The officer smelled marijuana and observed Armstrong concealing a pipe in his hand. After arresting him, the officer advised Armstrong of his implied consent and Miranda rights, and Armstrong consented to blood and urine testing. Additional marijuana was found in his pocket after his arrest.

[15] Armstrong was accused of driving under the influence of drugs to the extent that he was a less safe driver, OCGA § 40-6-391 (a) (2), driving with unlawful drugs present in blood or urine, OCGA § 40-6-391 (a) (6), possession of marijuana, OCGA § 16-13-30 (a), and "laying drag," OCGA § 40-6-251.

[16] At the motion to suppress hearing, Officer Fouchia testified that he stopped Armstrong for "laying drag" and that if there had been anyone directly in front of the truck at the time the incident occurred, he would have also charged Armstrong with reckless driving. Armstrong's counsel went through each act in the statute which constitutes "laying drag" and elicited testimony from the officer that Armstrong was not "causing the vehicle to move in a zigzag or circular course or to gyrate or spin around." OCGA § 40-6-251. Fouchia's testimony fell short of showing that Armstrong had violated this provision of the traffic code.

[17] The trial court observed that "there is a popular misconception among the public and law enforcement of what laying drags is. What you witnessed, Officer Fouchia, is not what the legislature says is laying drags. It's not a violation of the law -- not a violation of any law for the defendant to do what you witnessed him do." The courtthen found, "There can't be articulable suspicion on conduct that's not a crime," and excluded the evidence on the basis that the stop had accordingly been unreasonable under