Got A 2-point Ticket Today

[boonman]

The point system is that different tickets carry a weighted penalty. In NYS, I htink it is down to 11 points in an 18 month period and you get your liscense pulled. Then, there is speeding, which if you are high enough over, your liscense can be pulled on the spot.....

[ledofthezep]

Thanks boonman,...you all had me scratch'n my head there for a bit.

 

[.]

In pa I think its 11 pts and you lose your license. Anything written up for over 5mph over the speed limit is fines.

 

I was 16 had my license for like 5 weeks, and had a 71 Nova, straight 6, all worked, bought it off a guy that put like 15 grand into the thing (bought it for 4). I got out of detention and was all pissed off and went ripping down the one off street which their happens to be a school on. Lights were flashing, I didnt see them....saw the cop halfway through the speedtrap and hit the brakes, he clocked me doing 98 in a 15.

 

Lost my license right there, he followed me back to my house to park the nova for good (besides the few joy rides before the guy that sold it to me came back to buy it). Lost my license until I was 18, had a 2 thousand dollar fine, and 300 hours of community service. If I ever have to paint a fire hydrant or baseball field backstop again I think I'll kill myself first.

 

That was an expensive ticket

[Ducman]

I work in highway construction and set up many legal temporary road restrictions and detours, and if it is not 100% understandable to the average motorist then it is not enforceable. Basically the way I see it is that every driveway like the one where you came out of should have had a temporary regulatory sign (white with black lettering) saying no right, or left turn so you would have to go the other direction and wouldn't end up in the situation where you come up againts a dead end, and even worse, only your lane/direction of travel comes to a dead end causing you to have to do an illegal manuver to avoid another illegal manuver. That is the point I would argue with the judge, its kind of like entrapment in that respect.

 

If you can go take pictures of the traffic signs and layout (and/or if you already have) take more picture if they change signing so traffic can understand what they are suposed to do. Changes would be like an admission of guilt that the signage was set up wrong or inadequate in the first place. And do make a poaster board or nice graphical representation of the street layout and ALL construction signage.

 

I would also say to the judge that you generally assume that the people in front of you are law obiding citizens that are trying to comply with the law so you didn't realize untill it was too late that the lane was closed and that you followed traffic around the baracade. Furthermore if you had realized that they were making a mistake then you wouldn't have followed. Therefore the "so if your friends jumped off the bridge, then would you?" argument is shot down.

 

I think you have this one beat hands down.

[THOR1]

Nater I dont know how the law is up there but in NC we have something called PJC. Prayer For Judgement Continued. This is when you get a ticket and you plea do to having a good record within the past 3 yrs. What the courts do down here is dismiss the ticket altogether as long as you dont get a ticket for a yr. Trick is you get a ticket within that yr they frig you without vasaline! If you dont get a ticket within that year your home free! Ive done this twice down here.

[Ducman]

I got a ticket one time when I was 17 (I'll try to make a long story short) when a sheriff (which don't normally give traffic tickets) was riding my ass and like right on my bumper at night (10:30pm) with her lights on bright. They came up behind me like a bat outta hell. I went about a miles like that going really slow so they could pass me and when they didn't I thought it was someone wanting to fight. So then I friggin hit the gas on the ol' 67 mustang and left that sheriff in the dust. I literally walked off and left them behind big time. I figured I only had 2 miles to get to my house so I might as well get there way out in front so I can get inside and call cops, get a shotgun, ect ect whatever. After at least 1 mile of eating my dust the sheriff Nazi bitch finally turned on her lights. I was thinking WTF is this BS! The lady cop had what I assume was her training partner with her. She was a straight bitch and basically wanted to bitch me out and didn't want any reply from me. I was as humble as pie and they let me go with an 85 in a 55 ticket which is a 2 point ticket like wreckless driving and I think can result in a temporary liscense suspension. 85mph is the fastest they could get their POS going. They said they were doing 85 and couldn't catch up. I was really doing like 110mph Anyway, theres a couple more details but the bottom line is that they didn't go to court to contest the ticket so I got off.

[nater006]

I work in highway construction and set up many legal temporary road restrictions and detours, and if it is not 100% understandable to the average motorist then it is not enforceable.  Basically the way I see it is that every driveway like the one where you came out of should have had a temporary regulatory sign (white with black lettering) saying no right, or left turn so you would have to go the other direction and wouldn't end up in the situation where you come up againts a dead end, and even worse, only your lane/direction of travel comes to a dead end causing you to have to do an illegal manuver to avoid another illegal manuver.  That is the point I would argue with the judge, its kind of like entrapment in that respect.

 

If you can go take pictures of the traffic signs and layout (and/or if you already have) take more picture if they change signing so traffic can understand what they are suposed to do.  Changes would be like an admission of guilt that the signage was set up wrong or inadequate in the first place.  And do make a poaster board or nice graphical representation of the street layout and ALL construction signage.

 

I would also say to the judge that you generally assume that the people in front of you are law obiding citizens that are trying to comply with the law so you didn't realize untill it was too late that the lane was closed and that you followed traffic around the baracade.  Furthermore if you had realized that they were making a mistake then you wouldn't have followed.  Therefore the "so if your friends jumped off the bridge, then would you?" argument is shot down.

 

I think you have this one beat hands down.

Thanks for the good idea. I got some pics. gotta get them loaded on the craptop and resized and I'll schtick a couple online. It wasn't really *too* late to turn into the driveway unfortunately but it was a shitty situation and I would have had to back my bike out into oncoming traffic, and back it downhill, on a gravel covered driveway.

 

The only drive that had the sign is the VERY last one, right next to the roadblock (the above mentioned one). All the others are barren. The entire street is barren of signs until the very end. Seeing as though I didn't come through the OTHER end and see the signs, wtf was I supposed to do?

 

Thanks for the advice though. I was going to check and see if there is a regulation height that the "Do Not Enter" sign had to be posted (perhaps you know?) at. The "Road closed" sign was higher but the DNE sign was like 2' off the ground. Go kart level. No way I could see it over the friggin SUV in front of me.

 

In MI its 12 points in 24 months and its pulled.

Edited May 7, 2004 by nater006

[nater006]

Bleh.. didn't realize the driveway was that close. That sucks. At least I got a pic of a guy almost getting clobbered backing out of it,also

 

I was coming from the right, ran around that minicade, and up a street thats just to the left of the pic. Oh well. See the little "don't turn right" arrow in the driveway? Thats the *only* drive on this "one way street" that has it... hence the reason I went back that way. The street that that "blocks off" is right where the forth orange barrel from the left is sitting.just didn't quite get it in the pic.. that wuold have helped. Hence another reason i ran around stupid small barricade.

 

Edited May 7, 2004 by nater006

[nater006]

Here's my little update. (Bump..hehe)

 

Hearing is scheduled for ~1 month from now. And ohhhh guess what... MDOT (michigan dept of transportation) says that the minimum sign height in an urban area is 7' (bottom of sign). The "Do Not Enter" sign is not nearly that, and the "Road closed" sign *may* be but doesn't matter as it can be coupled with a "local traffic only" or other various signs -- which is why they don't leave it flyin' solo.

 

Someone's going to get an ass whoopin in front of the magistrate.