Contest traffic ticket?

Vince M

This entire post sounds fishy to me.

There is no place in a California citation form for a driver to plead "not guilty." The only thing required of a driver is to sign the promise to appear in court. (or, of course, to pay the fine.)

Second, the fact that is was "dark" is, certainly, no excuse. What? Were you driving without your headlights?

Distracted by flashing traffic cameras? In FRONT of you. In San Francisco, as well as anywhere else these cameras are mounted, they are up high, on top of lamp posts, NOT in front of a driver. And, there aren't many flashes at any light change, and the flash, IF you can even see it, lasts a fraction of a second.

In any case, you just admitted you DID make that U-turn, and now, youi want to contest the ticket? Why don't you take responsibility for your actions? If either one of your excuses were valid, almost EVERY driver at that intersection would be getting tickets EVERY time.

Trust me, if you take this to court, you ARE going to LOSE.

El_Refe

You may want to take photos of the intersection at night, since this is when you got the ticket, to show how invisible the sign was to the normal driver. San Fran is notorious for having WAY too many traffic signs at intersections and not always making the important ones visible. If possible, try to take the photo from the same vantage point as you were before you made the turn, like if you were able to stop at the front of the line on a red light.

The judge may be able to side with you that the signage was not adequate and throw the ticket out. Otherwise, you're going to have to change your plea (in court) to guilty and ask for traffic school. If you attend that, you can have the point taken off your driving record, meaning your insurance couldn't be affected. The judge may also offer to reduce the fine for you, but there's no guarantee he/she will.

Dress professionally and be very courteous to the judge. If they feel for you, you may get out of it or at least save some $$!

Good luck!

UCANTCME

If you contest the ticket and loose the judge will be that much more upset with you, your best bet would be to ask if you can attend a traffic school............

Its a program that allows certain moving violators to receive instruction in driving and traffic safety. To be eligible for traffic school:

The violation must be eligible for Traffic School.

You have not attended traffic school on another citation issued within the last 18 months of your current citation.

mcperson2k

The cop should have given you a court date to contest it... Thats the only way to do it. Dont pay the ticket, go to the court date, then you will pay the ticket there depending on the outcome.

dirtytricksracing@sbcglobal.net

You broke the law pay the ticket. It is no ones fault buy yours.

Todd L

You should call up and plead not guilty (sounds like you did this already) Then you should receive a notice to appear in court. If you don't receive one call the court and have them pull up the ticket and see if you have the court date on the ticket or if they are sending another one. You will have to go to court one day to contest it though.

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