EbilDustBunny October 26, 2008 Share EbilDustBunny GC Alumni October 26, 2008 So i the way home from see my friend's band play. I decided to grab some food on the way home... then i decided to cancel that idea the next light was a red and had a turn lane with a light for the turning lane... There was no sign saying no U-turns allowed... my little green arrow saying I can turn left popped up and a made a U-turn. Next thing you know it the cop scared with his siren and I was on the side of the road... for an improper u turn that I wasn't aware of... seemed safe to me. Going back to that street to look for some kind of signage saying I wasn't allowed to make a U-turn there. He said if i take it to court i might win or go to traffic school. I asked him how much the ticket was going to cost me, how many points was this ticket, and what would this do to my insurance... granted there was a slight chance he knew the last question... but he said he didn't know for any of the other questions I had. Should I fight it... if there is no signage? *sigh* there goes my perfect driving record.... sigggh my innnnnssurrrrance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bewildered October 26, 2008 Share Bewildered Member October 26, 2008 I've never contested anything, but maybe take a picture of that intersection and take that with you to court Only one I've ever had that I thought of contesting was some cop that was bored, and tailing me .... and I thought I was doing everything right. Following the signs, etc. Sped up towards the posted speed as I was leaving residential, with him still tailing me. Bah ... I wasn't past the sign yet so he got me for like 2 or 3 over residential. But it would have been a 3 hour drive to contest it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher October 26, 2008 Share Preacher Member October 26, 2008 safest for best turnout would be to go to a traffic lawyer. They advertise everywhere, and get them to reduce it to a non points violation. This will cost you the price of the original ticket plus the lawyer fees (between $50 and $100 usually). In the long run it will make your insurance costs cheaper and allow you to save the money back that way. Personally I got a failure to stop at a stop light ticket, when I went through on a yellow. I had 4 people in the car that were witnesses and when I went to court the judge looks over at the cop and asks "did they run the light?" The cop said yeah and I had to pay it with the points on my license for 3 years. In a perfect world you could go and fight it and win, but we don't live in said world. Therefore, it'll be a 50/50 chance to win or lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackieChan October 26, 2008 Share JackieChan GC Alumni October 26, 2008 Aflac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EbilDustBunny October 26, 2008 Author Share EbilDustBunny GC Alumni October 26, 2008 Aflac I'll cook you're goose.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EbilDustBunny October 26, 2008 Author Share EbilDustBunny GC Alumni October 26, 2008 safest for best turnout would be to go to a traffic lawyer. They advertise everywhere, and get them to reduce it to a non points violation. This will cost you the price of the original ticket plus the lawyer fees (between $50 and $100 usually). In the long run it will make your insurance costs cheaper and allow you to save the money back that way. Personally I got a failure to stop at a stop light ticket, when I went through on a yellow. I had 4 people in the car that were witnesses and when I went to court the judge looks over at the cop and asks "did they run the light?" The cop said yeah and I had to pay it with the points on my license for 3 years. In a perfect world you could go and fight it and win, but we don't live in said world. Therefore, it'll be a 50/50 chance to win or lose. yeah looking up traffic laws for florida is like looking for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.... but i did learn that it's an offense to hang your clothing on a clothes line in my city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shazz October 26, 2008 Share Shazz Member October 26, 2008 Cya in 6 to 10 months!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters October 26, 2008 Share stutters GC Alumni October 26, 2008 in the same city as your ticket, find an intersection with a clearly marked "no u-turn" sign. take a picture, and if possible, include at least one of the street name signs in the picture. go back to your fateful intersection, take a picture of the missing "no u-turn" sign. print both, go to court. according to your super lame state-sponsored traffic book, u-turns are legal as long as it's not posted otherwise. http://www.lowestpricetrafficschool.com/ha...s/driver/en/3/8 (ref: turnabout) don't get a lawyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfly October 26, 2008 Share dragonfly Member October 26, 2008 (edited) Aflac I'll cook you're goose.... I will cook you are goose? Edited October 26, 2008 by DarkArchon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher October 27, 2008 Share Preacher Member October 27, 2008 MMMMMMMM Goose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EbilDustBunny October 27, 2008 Author Share EbilDustBunny GC Alumni October 27, 2008 Aflac I'll cook you're goose.... I will cook you are goose? lol gotta start typos early... gets them out of the system for the rest of the day. in the same city as your ticket, find an intersection with a clearly marked "no u-turn" sign. take a picture, and if possible, include at least one of the street name signs in the picture. go back to your fateful intersection, take a picture of the missing "no u-turn" sign. print both, go to court. according to your super lame state-sponsored traffic book, u-turns are legal as long as it's not posted otherwise. http://www.lowestpricetrafficschool.com/ha...s/driver/en/3/8 (ref: turnabout) don't get a lawyer. Yeah I plan to return to the intersection and double check on Tuesday. Thanks for the link, yeah it is lame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eXile October 27, 2008 Share eXile Member October 27, 2008 idk i havent gotten any tickets in years. *knock on wood, but when i did i just went to my parents lawyer. gave him 100 bucks and he always got it reduced to like "faulty equipment". paid that ticket (non-moving violation) and forgot about it. heck i even got out of a 118 in a 70. allthough i did go to jail @ first. i got the ticket(s) reduced to nothing that would affect my insurance and ended up paying like 500 bucks and defensive driving school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magruter October 27, 2008 Share Magruter Member October 27, 2008 I believe it's illegal to perform a U-turn at any controlled intersection. That might be where the ticket came from. Check your local laws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymo October 27, 2008 Share anonymo Member October 27, 2008 I believe it's illegal to perform a U-turn at any controlled intersection. That might be where the ticket came from. Check your local laws. Yep, unless posted it is generally illegal. Hardly ever enforced though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOFX October 27, 2008 Share NOFX Member October 27, 2008 (edited) my advice is to just go to court to accept the ticket.. Tell the judge what you did and why you did it. He may be having a good day and help you out. Or just pay the money and forget it... I'll trade traffic tickets with you. Be thankful that a couple of old people wanting money didn't get out and start claiming they were hurt in hopes of getting money from your insurance.. after you bumped with a speed difference of 10mph. Get this.. I was riding with my girlfriend saturday night. We are at a red light turning left in an intersection. The oncoming traffic has 5 lanes. 2 left turns and 3 straight. Our left turn light turns green and so does the oncoming traffics. My girlfriend freaks and hits her breaks when she see's two lanes of cars turning in front of her(she thought one was going straight). I called her crazy and told her to go.. meanwhile the person behind us is blowing the horn. After about a 3-4 second pause sitting half-way through the turn a mini-van comes flying through the oncoming traffics far straight lanes blowing a red-light and misses the front our car by about 10 feet. It was probably doing at least 40mph. I look over at her and thank her for being a bad driver. If she would have gone straight through the green light(like most of us who drive in traffic 24/7), that van would have probably hit our car right where I was sitting. I doubt I would have been in good shape after that.... Traffic sucks.. and where there is traffic, there are cops wanting to write tickets for every little thing.. I've decided to move out of the city after this. Next summer, I'm gone! Edited October 27, 2008 by .fx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magruter October 27, 2008 Share Magruter Member October 27, 2008 Normally if you go to court and ask for a reduction they will. With your history, they may even knock the points off but they still want your money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrX October 28, 2008 Share mrX GC Alumni October 28, 2008 Hire an attorney...they're fantastic people!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters October 28, 2008 Share stutters GC Alumni October 28, 2008 Hire an attorney...they're fantastic people...to use as speedbumps!!had a lil typo, but i fixt it. sj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrX October 28, 2008 Share mrX GC Alumni October 28, 2008 Oh, go get another jaywalking ticket......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackieChan October 28, 2008 Share JackieChan GC Alumni October 28, 2008 Oh, go get another jaywalking ticket......... *snicker* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmerisme October 29, 2008 Share farmerisme Member October 29, 2008 Easy, just move to a different state where you don't have a record. By the time you get to Washington, consider self exile to canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EbilDustBunny October 29, 2008 Author Share EbilDustBunny GC Alumni October 29, 2008 Oh, go get another jaywalking ticket......... A few years back my friends and I were driving down US-41 in Fort Myers at night. He almost took out an entire family. Mom, Dad and two very small kids... were jaywalking across the road! It was very scary. The crossing lights never stay on long enough for you anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renagade November 3, 2008 Share Renagade Member November 3, 2008 So i the way home from see my friend's band play. I decided to grab some food on the way home... then i decided to cancel that idea the next light was a red and had a turn lane with a light for the turning lane... There was no sign saying no U-turns allowed... my little green arrow saying I can turn left popped up and a made a U-turn. Next thing you know it the cop scared with his siren and I was on the side of the road... for an improper u turn that I wasn't aware of... seemed safe to me. Going back to that street to look for some kind of signage saying I wasn't allowed to make a U-turn there. He said if i take it to court i might win or go to traffic school. I asked him how much the ticket was going to cost me, how many points was this ticket, and what would this do to my insurance... granted there was a slight chance he knew the last question... but he said he didn't know for any of the other questions I had. Should I fight it... if there is no signage? *sigh* there goes my perfect driving record.... sigggh my innnnnssurrrrance! If u-turns are common place where you are from ... I personally would fight it. That's my 2 cents worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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