dougsbug
Veteran Member
I don't know if this is in the right forum- but I was driving my Jetta 
I was approaching the light to turn left slowing from 55 mph. The officer was in plain view of myself and family from over a 1/4 mile away- the police car graphics were highly reflective. He was sitting at the light facing East. We were going North, turning West.
We slowed to make the turn and the light turned YELLOW as we entered the intersection. The pavement was wet, and it was dark. We eased through the intersection and continued on our way- for as long as it took the cop to chase us down. We got pulled over and then sat in the car for several minutes until he made his appearance at my car window.
He then said very unpleasantly, DO YOU KNOW WHY I STOPPED YOU?! Being tired and none too happy to be pulled over, I responded with, "I haven't a clue." Probably not the most wise thing to say. But I knew I was not speeding, there was no way to stop as I WAS IN THE INTERSECTION when it turned.
He did not see it that way and proceeded to ticket me.
I tried to plead my case with the officer but he was quite set. I asked to see the video as it would exonerate me. Of course the video only starts when the lights are turned on. The cop said "We Are Done!" (I think he was having a bad night.)
So got to plead my case with the magistrate in court.
To prepare- and this may be of some use to the forum- I did a pile of research. I photoed and videoed the light, timed it, made distance measurements of the light, limit (stop) line, etc.
I found stopping times charts in feet plus reaction times. http://faces4.org/index.php/Speed/Stopping-Distance-Chart.html
I found that a stop light with a 55mph intersection should be a minimum of 6 seconds yellow. My light was 4.5 seconds.
Armed with charts and graphs, I made my way to court. The magistrate said it was the state's burden of proof. In other words, they would have to prove I was guilty.
At court the cop said I was "combative". And that the light turned RED when we were under it. While I was perturbed, I was not "combative".
The magistrate said he sees all kinds of people run yellow lights. I told him video of the event would have proved my innocence, he said everyone says that until they see the video tape.
Then I got to say my piece, show my charts, have my witnesses testify. (Wife and son in the car.) After all this, the magistrate was about to rule against me. I asked him to do the math- the light was about 45 feet from the stop line, the car traveled at over 30 feet per seconds, the average reaction time is one second, so I would have had to stop the car in 1.5 seconds.
The magistrate, to his credit, said he would take a drive out and investigate for himself.
On Friday, I get a letter from the court saying dismissed!
So, here are some tips-
Be Over polite to the police. Don't bother arguing with them as you will only entrench them in their decision and if you go to court, they will put a more vigorous testimony.
Do some homework. There is a lot of information on the web.
Take a shot in court- you have nothing to loose.
There is more to the story but I have already written quite a lot.
Good luck and know the states are trying to make money with more tickets!
I was approaching the light to turn left slowing from 55 mph. The officer was in plain view of myself and family from over a 1/4 mile away- the police car graphics were highly reflective. He was sitting at the light facing East. We were going North, turning West.
We slowed to make the turn and the light turned YELLOW as we entered the intersection. The pavement was wet, and it was dark. We eased through the intersection and continued on our way- for as long as it took the cop to chase us down. We got pulled over and then sat in the car for several minutes until he made his appearance at my car window.
He then said very unpleasantly, DO YOU KNOW WHY I STOPPED YOU?! Being tired and none too happy to be pulled over, I responded with, "I haven't a clue." Probably not the most wise thing to say. But I knew I was not speeding, there was no way to stop as I WAS IN THE INTERSECTION when it turned.
He did not see it that way and proceeded to ticket me.
I tried to plead my case with the officer but he was quite set. I asked to see the video as it would exonerate me. Of course the video only starts when the lights are turned on. The cop said "We Are Done!" (I think he was having a bad night.)
So got to plead my case with the magistrate in court.
To prepare- and this may be of some use to the forum- I did a pile of research. I photoed and videoed the light, timed it, made distance measurements of the light, limit (stop) line, etc.
I found stopping times charts in feet plus reaction times. http://faces4.org/index.php/Speed/Stopping-Distance-Chart.html
I found that a stop light with a 55mph intersection should be a minimum of 6 seconds yellow. My light was 4.5 seconds
.Armed with charts and graphs, I made my way to court. The magistrate said it was the state's burden of proof. In other words, they would have to prove I was guilty.
At court the cop said I was "combative". And that the light turned RED when we were under it. While I was perturbed, I was not "combative".
The magistrate said he sees all kinds of people run yellow lights. I told him video of the event would have proved my innocence, he said everyone says that until they see the video tape.
Then I got to say my piece, show my charts, have my witnesses testify. (Wife and son in the car.) After all this, the magistrate was about to rule against me. I asked him to do the math- the light was about 45 feet from the stop line, the car traveled at over 30 feet per seconds, the average reaction time is one second, so I would have had to stop the car in 1.5 seconds.
The magistrate, to his credit, said he would take a drive out and investigate for himself.
On Friday, I get a letter from the court saying dismissed!
So, here are some tips-
Be Over polite to the police. Don't bother arguing with them as you will only entrench them in their decision and if you go to court, they will put a more vigorous testimony.
Do some homework. There is a lot of information on the web.
Take a shot in court- you have nothing to loose.
There is more to the story but I have already written quite a lot.
Good luck and know the states are trying to make money with more tickets!
