Basically I wanna know if I could win in court. Read below...

Ok, sorry if its lengthly but here it goes. Im driving home last night from OSW and its about 8:15pm when this nice lady from ocs pulls me over. Here is the deal. First off, whenever I get pulled over and I know I was doing something wrong, which has been everytime other than once, and the officer asks "do you know why I pulled you over" I will admit it and take responsibility. This time I honestly did not know why I was being pulled over, other than the fact that while in the middle of changing lanes my turn signal turned off, so I thought maybe that was it.

So she tells me she pulled me over for two things, first, apparently I changed lanes when crossing over that solid white line that divides lanes @ an intersection, and 2nd, apparently I cutoff the driver that was behind me. I got the ticket for improper lane change(pulling infront of a vehicle in the same lane. 316.085(2) )

Now, I was coming down hwy50 and was in the right lane. I noticed a redlight up ahead with approx 5-6 cars already stopped in my lane, and in the left lane only 1 or 2. So I decided to change lanes to get behind the lesser amount of cars. There was a car in the left lane a little infront of me, so when it got ahead I changed lanes behind it. When I did change lanes, there was no driver that I cutoff, if anything the car behind me was atleast a bus length or two back, probably more. Now I dont know how long that white solid line is @ this particular intersection(im going tomorrow to check it out and take pictures), but I was atleast 6-10 car lengths at the least from the intersection as I had barely begun to slow down when the light turned green and I kept driving.

Now, the officar said she saw everything perfectly. First off, she was in the right lane, so she had to have been looking in her rear, but im assuming most likely her side mirror. Also, the officer was in the group of 5-6 cars in the right lane already stopped at the light, she had atleast 2 cars infront of her(she said 2), and there were 2-3 cars behind her.

I will say she was probably one of the nicest officers I have dealt with(other than ones that let me go ). I dont think she saw what happened though. I know for a fact I didnt cut any cars off, and I dont believe there was a solid white line when I crossed over because there were atleast 5-6 cars stopped at the light in the right lane, and I changed lanes obviously before that because I didnt hit any cars.

Do you guys think I will win this if I take it to court? My only concern is that a few months ago I got a ticket for careless driving that I am about to take the class for. Im thinking the judge would see that and automatically assume I'm in the wrong. Once again sorry for the novel, but I wanted to be thorough. Also, would I have a better chance of winning if I hired one of those traffic attourneys??? Ive never been to traffic court before. Thanks alot for your input.

 

Going to court is not worth it. I would just pay the fine and take the driver improvment course. No points that way...less money than a lawyer. Not worth the fight IMO.

 

I would do that, but I just recently got a ticket, and I am going to class to remove those points. I dont care about money, I mainly care about the points. So I dont think I will loose anything if I go to court, other than paying extra cash. I also dont believe I did anything wrong, thats worth the fight IMO, unless maybe I would get in a **** load of trouble if I lost or something. Its only 3 points, but its not 3 points that I want on my license.

 

if you get a traffic attorney, im sure you would win. ive seen those guys get people out of some crazy tickets.

 

Go to court and plead no contest and ask to take the course.If the judge tell you you have to take the course then thats different from you taking it for the careless driving on your own.Back when the limit was 5 times in you life if a judge ordered you to take the class it didnt count towards your 5....i know from experience.lol

 

so in reality I could keep doing that? what about the 12month limit?

 

what??!! youre allowed more than 5 in a lifetime now?

 

I have heard this, and lately hearing it more that when go to court, plead no contest and opt to take the course, that it doesnt count against your 5. I'm on my third now, I wish I had known this earlier. Can any officers chime in and confirm this?

 

no, 5 times is the limit, to get anymore then that is a flaw or just luck....trust me we have some dumbass judges in florida...and to plead no contest wouldnt really be that good of a idea, because of insurance purposes...nolo contendres also show up on your record...dont think its just a free pass...if you want to fight it go ahead, your gonna end up paying that amount ....its just if you want the points or not....

 

i wouldnt waste my money on some lawyer. i took my ticket to court b/c the cop said that i merged illegaly. i rode the merge lane all the way till the end and then got over and he said that was illegal. well i took pictures of where it happend, got the facts from the florida driver handbook and took it to court. i won, no points, no ticket costs, no court costs, nothing! it was sweet. do it urself, its more fun to anyways

 

dont you know cops make up b/s LIES just to make you pay becuse they think your stupid and pay.

And the judge's are full of b/s to.

id fight it. I have beat 5 tickets.

and my dad was a cop for 30 years.

to serve and protect. HAHA what a joke. Well mabe there donuts.

 

i wouldnt go that far. most traffic cops suck *** and make **** out to be worse than it is. but all the other cops that do real police work i never have a problem with and im glad to have them.

 

I dont think this officer was a traffic cop since she was county, and I will say she was really nice but seemed new. Ive come across a couple other nice cops, but whats irritating is the fact that from her position, she had to have either been looking in her side or rear view mirror, and the sun is going down. Not to mention she said she saw everything I did perfectly. Im for sure going to fightthis in court. I will for sure also post up after and let everyone know if I won or not.

 

gator please close this thread, its just gonna start more arguements seeing comments like this.....or maybe im just upset cause my daddy wouldnt get me out of tickets

 

No, im grateful for officers. Ofcourse there will always be bad apples in any profession. I have also been pulled over for being totally in the wrong, expecting a large ticket, and walked away with a warning and I was very grateful. I wouldnt close the thread just yet, but I will agree with staring and say that if there are anymore ignorant replies, go ahead and close it.

 

to the best of my knowledge, unless the law has been changed, crossing a single white line is not against the law. i believe the law states that changing lanes during a single white line is discouraged but not prohibited. solid yellows and double whites are illegal.

 

I do believe though that you cannot change lanes through an intersection, or within a certain amount of feet or so. I dont know exactly. I do know though, after checking out where I supposedly did this, its impossible, because the line isnt long enough.

 

you cannot change lanes in a intersection or along the single white line that comes before it....if someone really cares...ill go get the statue book out of the car otherwise im not walkn my butt out there to get that heavy paper weight

 

State law says you can't change lanes within 100ft of an intersection. I forget the exact statute #, I don't have my book. The white lines will usually be around that length.

Your only chance for winning this case is that she used her mirrors to observe the violation. I've heard from another Officer that a judge threw his ticket out because he saw the violation in the mirror. I think you have a chance.

 

guys all i know is that this is what it says in the drivers handbook.....http://stateofflorida.com/Portal/Des...aspx?tabid=213
Solid white lines are used for turn lanes and to discourage lane changes near intersections. Arrows are often used with the white lines to show which turn may be made from the lane.