Quote:
Originally Posted by Sliver
Holy fk man, what is going through your mind right now?
Here's the law you quoted:
When approaching the "the intersection and facing the yellow light shall stop the vehicle before entering (a) the marked crosswalk on the near side of the intersection, or (b) if there is not any marked crosswalk, the intersection."
That's what I got a ticket for.
I went through an intersection right after the light turned yellow.
Whether it was safe or not is completely subjective and not a defense. My claim and sincere belief was it was not safe. That's why I went to court.
I lost. It didn't matter. You have to stop before a yellow. That's the law. The safe part is irrelevant. If you ever get that ticket go fight it on that basis you will lose.
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You losing a case doesn't change the law or how it's normally enforced. There are a lot of reasons you may have lost:
1) The judge was incompetent
2) The judge has a strong pro-police bias and would never believe anything you say that contradicts the officer's account.
3) You didn't argue the exception based on the law. Given that you were seemingly unaware of the actual law, that's possible.
But the fact is, in virtually every single light change in every city with similar laws, drivers enter the intersection on a yellow and aren't ticketed because the law allows for exceptions when it's not safe to stop. You got a prick for a cop and a judge who defers to them. But that's the exception.