I have been getting my first glance at the legal system lately, all due to a traffic ticket. When I first started to fight the ticket, which I viewed as un-just, I didn't realize how much time, effort and money it would take to get justice.
It all started one night when I was driving my friends home from a party. I was the designated driver that night. While on the way home I checked my mirrors, put on my turn signal and went to change lanes, to my dismay there was a car beside me which I didn't see. I quickly sped up and went back over to my lane to get out of the way. Unfortunately, this was all that was needed to give me a "Reckless Driving" ticket because the car I encroached on was a KU Police Car.
I explained that I didn't see her in my blind spot and she proceeded to give me a ticket that is usually reserved for drag racing and weaving in and out of traffic dangerously.
So after I got the ticket, I thought "This should be pretty easy for me to take care of on my own, since I didn't do what the statute for reckless driving said."
That was where I was dead wrong. I showed up on my court date only to find out that they were closed on the 12/26/08 for the holiday. So I called the next week and scheduled a new time. This was 1/12/09. I show up that morning and I was not on the docket and to make matters worse I had to post bond for "failure to appear to court" on a day the court was closed!" So things started to get a bit frustrating.
I finally showed up to court on 1/27/09 and talked to the prosecutor who I told what happened and she said, "We do not plea-bargain under any circumstance for this offense unless you are a minor." I was amazed, so I had a trial time setup and found out how to get a hold of the video that showed my "crime."
I got the video and it showed exactly what I had hoped and more. It showed the officer going faster than traffic, passing all the cars on the right (including myself) in snowy weather. It shows that if she wasn't passing me on the right (and possibly speeding) that she wouldn't have been behind me 3 seconds before and beside me in my blind spot at the moment I changed lanes.
But it showed a lot more than just that. The officer was attached to a microphone the whole time she was in her car. It showed her calling to ask whether she can issue me a "unsafe lane change" even though I used my turn signal. This is a minor offense, much more fitting, and only a 15 dollar fine instead of a 90 day suspension of license! It shows her desire to give me a fine but her inability to figure out what fine would stick thus giving me something that the court has to deal with.
Now, I am ready with my evidence, with new hope that I can get this mistake cleared up, but with new disrespect for the local justice system. After talking with a lawyer, he is confident that all it will take is him talking to the prosecutor to get it reduced. So instead of having a "unsafe lane change" that costs me 15 dollars and no time in court. I have to pay several hundred to hire a lawyer to get it down to that same charge. Not to mention if I wanted to fight an "unsafe lane" change I could have gotten it reduced to a non moving violation thus keeping my driving record in tact.
If I had more money to fight it, I would want to go to trial and prove that what I did could have been avoided if the officer had not been passing on the right or simply going the speed of traffic in bad weather. I would want to prove that she would have given me a lesser fine had I NOT used my turn signal. I would want to prove that the justice system doesn't require money to get a fair shake.
For the Video use this link, best viewed with Windows Media Player:
Traffic_stop_Collins.wmv
Follow up:
I hired a lawyer, went to court and after 3 appearances it was finally thrown out the day of trial when the cop failed to show.
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