Ticket trouble: Are cops targeting out-of-town drivers?

Errr… if you do a little research, you will see that CA (where the poster is from) also has a law requiring you to scoot over a full lane away from emergency vehicles, if possible. (CA Code Section 21809.) It has been in place for two years.

In fact, if you look at this website (http://www.moveoveramerica.com/) most of the states in the country have such laws.

They were enacted due to a fairly large number of emergency workers being killed on highway shoulders due to inattentive drivers drifting off the road.

SirWired

In my state (Ohio) is it move over -OR- slow down for emergency vehicles. She certainly wouldn’t have gotten a ticket here for doing one or the other. In Michigan it is both and one needs to be aware that those signs are all over Michigan highways. In the end she may have ben targeted, but she should have been paying attention and I doubt the ticket will go away.

I still have to laugh though when anyone involved with local or state government tries to tell you that tickets are all about safety and not money. If that were the case, court costs wouldn’t be $150 a pop for 5 minutes in front of a judge and cities wouldn’t be putting up red light cameras everywhere with estimates of how much revenue they’ll generate. Luckily at least in Ohio they have mostly done away with mayors courts because of the conflict of interest when the person judging you is also responsible ffor the city’s coffers being filled.

I live near DTW, and they actually have signs in the airport terminal warning drivers that cops frequently and aggressively patrol the area near the airport. Good for the airport, but it’s created a bit of a rift with local police departments. It’s obviously a huge revenue-generator.

OK. So how in the world was Ms. Facey supposed to get off the freeway from the center lane? Gee, I always was under the impression you got in the right lane to access the exit lane. If she had moved quickly into the exit lane from the center lane, what do you want to bet the trooper would have zinged her for improper lane use?

I understand the law about moving over to keep from hitting road workers, etc., but I have to believe the trooper knew he had a pigeon when he saw the tag.

I want to hear how this one turns out.

it is my understanding that the purpose of “move over laws” were to protect emergency personel who were outside of their vehicles. I would argue that these laws don’t directly make anyone safer as inattentive drivers will remain inattentive drivers whereas attentive drivers wouldn’t hit people in the first place. The only good thing about them is that they tend to set up harsher punishments for violators, but I digress.

The Michigan statue seems to be a little vaugely worded at parts, but unfortunately for Ms. Facey it seems as though as long as the officer had his lights flashing he was within the law to stop her and issue her a citation.

In TX, the law is that you must move over or go 20 miles below the speed limit if the emergency vehicle is on the shoulder with their lights on. They can’t just sit there without their lights on and catch you for driving by. I know they have started cracking down on this law more, and I understand the law – far too many officers and other emergency personnel have been killed while working on the side of busy highways…But, I would suggest checking to see if the MI law is for all vehicles – or just those who have their flashing lights on…

Emergency vehicles don’t require the siren to be defined as emergency vehicles as long as the lights are going. The lights are usually installed somewhere out of sight these days until they’re activated, but you can definitely see them quite well when they’re going. I can assure you when the police are sitting on the side of the road, they are not going to leave the siren blaring – that’s reserved for moving traffic out of the way in a serious emergency when the emergency vehicle is moving at a high rate of speed. And perhaps the person in question used the term “flashers” to mean “emergency lighting.” Lots of people do.

I agree ignorance of the law should never be an excuse, although ignorance of obscure laws in other states might be a good reason to give a warning instead of a fine. However…since so many states have enacted similar laws in recent years, I’d say that while this one seems to be rather obscure for a lot of us, it shouldn’t be, and she shouldn’t be let off the hook so easily, either – especially since it’s a law in her own state.

Above all, however, common sense is the best indicator of what to do on the road, and strangely, it’s how we got most of our traffic rules. If you see someone pulled over on the shoulder, it’s best to get over in the left lane if possible. There’s a lot we don’t know about this situation here. She says she was preparing to exit and thus was traveling in the right lane at a somewhat reduced speed. But we don’t know how far down the road the exit actually was. It might be possible that she had room to get over into the left lane, then back into the right lane in plenty of time before her exit.

Of course, with nervous out-of-town drivers, I think she probably still merited a warning on this one. But sometimes whether a warning is issued in lieu of a fine depends on a) the attitude of the driver and b) the attitude of the officer in question. Sometimes it has absolutely nothing to do with any conspiracy by any local police force that happens to be patrolling the area.

I’ve never driven in Michigan but there are other states with this same rule. I drove through Utah and Idaho last fall and they have the same rule, however, every mile or so a sign is posted on the road telling you to move to the left if an emergency vehicle is on the shoulder. Saved my hide since I saw many such vechiles during my drive.

There is a HUGE (over 4 feet tall) brightly colored sign in the Detroit Airport stating that area law enforcement has stepped up its patrols and enforcement in and around the area – she had to walk past it to get out of the terminal. Regardless of enforcement, the law is the law. Officers put their lives on the line daily, the least we can do is follow laws that help keep them safer – and yes, getting a ticket stinks.

Even if there were no such law in California, I have very little sympathy when people complain that they got pulled over for violating the law.

Having spent a fair amount of time in MI over the last nine years I can tell you that this particular law is one they are totally anal about and that was before the states economy imploded. The other one they love to enforce is the one regarding merging into one lane for construction at the beginning of the cones. It’s actually a good law that keeps traffic moving.

MI is a bright shing example of the failure of Liberalism as they are now resorting to using the police to collect revenue to fund their failed policies.

To those who side with the police and want to blame the consumer here, don’t try and tell me cops never give out bogus tickets.

Years ago in Houston, I was on the feeder, doing the feeder speed limit, then got on the on ramp and then started accelerating to the appropriate highway speed limit, and then found the cops were pulling over EVERYBODY entering the highway. No, there really were no people getting by them onto the highway, it was a speed trap roadblock set to sweep all cars aside for tickets no matter what. The ticket was for speeding faster than the feeder street speed never mind the fact that DUH we were getting on the highway on the on ramp.

Didn’t matter. I was livid and contacted an attorney, insisting on fighting it. He shows up at court and says, well, if you want to spend a day in jail, get fined $2000 on top of my fees, and sit here for 7 hours before you are called, then sure, we’ll fight it, but I have to tell you, I’d rather help the honest defendants that will go ahead and admit wrong doing and pay the small fine then help someone like you.

Needless to say, I don’t trust anyone in the court or the police system in Houston after that.

I received a ticket on January20, 2009. I was driving southbound on Merriman Road. I was having a medical emergency. There is no shoulder to pull over on. I know there would be a turn less than a quarter of a mile a head so I focused on getting there. There was a cop under the over-pass who immediately pulled me over at my intended destination.

Once the officer arrived at my door I opened it and became sick at his feet. He never asked was I okay? He never checked to see if I were drunk. He never asked for my license, registration, proof of insurance nothing. He simply asked if this were my car? I said yes and he came back with a $120.00 ticket.

I petitioned to fight the ticket the “court date” was March 27, 2009. I got there and signed in with approximately 100 other people. Finally when my name was called a man with a folder with my information in it looked in the folder and told me that he saw that I had a perfect driving record and probably would like to keep it that way. He proceeded to tell me that he could make a deal with me.

I told him what happened and that I wanted to go before the judge. He said that the officer had nothing like that in the report. I told him I was not driving a lone. I had a witness. He asked if I wanted a formal hearing with an attorney there or an informal hearing with the judge. I opted for the informal. He than said, that I would receive a notice approximately 6 to 8 weeks in the mail with a new court date.

I got a notice on April 3, 2009 stating that I failed to appear in court and now the total fine was $145.

Oh my God! Is there no justice? Or, can these people hijack and mob bully me into accepting having to pay a ticket that was unjust and receive points not earned? What can I do?

The woman who got a $150 ticket for failing to pull over for an unmarked car that wasn’t actually performing any actual purpose was robbed. I’ve found that there’s only one way for out of towners to fight back in this situation, and it won’t work for everyone.

Years ago I got a $140 ticket while driving 77 in a 70 mph zone in the middle of west Texas. I hadn’t seen another car or even a gas station for miles, and I thought the fine was outrageous since I was only 7 miles over the limit in a vastly unpopulated area. I paid the ticket when I got home and have not been back to Texas since. Before that incident I had spent plenty of vacations in Texas, ran the San Antonio marathon, spent a week in Galveston/Houston, enjoyed a July 4th weekend in Kemah, went to Austin for the music festival, etc. Now I find other places to vacation where I’m not getting gouged by small towns looking to tax tourists in this way….there are plenty of options.

For $140, the state’s tourism department lost thousands of dollars in vacation spending from a once loyal visitor. If everyone did this, the dip in tourist spending would eventually offset the gains in ticket revenue.

Bela – please let me enlighten you as to my particular situation.  A ticket was issued because the cop was ON DETAIL.  This means he has a QUOTA!  My attitude couldn’t have been more respectful and my sense is that he actually felt a bit sheepish about it but QUOTAS are QUOTAS!  So while I appreciate the fact that you would have given me a pass – that was NOT going to happen unless I was the cops’s girlfriend.

As to how far down the road the exit was – it was IMMINENT.  As in a 1/4 mile.  Betty

That’s nice to know that you have very little sympathy for me.  You must follow all laws to the letter – wow it must be fantastic being perfect.  However when you get a ticket for going 56 in a 55 zone I expect that you will thank the officer PROFUSELY and not complain since you violated the law.

Sorry about your experience, Betty.  Our city has a reputation for the revenue generated by traffic tickets, especially those going to the airport. 

Our town is small and believe it or not, the airport doesn’t pay taxes.  The airport continues to expand and take over more land, which in turn causes more land to become tax free.

So, it’s this little town that is dwindling… and I don’t think that the tickets-as-revenue strategy is doing us any benefit.

But I just want to point out:  the businesses in town aren’t the one who came up with this strategy, it’s the police department.  (and this is said by someone who is looking forward to probably paying off a relative’s speeding ticket, which is why I searched on these terms in the first part)

(oh, and before someone else says that these things are “liberal policies,” like someone said above.  We’ve had a Republican led state senate this entire time, along with a state Governor for a while now.  The republican blocking of raising any taxes, coupled with the lowering of property taxes that is the natural result of lower property values, has led to some governments being forced to pick idiotic ways to raise revenue like this whole “let’s give everyone tickets” crap.)

I wish there was some way I could vote on this sort of thing, but in the mean time, I definitely understand your frustration and agree with it.  but — don’t blame the guys running local restaurants or even the gas stations.  They happen to just live here, same as me.