aquariustwist
New Member
Hi,
I'm new to this whole ticketing thing, and I'd love some advice. I live in Los Angeles, and yesterday was pulled over for running a red light during a left hand turn (from a 2 way street onto another 2 way street.) The officer said I was in the cross walk as opposed to the intersection, and therefore I ran the light. In my opinion my vehicle was partly into the intersection as the light was changing- I was waiting in a line to turn and the person at the front hesitated for an abnormally long amount of time before making their turn. Also, the officer was 6 lanes and a large divider away from me, in an intersection where there are two sets of lights which are staggered in their turning (I know this sounds confusing, sorry! The officer could not see the set of lights that governed my car, although they turn red before the second set do.) I definately could not see the cop's car, as several lanes of stopped traffic were between us when I started my turn (the cop himself said, "you couldn't see us" as an example to make me feel lucky that I wasn't hit by on oncoming car that I couldn't see while in the intersection.) My question is, should I contest this citation? I can't find any clear laws about turning in intersections, and unfortunately there are no witnesses. This is the first time I've ever been pulled over in the 5 years I've had my license- I'm worried that it will go on to my record if I contest and lose, and then cannot do traffic school since I contested.
Thanks for your help!
Erin
I'm new to this whole ticketing thing, and I'd love some advice. I live in Los Angeles, and yesterday was pulled over for running a red light during a left hand turn (from a 2 way street onto another 2 way street.) The officer said I was in the cross walk as opposed to the intersection, and therefore I ran the light. In my opinion my vehicle was partly into the intersection as the light was changing- I was waiting in a line to turn and the person at the front hesitated for an abnormally long amount of time before making their turn. Also, the officer was 6 lanes and a large divider away from me, in an intersection where there are two sets of lights which are staggered in their turning (I know this sounds confusing, sorry! The officer could not see the set of lights that governed my car, although they turn red before the second set do.) I definately could not see the cop's car, as several lanes of stopped traffic were between us when I started my turn (the cop himself said, "you couldn't see us" as an example to make me feel lucky that I wasn't hit by on oncoming car that I couldn't see while in the intersection.) My question is, should I contest this citation? I can't find any clear laws about turning in intersections, and unfortunately there are no witnesses. This is the first time I've ever been pulled over in the 5 years I've had my license- I'm worried that it will go on to my record if I contest and lose, and then cannot do traffic school since I contested.
Thanks for your help!
Erin