My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Arizona
So this morning I was riding my bicycle down the street near where I live.
The place where I was heading was on the left side of the street, so I just rode on the left hand sidewalk
where the pedestrians typically walk (nothing illegal about that AFAIK).
As I came upon the railroad crossing, probably about 30 to 50 feet away from it, the Railroad Crossing lights suddenly came on, and the gate arms began lowering. So, I pedaled really fast and quickly crossed over the railway (long before the train was anywhere near the street).
I noticed two things around that moment:
1.) A couple cops were parked on their motorcycles nearby watching the whole thing.
2.) A car going the opposite direction of me sped up and got through the crossing point before the gate arms were very far down.
Shortly after that, I turned my head to see if the cops would go after the car. But to my surprise, one of them ended up coming my way and telling me to pull over on the next side street.
He was pretty straight-forward with me and told me what I had done wrong (crossing the railroad after the lights had come on). I mentioned the other car doing the same thing I did and he replied with something along the lines of "Well, I don't expect that driver to suddenly slam on its brakes and do damage to his car."
I made it clear to him (albeit respectfully) that I thought him pulling me over for speeding up to cross over long before the train was anywhere nearby was a little much for something so mundane and harmless. He didn't care, though. Maybe he just wanted to fill his end-of-the-month quota, or maybe he was just being nit-picky for some other reason. I don't know, but I think still what he did was ridiculous.
Anyway, he gave me the ticket and told me I could either pay the fine, contest it in court, or take a bicycle safety course and have a clean record afterwards.
He wouldn't give me an estimate on how much any of that would cost because he wouldn't want me to use that against him if he was wrong (understandable).
Anyway, the safety class only takes an hour and costs $15, so I will most likely do that....
Unless, however, you legal experts can convince me I'd likely win if I were to contest this case.
I think this is a ridiculous thing to cite someone for and really don't want to suffer in any way because of it. Nobody's life or safety was anywhere near in danger. Nobody would have suffered because of my decision had I not been pulled over.
Do you guys think I have any chance of getting out of this little mess scot free?
All advice is appreciated.
So this morning I was riding my bicycle down the street near where I live.
The place where I was heading was on the left side of the street, so I just rode on the left hand sidewalk
where the pedestrians typically walk (nothing illegal about that AFAIK).
As I came upon the railroad crossing, probably about 30 to 50 feet away from it, the Railroad Crossing lights suddenly came on, and the gate arms began lowering. So, I pedaled really fast and quickly crossed over the railway (long before the train was anywhere near the street).
I noticed two things around that moment:
1.) A couple cops were parked on their motorcycles nearby watching the whole thing.
2.) A car going the opposite direction of me sped up and got through the crossing point before the gate arms were very far down.
Shortly after that, I turned my head to see if the cops would go after the car. But to my surprise, one of them ended up coming my way and telling me to pull over on the next side street.
He was pretty straight-forward with me and told me what I had done wrong (crossing the railroad after the lights had come on). I mentioned the other car doing the same thing I did and he replied with something along the lines of "Well, I don't expect that driver to suddenly slam on its brakes and do damage to his car."
I made it clear to him (albeit respectfully) that I thought him pulling me over for speeding up to cross over long before the train was anywhere nearby was a little much for something so mundane and harmless. He didn't care, though. Maybe he just wanted to fill his end-of-the-month quota, or maybe he was just being nit-picky for some other reason. I don't know, but I think still what he did was ridiculous.
Anyway, he gave me the ticket and told me I could either pay the fine, contest it in court, or take a bicycle safety course and have a clean record afterwards.
He wouldn't give me an estimate on how much any of that would cost because he wouldn't want me to use that against him if he was wrong (understandable).
Anyway, the safety class only takes an hour and costs $15, so I will most likely do that....
Unless, however, you legal experts can convince me I'd likely win if I were to contest this case.
I think this is a ridiculous thing to cite someone for and really don't want to suffer in any way because of it. Nobody's life or safety was anywhere near in danger. Nobody would have suffered because of my decision had I not been pulled over.
Do you guys think I have any chance of getting out of this little mess scot free?
All advice is appreciated.
Traffic Lights, Signs and Controls: Ticket for Crossing Railroad Tracks with the Crossing Lights On, on a Bicycle
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire