Do I Deserve a ticket?
Last week, I was driving into work on a really snowy day and there was 4-5 fresh inches of snow that appeared on the road prior. When I was turning into the parking lot at work, I was not able to see the road to get into the parking lot. So i followed the tire tracks i saw. I took the turn literally going 5 mph and it turned out that those tracks actually lead onto grass. With such little traction due to the fact the parking lot was on a hill and my car was on snow covered grass, i slowly slid into a car. Like the good person i am, i immediately went to find the person whos car i just bumped. 5 minutes later we called the cops for the insurance report. The police officer arrives and while he fills out the report, he gives me a speeding ticket telling me that i was going to fast for the weather conditions.
There are two things i have to disagree with this ticket. First off, i believe that i was being a very safe driver and showed no negligence at all since i was going extremely slow. http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/about/outreach/education/...
Second reason, This incident happened on private property and im pretty positive you cant get such ticket in a parking lot.
Comments
Taking all you said to be the truth -- no you did not deserve a ticket and there were no grounds for a ticket. You did all the measures a law abiding citizen would,.. you were driving a safe speed, used logic to make a turn which you only had a split second to decide the best course of action and then immediately notified the owner and the police of the accident.
This was completely unnecessary of the officer.
Fighting incorrect assumptive charges based on the officers (I am assuming non scientific) assay and evidence of the accident can be expensive and time consuming. That said,.. it can very convincingly be proved the speed at which the impact took place -- which would then prove the speed you were going within a fair degree of accuracy. A 4-5mph impact (which according to your story should even be a little slower than this after going through the grass/snow..) is quite evident compared to even a 10mph impact, etc. I don't see where any argument can be made that going 4mph was an 'unsafe' speed.
As others have said it will likely be much less of a headache to just let the charge go and pay the fine. However, if you have the money you should be able to obtain justice and have the charge dropped. This would involve a competent attorney and 'possible' funding of expert accident investigation. At the time of citation should of been when such question(s) should have been brought up. As once the scene is cleared.. the evidence collected is usually not valid for court proceedings.
Dash cams should come standard on US vehicles like they do in many other countries -- it would really help nail down the truth of moving violations, accidents, etc in this country.
Sorry to hear of your 'poor experience' with law enforcement.
Hope the rest of your month is better,
You don't deserve a ticket, it wasn't your fault. It was the weather. I'd understand if you were going 30-90mph but not 5mph. Check for any cameras and ask to look at the footage of yor speed. You can prove it to the cops. And you sound like a safe and good driver. You shouldn't have gotten a ticket. Best of luck!!
Honestly, I think life is too short to pursue this kind of thing. People spend weeks, months fighting the system but to no avail. I suggest you just pay the ticket and perhaps install a dashboard camera to provide rock solid evidence if something happens in future.
Whether you deserve it or not you still received a ticket. You might as well just pay the ticket because a judge isn't going to want to listen to all that nonsense you wrote above.
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