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      07-19-2010, 11:45 AM   #1
Joonsup
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Unsafe lane change violation?

Just wanted to get your opinions on my situation. I plan on fighting it and not sure if I"ll do it by showing up to court or do it by written declaration. Here's what happened and let me hear your thoughts.

After leaving IKEA I was heading towards the intersection and was in the very right lane (4 lanes total..2 left lanes are turning lanes). I was still about 5 cars back in the right lane stopped at a light when I realized I needed to move over 2 lanes in order to get to the turning lane.

If there were a lot of cars where I wasn't going to be able to change lanes, I had planned to stay in my lane where it eventually turned into a right turn lane only...then bust a U turn, etc..

Light turns green and I let off the brake and start creeping forward (10mph) to let the cars to my left pass and possible give me an openign to move to my left. I see an opening and i signal (briefly) and get in front of a van who was at least 2 car lengths back so I didn't cut him off. Then i check my mirror again and this time I see no car and I can't be sure whether or not I signaled again to move the second time. Regardless I was going less than 15mph since it was a red light by the time I moved over to the turning lane.

At the light I see a police car opposite of me waiting to turn left from his side. After I make a left and I go down and stop at another light before the freeway onramp. I see the same police car (dodge charger) behind me. I knew he was going to pull me over and I expected no front plate and tint ticket.

When he did pull me over he asked for license, registration, and proof of insurance. I didnt have my most insurance card on me in my wallet. The one I had was good through april of this year. He said I made an unsafe lane change and wrote me up for:

22107vc turn signal, 16028(a) no proof of insurance, 26708 tinted windows, and 52xx No front plate. All are infractions and the the tint and front plate ones are correctable.

I'm not worried about the insurance violation b/c I can just show them my proof of insurance I court I believe. The fix a tickets I'll look for someone that has a pd buddy to help me out. However, it was the turn signal ticket that irked me.

I'm wondering if something vague and up to the officer's discretion of whether or not it was safe or unsafe..whether the judge usually makes a decision in favor of the officer or to me? He wrote down I was going 25mph and there's no way I was going near that speed since I was trying to creep over 2 lanes.

I felt as though he wanted to pull me over for the 2 fix a tickets but knowing that they are correctable, my opinion is that he wrote me up for the turn signal since that would have a better chance to "stick". I'm not the type that would try to fight something if I knew I was at fault such as speeding, etc..

Anyways, sorry for the long post. I guess it was also me blowing off some steam.

I included a screenshot of the intersection i'm talking about. I took a few diff street views and other pictures to prepare for my argument. I'm the yellow circle and the cop is the black circle.
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