Got a ticket for running a stop sign that has a green light next to it! Still dumbfounded!
02-25-2009, 03:48 PM
#12
AudiWorld Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 1,803
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
A lot of stop sign "stops" are excuses to go fishing
I get pulled over all the time in Boulder for "running" stop signs. Especially late night in the Downtown area. They always let me off when they find me to be sober and polite. Say they are just looking for drunk drivers or folks with other issues. Maybe the cop didn't like you?
02-25-2009, 05:09 PM
#18
Audiworld Junior Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Boulder, Colorado
Posts: 65
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The "Uniform Code of Traffic Control Devices" is your friend.
I don't know what it has to say about your situation, but I used the UCTCD to successfully beat a wrong-way ticket on Broadway in downtown Denver.
Many years ago the Colfax-Broadway intersection was improperly signed. I don't get to Denver much and, when I made the right turn from W-bound Colfax to N-bound Broadway, I was looking at 4 to 6-lanes of high-speed, one-way, traffic coming straight at both me and my young kids strapped in their car seats in the back. I bailed off to the near side and was promptly (& properly) awarded a "wrong-way in a one-way street or alley" ticket by a nearby motorcycle cop.
With 25-years of very high-speed, yet ticket-free, driving under my belt, I thought how could I miss that? Like you, I'm always very paranoid about stuff like this and, with the kiddlings in the back, I go into double-check-everything granny-mode. When I went back and checked the intersection, all the 1-way signs were obscured in some way. I talked to the DA and was offered a plea to a reduced-points reckless driving count... NO-WAY, I'll take a "wrong-way in a one-way street or alley" over a RD any day!
This was now a holy war, there was no way I was having this on my clean record.
I took pics of the obscured signs at the intersection, talked to the city engineers, they introduced me to the UCTCD, I photocopied the relevant sections and went to court, confident in a certain victory. The judge took one look at my pile of evidence and asked "Are you a certified traffic engineer?" "No, sir.", "Then put that stuff away, anyone could manufacture that material." Oh, crap...
However, he asked me a few questions where I got to make my point about the improper signage and how it put my young kiddos at risk and he threw out the ticket.
Lesson learned: be prepared to subpoena the city traffic engineers, even if they've told you that there's no need to.
Many years ago the Colfax-Broadway intersection was improperly signed. I don't get to Denver much and, when I made the right turn from W-bound Colfax to N-bound Broadway, I was looking at 4 to 6-lanes of high-speed, one-way, traffic coming straight at both me and my young kids strapped in their car seats in the back. I bailed off to the near side and was promptly (& properly) awarded a "wrong-way in a one-way street or alley" ticket by a nearby motorcycle cop.
With 25-years of very high-speed, yet ticket-free, driving under my belt, I thought how could I miss that? Like you, I'm always very paranoid about stuff like this and, with the kiddlings in the back, I go into double-check-everything granny-mode. When I went back and checked the intersection, all the 1-way signs were obscured in some way. I talked to the DA and was offered a plea to a reduced-points reckless driving count... NO-WAY, I'll take a "wrong-way in a one-way street or alley" over a RD any day!
This was now a holy war, there was no way I was having this on my clean record.
I took pics of the obscured signs at the intersection, talked to the city engineers, they introduced me to the UCTCD, I photocopied the relevant sections and went to court, confident in a certain victory. The judge took one look at my pile of evidence and asked "Are you a certified traffic engineer?" "No, sir.", "Then put that stuff away, anyone could manufacture that material." Oh, crap...
However, he asked me a few questions where I got to make my point about the improper signage and how it put my young kiddos at risk and he threw out the ticket.
Lesson learned: be prepared to subpoena the city traffic engineers, even if they've told you that there's no need to.