Traffic ticket question (No U-Turn)
 

Got a quick question for you.


I got ticketed by Officer Friendly for cvc 22102 (U-Turn in a Bus. District) after being pulled over for Driving While Brown ;).

I politely informed him that I was not doing a U-Turn, but doing a 3 point turn. I was ticketed anyway.

I intend to fight this on principle, as I did not do a u-turn as was written up on the ticket (Plus the fine + traffic school is almost $200). Has anyone had any similar experiences?

Thanks

Hate to say it, but that picture looks awfully like a U-turn, whether you meant to or not. Just because an Acura TL (with its 41ft turning radius) can't make a U-turn at an intersection and has to back up, doesn't automatically make it a "3-point turn".

Didn't you see a police nearby anyway? If I'm going to attempt something that might be even slightly illegal, I usually check for marked or unmarked police first.

I agree with AzNMpower32, just because you parked didn't make it 'not a U Turn'. Drop a post when you get pulled over in a parking lot for...parking...I did :)

Looks like this happend in california. If so look up cvc 22102 and see what it says. Then ask your self if you violated that vehicle code.

Next look up 3 point turn in the cvc and be prepared to argue
your ticket with the law stating that under cvc you can make
a 3 point turn.

Other than that i wish you the best ;) Edit: I forgot to mention the courts don't rule in your favor based on principal. They will rule in your favor if you can show that your right according to the law.

in a business district, i don't think you can even make left turns at most intersections, let alone the middle of the street.

you NEVER cross the double-solid yellow line! (which i assume there was one considering it's a business district)

I have to agree with the other people who posted, looks illegal to me. But if you want to fight the ticket, check out www.ticketassasin.com for some ideas. Good luck.

..........explain............

Thanks for the tips!

I may be grasping at straws, but I'm gonna go for the "I was ticketed for a U-turn. I did a three-point turn, so please me off in the name of justice" defense :D

Ticket Assassin is pretty cool. I actually got off on two speeding tickets using their forms/templates. The basic premise of the Trial by Mail is that you fill out the forms, and the cop also has to fill out the forms. The judge then reviews these. If the cop doesn't fill out their form by the due date, then you automatically get off. Cops don't get paid extra by filling out the forms, whereas they can pull overtime by showing up in court.

I'm more pissed than anything because in this particular area it happens all the time, there are no double-yellow lines, the no U-turnsign is up high on a post and I've never seen anyone else get pulled over. I was done on a Sunday afternoon, with not a single other car in sight (I'm still trying to figure out where the cop was hiding). I understand it when people get ticketed for dangerous stuff like excessive speeding or blowing through red lights, but chicken$hit revenue-raising tickets like this are lame.

So your saying there's a no u-turn sign posted? You also saying that you know there is no such thing in the CVC regarding a legal 3 point turn and your angry?.

Think about this. Signs like this are posted after engineering surveys are done and it is deem from the research that a u-turn would be inappropriate at the intersection in question. Point in fact this is not a revenue raising ticket as you describe. It is a traffic flow regulation issue which you clearly violated.

It's the same thing i violated just the other day. I got off the freeway made my stop at the red light and as i would normally do at a red light i would wait for the traffic to clear then proceed thru the red light making a legal right turn. All that's good except there's a sign posted on a pole which said "NO RIGHT TURN ON RED" So as i turned there was a motorcycle cop sitting there waiting. I was nabbed. Was i angry and fussing? After all he should have been after other folks who were doing dangerous stuff like excessive speeding or blowing through red lights, right? No. Plain and simple i broke the law.

So i said here we go first ticket in ages and sure enough the officer reached for his handlebars and for some reason leaned back and watched as i passed. So I got away with that one. You didn't. Fess up there's nothing lame about obeying the law.

I was on a softball team and we were heading to a game. I was following this chick because she said she knew where the field was. Well, we passed by the field so I told her to pull into the parking lot across the street. We did. She parked, I parked next to her. I got out and confirmed with her that we passed the field and had to turn around. We headed out of the parking lot. Before you could get out of the lot you came to a four way stop. As she pulled up (with me behind her) a cop pulled up to the four way stop. He waived her through, she went. I then pulled up and stopped. He didn't move. So I waived for him to go and he just sat there. I proceeded through the intersection and as soon as I did he turned his lights on and pulled me over. I asked him what exactly I was being pulled over for........."suspicious maneuvers in a parking lot". I said "what?". He asked me questions for the next 10 minutes about why I pulled in and stopped and was now leaving.

I'm not BS'ing you, this is a 100% true story.


Another fun one:

I was coming home from a girlfriends house one night at about midnight. I'm driving through some back roads of my neighborhood at the posted speed limit (odd for me). I come past a fire station where I see a cop hiding by a sign, I think nothing of it as I wasn't drinking and was going the speed limit...so what would I have to worry about? Well SHO NUFF, as soon as I pass the cop....he flips on the R2D2 siren and pulls me over. He then busts out his too cool for school MagLite and shines it in my car and my face. I asked him why he pulled me over, "routine inspections". What fun.