Ok well last night I was on a date and it ended up being one of the worst days of my transportation life and it would help me out and be much appreciated if you read my story and give your opinion on the matter. Here is my story. . . .
I go and pick up my date at her house and our plan is to go to the movies. I am driving around like usual and probably safer than normal considering I have another person in the car. I pass an intersection behind a car that has no brake lights on and is going at about an average speed of about 45-55 MPH, which is the speed limit. Then out of no where this driver bolts out of the way and the car in front of me now was dead stopped with their brake lights on. I was going about 40-45 MPH when this happened and I knew I was going to hit her and the lane to the right of me was blocked and the lane to the left was on-coming traffic. I have a Ford F-150 with 20 inch wheels and low profile tires, which doesn’t exactly help me considering the street grip it lacks. I slam the brakes to avoid this collision, my ABS kicks in and I just about skip to a complete stop about 100 feet ahead of me. I am about 5 MPH now at the most and I barely hit this SUV. I get out and make sure she is ok, she said, “I am fine, don’t worry it was a slow hit.” I have like no damage on my truck and she has minimal damage on her SUV. I ask her if it is fine with her if we took care of this without our insurance companies and I will pay for all damages. She was all for it and noted that she prefered that method. So we exchange information and as soon as we get in our vehicles to leave a bike cop rolls up with his lights on. Me and her both tell the cop that we already resolved the accident by exchanging insurance and contact information. He says we can’t leave and told us both to park in the lot of a nearby restaraunt. More cops come and we both fill out these forms providing our information. That is fine, I don’t mind that considering they are doing it for her just in case I gave her fake information. This takes a considerable 45 minutes, the other police officers were really nice to me and asked me what I have on my truck and where I got it all and I had very high respet for them for taking the situation positively. She is done talking to the bike cop and she gets to leave, but before she does I talk to her and she said, “I am sorry about this accident, I am sure you had no control over the situation and the collision. I will contact you within a few days to set up a day to meet up and get our vehicles checked up to see how much damage was caused by the hit, which doesn’t look like much.” I say ok and she thanks me for handling the situation well and being polite to her, which doesn’t happen in every accident. So she takes off and then I go to the bike cop to see if he needs anything before I leave. He says, “Here is your ticket and information on driving classes.” I reply with, “What do you mean a ticket, what did I do?” He then states, “Failed to avoid a collision.” Now at this point I lost all respect for this officer and had to hold back from blowing my lid and reply back with, “So what the hell was I suppose to do, merge left info on-coming traffic or right into another car?” he says, “Don’t give me an attitude!” I tell him, “Then you shouldn’t have went out of your way and give me a ticket on such a minor collision that I had absolutely no control over, I lose all respect for you giving me this ticket, I bet if I was a 45 year old women and not have been an 18 year old man you would have just let me go.” then he says, “You have your ticket and information, I have to get back to doing my job, don’t hit any more stopped cars on your date tonight.” Then he left and I saw him pull out of the parking lot and turn on his light chasing a Chevy S-10 that just so called “ran a yellow”, this cop was a straight up power fiending jerk. This whole time, about an hour and a half now my date is in the car, we went to see Bruce Almighty then I went back to her house and she didn’t seem very mad about the situation and agreed that the cop handled it wrong.
After reading the situation do any of you think it would be possible for me to ask for a court date and challenge this officers ticket or would I just be wasting my time, all replies will extremely help me out, I cannot afford having points on my record and getting my insurance company to find out about the ticket?
well it was failure to avoid a collision, your best bet is to get a lawyer and see what they can do to get the ticket reduced. It may cost a bit of money, but it will be cheaper than having the record on your liscense.
Most cops are jerk 9(@'s and they always like to give teenagers tickets. I would challenge it because it wasnt your falt, you tried the best you could to stop a big collision. There is no way he should of gave you a ticket.
I mean, in the eyes of the law it is. I know in reality, there was no way to avoid this especially because of the car in front of you. You did your best to avoid it, but you still hit another car. If you hit a car from behind it is always your fault regardless of the situation. Even if another car hits you and that pushes you into the car in front of you, its your fault for the impact.
The laws are messed up. Thats why you should get a lawyer.
anyway, sorry to hear about all that. sounds pretty f*cked up. you’ll find a lot of people in this world just do a job so they can exercise some power of other people. and they’ll exercise it as much as possible. just because they can.
this driver that ‘bolts out the way’ - where did he go? i’m surprised they gave you a ticket… sounds like it wasn’t really your fault and you minimised the damage/possiblity of someone getting hurt. maybe it’s worth pursuing… though, US law isnt a strong point of mine… maybe ring up the police dept and talk to them first or something?
either way, I’m sure your date was v.impressed with the way you handled it :thumb:
*Originally posted by asphaltcowboy *
**maybe ring up the police dept and talk to them first or something? **
Thats not a very good idea. In most areas police aren’t exactly the best source for getting information. If you really want someone who knows the laws, consult with a lawyer.
At least in miami that’s what happens… You pay 75 dollars for a lawyer to contest your ticket, and most of the time the cop doesn’t show up. The thing that you should understand is that cops HATE court appearances.
Maybe in Miami, but in the rest of the world they don’t. Its a day off with pay, I understand that they don’t want to be there, but its part of their job and in most places if they dont, they get in trouble. All they have to do for the day is show up to the court room (usually air-conditioned) and sit there. My entire family is composed of police officers, and I have been working in the police department for about 12 years.
I’m not saying that he shouldn’t contest it, but count on the cop being there and being a huge dick about things.
My friend is driving down the highway at 50 MPH. 5 under the speed limit. She is boxed in by a car to her left, and a car behind her. A car pulls out in front of her from a side-street, and gets completely on the highway and starts to drive. My friend tries to slow down, but the car behind her hits her and sends her into the car that just pulled out. Everyone is ok, except for my friend. She broke her left arm, and left leg.
The car behind her recieved a ticket for following too closely and failure to avoid a collision. My friend recieved the same thing.
The accident wasn’t her fault at all… but she still got a ticket. When she contested it, it was lowered to a non-moving violation because she brought in witnesses
(Some) Cops are babies on a power trip. . . .I am just sick of it, next time I get pulled over by a cop like that I am going to be a complete ****, being polite to them isn’t worth it, most of them don’t deserve it. United I Stand is BS, I am tired of this, F THE POLICE!
due jsut pay the ticket besides i dont know over there but over here judges are d!cks, and i highly doubt he will see your point of view, its a waste of time IMHO
if your not nice to them, they will keep writing down tickets. They always win.
or atleast where i live:sigh: **
I respect most cops, but it is the ones like him that make me hate them as a group. I have witnesses, if he wrote more tickets I would have brought him to court with our high priced company lawyer and I am sure he would lose, that would be just wrong, he couldn’t give me any other tickets unless he lied! The only advantage of America is the corupted laws and the way a lot of good lawyers can use it for people like me that are justiced wrongly by government organizations!
ya if theres one thing you have to keep in mind is what do cops want to do most??? get home to their loving family so the less hassle you give a cop the better he’ll treat you, but sometimes this is not always true so it depends, then again thats your decision to be polite or b a wise *** and maybe have your car inspected inside out or even worse, cops avoid them like the plague
:thumb:
