Carless Driving New Jersey Motorcycle on Shoulder

[garyS-NJ]

goin to court tomorrow night for 39:4-97. Careless driving - riding my bike up the shoulder past a ton of traffic caused by rubber neckers looking at the police giving tickets to people riding the shoulder to avoid the traffic that the police caused. I was only idling up past the traffic and the officer was sitting in a gas station preying on anyone that might try to avoid the traffic. I could have easily been turning into the gas station (before he flagged me to come in and get my ticket), or perhaps been driving on the shoulder to avoid rear ending the vehicle in front of me that stopped suddenly (but I told the officer I was coming down the shoulder to get off and buy a cold drink in the supermarket that was right behind the gas station (he accussed me of lieing))>

perhaps I should not have been on the shoulder but doesn't seem I was without due caution nor likely to endanger anyone

39:4-97. Careless driving
39:4-97. A person who drives a vehicle carelessly, or without due caution and circumspection, in a manner so as to endanger, or be likely to endanger, a person or property, shall be guilty of careless driving.

Amended 1951,c.23,s.54; 1955,c.220,s.2; 1995,c.70,s.3.


I'm going to ask for a zero point plea 39:4-56 or 30:4-67 otherwise any experience with 39:4-97.2 Unsafe driving (4 points on 3'rd violation in 5 years)?? $50 - $150 fine plus $250 court surcharge. any chances I'll get them to drop the surcharge??

[SChinFChin]

I'm in NY, I had a friend of mine taking a shortcut through a Burger King parking lot to avoid traffic light on the corner, the cops were waiting inside the lot, and pulled him over. I grew up in the area, and know people cut through the lot. He told the cop that he pulled in, thinking it was a Wendy's but realizing it was a Burger King, decided to leave.

The cop accused him of lying.

He went to traffic court, told the same story to the judge, that he wanted a Wendy's sandwich, but found out after pulling in it was a Burger King. The cop told the judge my friend was lying.

The judge asked the cop how he knew my friend was NOT thinking about going to Wendy's as compared to cutting through the lot. The cop said hundreds of people cut through the lot, and they all have excuses.

The judge cut the cop off, and said we're talking about this particular driver, not the hundreds of others. The cop said "he can't tell if this guy was looking for a Burger King or Wendy's".

The judge concluded that since he can't tell what my friend was thinking coming into the lot, he can't accuse my friend of lying, and he is entitled to change his mind about what he wanted to eat, finding out it wasn't Wendy's, and the ticket was dismissed.

[garyS-NJ]

cool. traffic court judges aren't happy about their daily grind to extract money out of people who can'tr afford to fight a ticket. So if the extraction isn't neat, they often push back against the system. last night I took the $433 zero point ticket because I figured my case would be boiled down to the cop seeing me over the shoulder line (& nobody would care why) and I checked with my insurance and found a much larger increase for the careless vs the unsafe.. the whole Court reaked with an unjust, grouchy stench. The prosecutor wasn't moving even though the difference in fine payment to the town was minimal (the $250 surcharge goes to the state). he said as an option I could just plead guity to the careless and pay the $81 fine (I said "no, the option would be to have a trial"). what a dick, exactly what the court should not be (basically saying I don't get a trial, he had the options). he said I had no chance fighting a careless ticket because everyone knows motorcycle riders are careless, that's why so many of them get killed in accidents. I hope someone he knows gets killed in an accident today so that he might reflect on what he said to me. If i could afford the potential insurance increase, I would have fought that ticket and I think now, I'll fight my next dopey ticket no matter what.

[garyS-NJ]

can anyone say what elements must be proven to found guilty of careless driving in nj?? I mean, say for my example, that the cop says I was riding on the shoulder, not for any other reason than to avoid traffic (like he says I was not broken down and was not observed doing any sort of emergency evasive maneuver...). Does that "fact", if the judge believes his word over mine without any evidence, constitute carelessness?? I just queried "shoulder" in the NJ Statutes and it only pertains to vehicles in excess of 80 inches width stating that they must use flashers if they are disabled on the shoulder... Did I just find a loophole for riding the shoulder?? or does it say elsewhere in the Statutes that all motor vehicles must drive on the road within lanes as defined by the painted lines with solid sidelines indicating "off the road"?? how about "unsafe driving" the lesser zero point violation?? what do they have to prove there??