Pulled Over on the Left and Got a Ticket for It

[audiphile]

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: CA.
So I was in the left-most lane of a three lane road in San Diego, with no shoulders on both sides. There was a sidewalk on the right and a median on the left. A SDPD crown vic flashed behind me and I panicked, pulled over in the left-lane itself. Cop walked up to me and asked me to pull over on to the right-most lane.
He had pulled me over for not displaying tags, but he also gave me a ticket for pulling over on the left-most lane. He cited 'unsafe move to the left' as infraction on the ticket. I was alone in the car while he had his partner with him.

Just wanted to check here if anyone had any thoughts about this situation. I'm concerned about my history, I have a 7 year moving violation free record until this happened today. Just mad at myself about this (the moving violation, not the fixit ticket for not displaying tags).
Thanks in advance!

[themadnorwegian]

Your post contains no question marks. Did you have a question? There have been some past forum threads about the situation you describe. You could try looking there.

[jk]

Just wanted to check here if anyone had any thoughts about this situation.

well, I guess my thoughts would be that you should refresh yourself with the rules of the road.

from
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/shr_...trly_ev.htm#ev

Emergency Vehicles

You must yield the right-of-way to any police vehicle, fire engine, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle using a siren and red lights. Drive to the right edge of the road and stop until the emergency vehicle(s) have passed. However, never stop in an intersection. If you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection and then, drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Emergency vehicles often use the wrong side of the street to continue on their way. They sometimes use a loud speaker to talk to drivers blocking their path.

California seems to have the most possible arguments available to dispute a ticket. I'm not into the process but there are some others here that are. Hopefully they will post to your thread.


btw: the statute regarding being stopped by a cop directs the same action.

[That Guy]

A SDPD crown vic flashed behind me...

What is "flashed behind me"?

He cited 'unsafe move to the left' as infraction on the ticket.

What code section did he cite?

And it doesn't sound as if you pulled over at all, or "yielded" in any way if you simply stayed in the left lane itself! I can understand that there is no shoulder, but given that there is no shoulder on either side does not give the driver the option to choose where to stop. The code section clearly requires one to pull to the right and stop... Until the Emergency vehicle passes or until given instructions to proceed through.

I am not clear on whether you panicked because you didn't know what to do, or if you knew what you should have done but panicked and didn't do it, so I'm not sure what you're asking... Either way, this is something that any and all drivers should know, must do... It shouldn't even be a question! It should be the normal involuntary reaction to slap one's self into attention, check your surroundings and your blind spots to ensure you're not swerving into some unsuspecting driver, and start one's safe and systematic merge to the right and to an eventual stop upon reaching the right edge of the roadway! If the right edge of the roadway is occupied by parked vehicles or other vehicles that beat you to the right edge, then pull over as close as you can to the right edge. If you are in an intersection or approaching one, next to a driveway/entranced to a shopping center, make an effort to either not block the middle of the intersection or the driveway just in case the emergency vehicle is going to need to make that turn or entry.

21806.

Upon the immediate approach of an authorized emergency vehicle which is sounding a siren and which has at least one lighted lamp exhibiting red light that is visible, under normal atmospheric conditions, from a distance of 1,000 feet to the front of the vehicle, the surrounding traffic shall, except as otherwise directed by a traffic officer, do the following:

(a)

(1) Except as required under paragraph (2), the driver of every other vehicle shall yield the right-of-way and shall immediately drive to the right-hand edge or curb of the highway, clear of any intersection, and thereupon shall stop and remain stopped until the authorized emergency vehicle has passed.

(2) A person driving a vehicle in an exclusive or preferential use lane shall exit that lane immediately upon determining that the exit can be accomplished with reasonable safety.

(b) The operator of every street car shall immediately stop the street car, clear of any intersection, and remain stopped until the authorized emergency vehicle has passed.

(c) All pedestrians upon the highway shall proceed to the nearest curb or place of safety and remain there until the authorized emergency vehicle has passed.

That simply sets the standard for everyone to follow so that the driver of the authorized emergency vehicle (if this had been a situation where s/he needed to get by you rather than pull you over) can reasonably be expected to and afforded the opportunity to get past traffic in a safe and efficient manner.

What if this had been on the freeway, with traffic moving at 65, 70... 80 miles per hour?

Even worse yet, what if it had been ^that^ same freeway with you in one of the middle lanes?

I'm concerned about my history, I have a 7 year moving violation free record until this happened today.

Our driving record should be a reasonable representation of any violations that we committed (for infractions over the last 3 years)... If you're that concerned about this one moving violation, the law does allow you the opportunity to avoid having the one violation point associated with this violation being added to your driving record. If you pay the fine, pay the traffic school administrative fee to the court, and subsequently and successfully complete the traffic school course, the violation is entered on your driving record as "dismissed" and zero points are assessed to it.

[audiphile]

Got it, all the responses helped. Thanks once again!

Code and section: 22107 CVC

I stopped right after he flashed, after moving as much to the left as I could.

Anyway, I got the answer...pay the ticket and take the course to remove that off my record.

[That Guy]

Code and section: 22107 CVC

Turning Movements and Required Signals

22107. No person shall turn a vehicle from a direct course or move right or left upon a roadway until such movement can be made with reasonable safety and then only after the giving of an appropriate signal in the manner provided in this chapter in the event any other vehicle may be affected by the movement.

I don't know how he got a 22107 out of what you described. Initially, I would have assumed you got cited for a 21806, but I was way off! This does not mean a 22107 isn't justified. It just means you aren't aware (or haven't told us) what you did/didn't do to trigger it!

Inasmuch as I'd like to think that traffic citations and the related fines are about compliance and learning a lesson, I think it might be worth your while to go through a mental check of your actions at that time to try and establish the one thing that might have triggered the added violation. Or post back with a detailed description and we can try and figure it out!


EDITED TO ADD:

Unless he's considering the following:

...after moving as much to the left as I could...

as an "unsafe movement"... We may even be able to add the possibility of you not signalling your movement to the left (whereas he's expecting you to move to the right)!

I think that makes sense... Certainly a creative way of writing this citation, but at the end of the day, it saved you from a possible fine of $480+ for a 21806 and gave you a lower $234 or so for a 22107 to deal with instead. Heck, that's better that 50% off!

[themadnorwegian]

A SDPD crown vic flashed behind me...

What is "flashed behind me"?

I take this to mean that the officer was able to remove certain parts of his uniform, in order to wave certain parts of his body at the OP. Let me just go on record as saying that I'm in total awe of this officer's driving skill. I can't even remove my pants with one hand on the wheel, and last time I tried really bad things happened afterwards.

[That Guy]

I take this to mean that the officer was able to remove certain parts of his uniform, in order to wave certain parts of his body at the OP.

I can't even remove my pants with one hand on the wheel, and last time I tried really bad things happened afterwards.

Wait... Don't tell me... Your Depends diaper leaked again?