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  1. #1

    Question Ticket for 'Improper Lane'

    I was recently in a very bad accident. I flipped my car on I- 90 Washington State. I don’t know what happened and neither do any of the eyewitnesses. They all say exactly as I do, I was driving with traffic and all of a sudden I was air borne. No one else was involved and my car ended up in the dirt median between the two main highways. I was not obstructing traffic except for the so-called ‘looky lous’ of course. The state patrol officer followed my ambulance to the hospital to inform me he was mailing me a ticket for falling asleep at the wheel. I told him that not one witness had stated that and I most certainly did not fall asleep. A month later I get a ticket in the mail but not for what he stated it would be for. Instead I get a ticket for ‘improper lane’, not improper lane use just ‘improper lane’. I looked up improper lane and only found there was improper lane change and improper lane use. The only way I can see this effecting me is if I was changing lanes or was in a carpool lane when my accident occurred but I was not. I was on a two lane highway going with traffic, really as simple as that. How does this effect my accident? What grounds does this ticket have? Does a officer HAVE to ticket you when you are in an accident with just your car? I’m confused….please help.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
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    Seattle
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    3,577

    Default Re: Improper lane?

    No, an officer is not REQUIRED to issue a ticket. But I think you should consider yourself very lucky. First, you're still around to worry about this ticket. Second, the officer could have written you up for Reckless Driving -- a misdemeanor (there is no statute -- that I can find -- for "falling asleep" per se).

    Instead, he apparently wrote you up for using the median as a lane. Can you tell me the statute cited on your ticket (it should say something like 46.61.140 somewhere on the face of the ticket).

    The ticket is probably only about $100, maybe a little less. If you plead "guilty with an explanation", you can probably get that cut in half. Whether of not this has any affect on your insurance will depend on your driving record and age.

    If you haven't done so in the past seven years, you might also consider "deferred findings". This puts you on probation for a year or so. You'll have to pay the same $100, but if you don't get another ticket for a year, this ticket will be dismissed. That keeps it away from your insurance company. The problem is that you can only have one deferral every seven years, so you might want to keep it for a more serious infraction.

    Of course, you can always fight the ticket. The state would have to show that you committed this offense. Since the officer didn't witness it (at least from your description), another witness would have to show up at the trial. If none do, it will probably be dismissed (but nothing is assured).

    Good luck,
    Barry

  3. #3

    Default Re: Improper lane?

    Quote Quoting blewis
    View Post
    No, an officer is not REQUIRED to issue a ticket. But I think you should consider yourself very lucky. First, you're still around to worry about this ticket. Second, the officer could have written you up for Reckless Driving -- a misdemeanor (there is no statute -- that I can find -- for "falling asleep" per se).

    Instead, he apparently wrote you up for using the median as a lane. Can you tell me the statute cited on your ticket (it should say something like 46.61.140 somewhere on the face of the ticket).

    The ticket is probably only about $100, maybe a little less. If you plead "guilty with an explanation", you can probably get that cut in half. Whether of not this has any affect on your insurance will depend on your driving record and age.

    If you haven't done so in the past seven years, you might also consider "deferred findings". This puts you on probation for a year or so. You'll have to pay the same $100, but if you don't get another ticket for a year, this ticket will be dismissed. That keeps it away from your insurance company. The problem is that you can only have one deferral every seven years, so you might want to keep it for a more serious infraction.

    Of course, you can always fight the ticket. The state would have to show that you committed this offense. Since the officer didn't witness it (at least from your description), another witness would have to show up at the trial. If none do, it will probably be dismissed (but nothing is assured).

    Good luck,
    Barry





    Barry-

    First and foremost thank you for your response. It was very helpful although I do have a question about one of your comments. And yes, you really have no idea how lucky I am to be here. This whole accident has cost me around $15,000 dollars (only liability insurance on my car because it was a Washington state rebuild and no health insurance) so fighting a $101 dollar ticket is worth it to me. Especially when the officer followed me to the hospital in the manner he did

    You wrote that the officer issued me a ticket for using the median as a lane. Yes, after flipping my car a few times it did endup in the median but i never 'drove' on the median. Is that what you mean?

    See this is the confusing part to me. Even if I were to drive like James Bond and can flip my car a few times to end up right side up in the same lane I was originally in, wouldn’t I have gotten a ticket for obstructing traffic or something of the sorts?


    Thank you,
    Angel

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Improper lane?

    I did that once on I-275, but I only rolled once so maybe it doesn't count. Or do I get bonus points for a simultaneous 360º roll and spin? I can tell you this: it's not much fun being upside-down in your car, looking out your front window at four lanes of oncoming freeway traffic.

    The officer who wrote up the police report could not get it through her head that I hadn't left the pavement. (I was rear-ended at the "perfect" angle by a car that was the "perfect" height to lift my rear bumper at the "perfect" speed to completely flip the car....) I would tell her what happened, and she would repeat back to me, "So he hit you from behind, you went off the road, then you rolled." It took three or four of those cycles before she accepted that I had never left flat pavement.

    Beyond that, the only "rolling on flat pavement" I've encountered has been drunk drivers who swerve recklessly in poorly balanced vehicles (particularly SUV's), perhaps while hitting a pothole or other road surface defect, and major mechanical failures. (Non-drunk drivers have fallen victim to similar rollovers; but I'm speaking here of cases where I have first-hand knowledge.) You say the car was a rebuild - do you know what, exactly, was rebuilt? Did you have a mechanic look over the wreckage to try to determine why the vehicle rolled? You may have had such a failure.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    3,577

    Default Re: Improper lane?

    Quote Quoting angelface_0121
    View Post
    You wrote that the officer issued me a ticket for using the median as a lane. Yes, after flipping my car a few times it did endup in the median but i never 'drove' on the median. Is that what you mean?
    That's why I asked what statute you were cited under. I'm guessing that the officer simply wanted to give you a break. Under WA law, there are no "improper driving" nor "careless driving" statutes (although some counties and municipalities have local ordinances for those). We have Negligent Driving in the First Degree and Reckless Driving. Both of these are misdemeanors and can result in hefty fines and jail time.

    Negligent Driving in the Second Degree is a traffic infraction, but carries a total fine of over $400. We also have a "due care and caution" statute, but I believe that was declared unconstitutionally vague a few years back, and I haven't see it used in a while.

    "Improper lane" is a low fine infraction. If I were the officer and was looking to give you a break, that's as good as there is.

    But I agree with Aaron -- if there's a chance of mechanical failure, get a letter from a mechanic to that effect and take it with you. You might be able to get off completely -- especially if no witnesses show up.

    Good luck,
    Barry

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