My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California, San Diego County
I just got a ticket last week. The officer told me that I did not stop at the stop sign. I knew that I made a stop prior to the stop sign but I don't know what to do at that time as this is my first ticket in more than 17 years of driving. I chose to just cooperate and not argue with the officer.
Anyway, I went back to the place where the stop sign is and park my car where the police officer was parked. If I am inside my car and look straight ahead, the stop sign line where I am supposed to stop is being obstructed by the car frame on the drivers side. When I look at the side window, the stop sign line is partially obstructed by cars parked on the lot where I entered. When I lean to the passenger side or if I park my car slightly angled towards the sign, I can see the stop sign line clearly.
Another thing is that on the Ticket, he write the address of the location and said it is on parking lot 1 where the incident happened. The parking lot itself does not have a stop sign. The stop sign was located in the perimeter lot prior to me making a right to enter Parking lot 1. The officer did not stopped me when I passed him but turned around and followed me to where I parked. If he saw me violate the sign, should he stop me or signal me to stop right away when I passed him where his car was parked? He can stop me at that point as it is inside a parking lot and I am driving slow. I have a feeling that he just assumed that I broke the law because I looked and smiled at him when I drive passed him on the lot that is why he followed me and gave me a ticket. Someone may ask why look and smile at the officer. Well, I work in the location where I got the ticket and I always see that police officer in the area so I was just trying to be nice to him (stupid me).
I'm debating if I should just pay up the ticket and take the school and get this over with or to fight it knowing that it will just be my claim that I stopped and the officer claim that he saw me run over the line. I'm thinking of doing this by Trial by declaration as going to the courthouse twice to plead not guilty and to go to trial will probably cost me the same amount of money taking off from work + time lost. If I do a TBD, will I still be able to get a chance for a traffic school in case the Judge sided with the officer which I heard happened most of the time? By the way, how much does a stop sign ticket cost?

