Red Light Ticket After Running a Light to Avoid an Accident

[sobe6545]

Sobe,

You may have thought you came to a site that was provided for people sharing advice about legal defenses. So, the series of lectures on what a bad driver you are may be a surprise to you. Don’t let it get you down. There are several people here who mistake this legal help site with the condescending lecture site all the time. Lecturing seems to be easier (and more self-satisfying) than actually helping for some people.

If your court date is for tomorrow, that’s just an arraignment. You haven’t blown your chance to develop a defense. All you will do tomorrow is plead guilty or not guilty.

First questions: Is this ticket in your name? Are you the registered owner of the car? Is the picture associated with the ticket clearly a picture of you? Was your ticket from Los Angeles? Are you going to a Los Angeles court?

Answer these questions first before you go to your arraignment.

Yes, just an arraignment. To answer those questions: Yes, the ticket is in my name. No, I am not the registered owner of the car. Yes, the picture is clearly me. No, the ticket is from San Francisco and I will be going to court there.

For the high and mighty (who think the fine should simply be paid) I have the following suggestion: Next time you catch yourself 5 over the limit or not signalling or not completely stopping, drive over to the nearest police station and tell the first officer you see that you're making a citizen's arrest of yourself. Tell him or her what you did wrong and then sign the citation. If this doesn't work, look up the bail amount, fees and assessments for your violation and donate it to the Police Benevolent Association or the 11-99 Foundation.

For the OP, I might suggest my earlier post on 12/30/14. Read the case decision thoroughly, understand it, print it out. While this would not be binding in your county, it could be persuasive, assuming your Police Department uses the same deficient practice that we see here in Ventura County.

What would be the benefit of the citizens arrest? I will take a look at that post too, thank you.

I'm sorry, the correct answer is you waited too long to make a decision on how to handle the impending situation and because of this driving error ran a red light. Why did you not stop in the merge lane, wait for the light to change and the other lane to clear before continuing instead of running the light after your error?

As I mentioned above there was not room for me to stop in the merge lane due to the truck. There was little warning of the merge approaching the intersection.

[PADriver13]

For the high and mighty (who think the fine should simply be paid) I have the following suggestion: Next time you catch yourself 5 over the limit or not signalling or not completely stopping, drive over to the nearest police station and tell the first officer you see that you're making a citizen's arrest of yourself. Tell him or her what you did wrong and then sign the citation. If this doesn't work, look up the bail amount, fees and assessments for your violation and donate it to the Police Benevolent Association or the.

This is just ridiculous. He should pay the fine, as he ran the red light. He doesn't have to go turn himself in, because he was already CAUGHT. And furthermore, if the OP were being honest, that he absolutely had to run the red light in order to avoid an accident, the red light camera pictures should be more than enough evidence to clearly show the imminent danger.

[donzoh1]

Yes, just an arraignment. To answer those questions: Yes, the ticket is in my name. No, I am not the registered owner of the car. Yes, the picture is clearly me. No, the ticket is from San Francisco and I will be going to court there.



What would be the benefit of the citizens arrest? I will take a look at that post too, thank you.



As I mentioned above there was not room for me to stop in the merge lane due to the truck. There was little warning of the merge approaching the intersection.

The "citizen's arrest" comment was an aside that has nothing to do with your case. If it's arraignment, you can still request a postponement while deciding what to do. Waiting and procrastinating, past, present, or future, does not help your case. You can only be effective if you implement a pro-active plan and are willing to learn.

Knowledge is power and if used correctly might win your case.

[sobe6545]

The "citizen's arrest" comment was an aside that has nothing to do with your case. If it's arraignment, you can still request a postponement while deciding what to do. Waiting and procrastinating, past, present, or future, does not help your case. You can only be effective if you implement a pro-active plan and are willing to learn.

Knowledge is power and if used correctly might win your case.

I think I'll try to request a postponement so I can put some more thought and research into this. If I can't get one I may just pay the fine and be done with it.

[donzoh1]

If you do TBD, your best shot is to poke any technical holes in the case you can or simply ask the court to accept your plea of "Not Guilty." If you explain why you ran the light, you're most likely guilty. Also, even if you can't get an extension, you still are not required to post bail today. You can request your TBD verbally at the clerk's window or with a short note....to be continued

[Jim_bo]

Listen to donzoh. Call right now and get an extension on your arraignment. Then come back here to start your research.

By the way... If you are not the registered owner of the car, did the owner give up your name in a "snitch ticket"? If so, you should have a little talk with that person.

[free9man]

By the way... If you are not the registered owner of the car, did the owner give up your name in a "snitch ticket"? If so, you should have a little talk with that person.

Why? They would just be passing the responsibility on to the proper party rather than taking one for a bad driver.

[donzoh1]

If you do TBD, your best shot is to poke any technical holes in the case you can or simply ask the court to accept your plea of "Not Guilty." If you explain why you ran the light, you're most likely guilty. Also, even if you can't get an extension, you still are not required to post bail tomorrow. If for some reason you can't get your extension online or by phone, you can request your TBD at the clerk's window or with a short note. At that point, the rules of court 4.210 apply as quoted below. Note the capitalization of letters when referring to the From TR205 and the lack of it in the same words in the same rule. This is because the form itself is NOT the initial request made to the clerk. Some clerk's don't know this so bring a copy of this rule with you if you visit the court.

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Why? They would just be passing the responsibility on to the proper party rather than taking one for a bad driver.

It's because they have no legal duty to tell anyone asking the question who the driver is. They do have computer search functions that allow them to know what other licensed drivers live in the registered owner's house and will use that, as in this case.

The owner could simply write the address on the snitch ticket and say it wasn't them. Also, they could ask for a legal citation concerning their responsibility to tell anyone if they know who was driving.

Then, if a citation was issued, the owner could easily do TBD and present their DMV photo copy, registration copy, etc. Any court that would return a conviction without a strong resemblance between the two photos is a disgrace to the legal system.

[free9man]

It's because they have no legal duty to tell anyone asking the question who the driver is. They do have computer search functions that allow them to know what other licensed drivers live in the registered owner's house and will use that, as in this case.

Never said they did. But they would be making the person responsible deal with the hassle rather than themselves. It's not their job, business or responsibility to clear up someone else's mistake.

[Jim_bo]

Never said they did. But they would be making the person responsible deal with the hassle rather than themselves. It's not their job, business or responsibility to clear up someone else's mistake.

That's wrong. The owner would be the person named on the ticket or the snitch ticket. That person had to deal with the situation. They could have dealt with it by ignoring it (if it was a snitch ticket) or by rightfully declaring that they were not the person in the photo. Instead, the owner dealt with it by throwing our OP under the bus.