My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California
I was riding my bicycle among a group of riders, making a left turn at an unprotected green light of an intersection. A volunteer coordinating the mass ride was giving us the ok to ride through, so we did.
Immediately after, lights began to flash, and they pulled over my friend whom was riding next to me.
I stayed behind them (to wait for my friend) and I too was ticketed. The rest of the group just continued going despite they were also riding along with me.
They cited us in violation of 22100 (b) Left Turn: Failure to yield.
The officers said we failed to yield to an oncoming truck.
This truck however, was waiting behind the pedestrian line of the intersection, waiting for us to all go through.
My court day is this week in a few days.
What should I do?
1.
For one thing, they cited me for the wrong violation code, 22100(b) deals with left turns from an incorrect position. The correct violation should of been
21801. (a) The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left or to complete a U-turn upon a highway, or to turn left into public or private property, or an alley, shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles approaching from the opposite direction which are close enough to constitute a hazard at any time during the turning movement, and shall continue to yield the right-of-way to the approaching vehicles until the left turn or U-turn can be made with reasonable safety.
(b) A driver having yielded as prescribed in subdivision (a), and having given a signal when and as required by this code, may turn left or complete a U-turn, and the drivers of vehicles approaching the intersection or the entrance to the property or alley from the opposite direction shall yield the right-of-way to the turning vehicle.
Would I be able to get the charges dismissed due to an incorrect citation? I made the left from the left turn lane correctly, so I am no where in any violation of 22100(b).
2.
However, for 21801 I might potentially be. The law states we must yield to any vehicle close enough to constitute a hazard during our turn, then make our turn when it is safe.
The oncoming truck stopped, and was waiting for us to complete the turn. In no way did the truck constitute a hazard to us, or to him, the truck yielded to us, and as such, he yielded the right of way us, thus putting me in no violation of that code either. Would this be a good defense?
3. They wrote down the incorrect intersection that this violation occurred.
Lets call this intersection A/B.
A - The street I was traveling on
B - The street I turned left onto.
C - The street that A changes into if I continued along it and passed another intersection.
The officers wrote down the intersection of C/B, when really it was A/B.
There was no way I could of made a turn from C onto B since it does not even intersect it.
Would this also help me dismiss the charges and prove to the court that the officer was incompetent for writing both the wrong violation AND street of occurrence?
Any suggestion what I should do, and if I even stand a chance?
Thanks!

