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  1. #1

    Default Wrong Citation Code on Citation Letter

    My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California

    I was pulled over for allegedly making a U-Turn on a red light. However, when I received my citation letter the citation code is 21453(b) VC which I believe is failure to yield or stop for pedestrians or oncoming traffic when making a RIGHT turn. Can I use this to have my ticket dismissed? This was around 12:30AM so there were no pedestrians or oncoming traffic at this time. I also had a friend accompanying me in my car who can testify that I was pulled over for making a U-Turn on a red light, not for making a Right on a red or failing to yield to pedestrians and oncoming traffic.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    California
    Posts
    20,594

    Default Re: Wrong Citation Code on Citation Letter

    Here is the violation:
    CVC 21453(b) Except when a sign is in place prohibiting a turn, a driver,
    after stopping as required by subdivision (a), facing a steady
    circular red signal, may turn right, or turn left from a one-way
    street onto a one-way street. A driver making that turn shall yield
    the right-of-way to pedestrians lawfully within an adjacent crosswalk
    and to any vehicle that has approached or is approaching so closely
    as to constitute an immediate hazard to the driver, and shall
    continue to yield the right-of-way to that vehicle until the driver
    can proceed with reasonable safety.

    When it goes to trial, the officer will testify as to the elements of the offense. if he articulates a U-Turn violation of some kind, and this is the violation that you are being tried under, then you ought to prevail handily because he would not have established any of the elements of the offense.

    However, if the U-Turn also included this failure to yield as indicated here, then you may be guilty of the violation.

    You can seek the officer's notes through discovery and see if he has anything written on them to indicate what he will testify to.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Wrong Citation Code on Citation Letter

    Can I ask for the officer's notes at the arraignment or does it have to be done through a written letter to the department?

    Isn't bad to ask for the officer's notes as it raises a red flag by letting the officer know that I am planning to fight the ticket?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    California
    Posts
    20,594

    Default Re: Wrong Citation Code on Citation Letter

    Quote Quoting madaliens007
    View Post
    Can I ask for the officer's notes at the arraignment or does it have to be done through a written letter to the department?
    You can search this cite or the web for the proper method to seek discovery. It would not hurt to CC the agency as well as the prosecutor's office for the information.

    Isn't bad to ask for the officer's notes as it raises a red flag by letting the officer know that I am planning to fight the ticket?
    Chances are the officer will never know. Unless this is a small agency where some clerk would find the officer and let him or her know, the officer will never likely know about the request unless the citation is still in the book he currently has in his possession.

    Even if he does find out, unless he looks at it and suddenly decides he cited the wrong section, it is likely he won't concern himself much as this can be common fare (it happens all the time).

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