Highway offramp. Two lanes. Turned left onto two lane road that merges down to one lane within an 1/8th of a mile. I am in the outside lane (right lane) and give it some gas to get ahead of the Durango on my left as I am in the lane that ends shortly. The Durango decides to accelerate to block my merge so I romp on it to get past. Speed limit is 45. I never get over 45, but I did blow by the Durango (thanks Whipple!). Cop pulls me over, asks me why I was 'driving like that' and I tell him because I needed to merge. i thought he was going to ticket me for 'Exhibition of Speed'. He hands me the ticket to sign. I explain that I don't have my READING glasses with me and ask him to tell me what I am being ticketed for. He tells me for an illegal start because of how I took off from the stoplight. Whatever....where do I sign? Then I ask him where he came from since I never saw the Tahoe he was in until he had me lit up. He was actually waiting to get onto the same Interstate I just came off of, so if he saw ANYTHING it was through his rearview mirror and through the Durango that was between me and him until the point I passed the Durango.I get home and actually read the ticket. The description reads" Spun tires for approxiamately 5 seconds on dry pavement" and refers to the following statute:

316.154 Starting parked vehicle.--No person shall start a vehicle which is stopped, standing, or parked, unless and until such movement can be made with reasonable safety. A violation of this section is a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable as a moving violation as provided in chapter 318.


First, I never spun my tires....they are Toyo 305/50/20s that were one week old...they HOOK not spin. Second, IF I had spun for 5 secs all we would have had is me sitting in a cloud of burnout smoke. Third, the cop couldn't have directly observed me doing anything regardless as he was ahead of us and the Durango was between me and him during the initial 5 seconds.
I am going to court to fight this ticket. It's only $115, but the fact that I was cited for something I did not do just burns me. If I was guilty, I would pay the fine and be done with it. But I did not, in any way, spin my tires. I don't have any other points on my license and no moving violations since 1989. I am going to state 1)I don't know where the spinning tires came from, 2)the cop may have heard something, but he couldn't have directly observed it, and 3) at no time did I endanger myself or anyone else on the road by accelerating to merge from 2 lanes to 1 - this being the crux of the statute: safety.
The cop told me he could have given me Careless Driving, but he didn't - I imagine because I wasn't careless. I'm just kinda pissed...I'm a 39 year old Accountant with a 9 month old son who now has to take time off to fight a bogus ticket.
Anyone else ever got charged with this?

 

I've never heard of a situation like that.

 

sounds like BS to me

 

I had an encounter with a ******* cop back a couple of years ago. He said that I ran a red light which I really didnt. I went through the stop bar when the light was green , traffic stopped right in the middle of the intersection. So i stopped then the light turns red with me in the middle of the intersection. So cop pulls up behind me and pulls me over saying I ran the red light. I tried to explain but he didnt care. Went to court and tried to fight it after wasting half a day of work and my time I get up to the judge and tell my story. "Guilty". I was pissed and mad as fire. I ended up PAYING MORE than if would have just paid the ticket. So in the end I wasted time and more money than if I would have just paid it losing just money.

Its your call. Just dont be to pissed if you dont get off. I nearly said something to the judge and to the clerk who took my money. I walked out of the court room shaking my head.

 

I was pulled for "accelerating to quickly" one time. I said Sir I never got over the speed limit. He said yea but at the rate, theres no telling how fast you would have went if i had not pulled you. Like i have said before, you must have got beat up alot as a kid huh he let me off with a warning.Good luck!!!

 

I have been charged with this before. It was almost 10 years ago.

I would suggest documenting the incident, possibly drowing diagrams on large sheets of paper, and then go to court.

What a pain in the ***!

 

[QUOTE=emperor72]I would suggest documenting the incident, possibly drowing diagrams on large sheets of paper, and then go to court.[QUOTE]

That's the plan. I'm gonna see if I can get a decent TerraServer satellite image of the intersection, but if not, I'm gonna diagram the thing as best I can.

 

[QUOTE=CoonToot][QUOTE=emperor72]I would suggest documenting the incident, possibly drowing diagrams on large sheets of paper, and then go to court.
Take pictures of the actual location too. From your view and from the pig's view. Also make note of where the Durango was in relation to you and the pig. A picture is worth 1000 words.

It all the cop has to go on is the sound of spinning tires, or your engine, then it won't hold up. He needs to physically see you doing it, and if you prove that that was impossible, then you'll win.

 

I'm starting to think some of those bastards are just making up **** now just to give people tickets!!!!

 

Exactly what I think. I got I ticket back ago for STOPPING TO LONG AT A STOP SIGN!!!!!!! Ticket read "Failure to proceed forward on a stop sign"
Talk about a total BS Ticket!!!!