[YasminLunna]

Hello everyone,

So, my husband was pulled over yesterday and the cop said he was driving on the wrong side of the road, we're new here and there were no signs beside CarMax Hoover and he actually drove on the wrong side for a few meters but when we realized it the cop was already there! we just got here and we know nothing about that, he gave my husband a ticket and says we have court in June?!

Can anyone please tell us what to do because in Mexico when you get a ticket you just have to go and pay for that, there's no court citation.
I think I'll just buy a bike now because the cop was extremely rude !

Thanks!

[NHartphotog]

Originally Posted by YasminLunna

Hello everyone,

So, my husband was pulled over yesterday and the cop said he was driving on the wrong side of the road, we're new here and there were no signs beside CarMax Hoover and he actually drove on the wrong side for a few meters but when we realized it the cop was already there! we just got here and we know nothing about that, he gave my husband a ticket and says we have court in June?!

Can anyone please tell us what to do because in Mexico when you get a ticket you just have to go and pay for that, there's no court citation.
I think I'll just buy a bike now because the cop was extremely rude !

Thanks!

Fight it! I spent a day at traffic court one time, after paying a full week's pay due to a joke speed trap where I supposedly was driving faster than 15 miles per hour over the speed limit (thus getting a huge fine of $165 back in the mid-1980s). The speed limit on this road had been lowered from 45 to 30 a couple of days before I got my ticket; I hadn't noticed. A month later, the limit was back to 45. The cop said I had been going 46 mph. I checked my normal speed on that road for years afterward, and I never went more than about 35 (I'm not a fast driver, but a very safe one). The cop had lied. If I had just fought the ticket, the cop wouldn't have contested it, since it is harder to lie in court than it is to give out fines to citizens coming home from work. They have quotas to meet, despite official denials. It's a great income for local government.

Go and present your side of the story. It helps to stop by the library and take out a book on "How to Fight Your Traffic Ticket" and surf the web on the same topic. Usually a very reasonable magistrate of some sort (not necessarily a judge) will hear your side and the side of the cop (if the cop shows up). It often helps to get the original court date postponed, since often the cops won't make it to a re-scheduled hearing. The least easy cases to win are the ones where the traffic cop is handing out speeding tickets based on their radar-detectors (though maybe the cop didn't have time to get your speed before you slowed down; they'll bluff and give you the ticket anyway since 99% of the people mail in their payment. The easiest cases to win are cases like yours, when it's a strange situation.

The worst that can happen, and this is VERY unlikely, is that you'll have to pay the original fine anyway. And when I went, 100% of the people were better off, even when they admitted being guilty. Everyone got a break.

[JGinLA]

Originally Posted by YasminLunna

I think I'll just buy a bike now

Remember cyclists have to stay on the right side of the road and obey all traffic laws.
One small note. Police use radar, violators use detectors.

[YasminLunna]

Thanks a lot for your comments!

Actually the cop told us to move on! he was on the corner and we still hadn't crossed the wrong side and he made a positive gesture for us to pass by and then he pulled us over, I think it was a big case of racism my husband is Mexican and he's not white, I'm latin but I'm blonde, green eyes and white and he didn't even ask for my papers to check if I have a visa, which they really do when you're not a citizen, he only asked for my husband's papers, it makes me really sad to see this kind of things as all the people I met here until now were really nice and lovely, but anyways I appreciate your comments and I'll follow your advices!

Thanks

[Southlander]

You were wrong. You could have killed somebody.
Pay the fine.
Move on.

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by YasminLunna

Thanks a lot for your comments!

Actually the cop told us to move on! he was on the corner and we still hadn't crossed the wrong side and he made a positive gesture for us to pass by and then he pulled us over, I think it was a big case of racism my husband is Mexican and he's not white, I'm latin but I'm blonde, green eyes and white and he didn't even ask for my papers to check if I have a visa, which they really do when you're not a citizen, he only asked for my husband's papers, it makes me really sad to see this kind of things as all the people I met here until now were really nice and lovely, but anyways I appreciate your comments and I'll follow your advices!

Thanks

Do not start with the oh so popular race card. Do you wear a sign "no citizen"? Your husband was the driver so he had to identify himself. In 28 years I have never been asked to show immigration documentation; the last seven in Birmingham.

[YasminLunna]

Thank You for everyone who replied me and offered help, this is why it's really worth being here for the nice people, as for the others I wish all the best too!
And yes, there is are people who are very racist here and they don't care about hiding it, I can clearly feel and see how people treat me and how people treat my husband and some Mexican friends, but on the other side there are good things here too, I'm new and I'm still getting used to these things.

[tijlover]

When the day comes when drivers say: Enough! Enough! and all take to riding bikes, and the revenue dries up for vehicular moving violations, then the same punishment will be awaiting bike riders. They'll find a way of stopping unsuspecting bike riders, and the fines will be as high.

After that, if people say enough to Bikes, and all take to walking or crawling on all fours, the same punishment will be awaiting them.

Revenue from moving violations is part and parcel of city, county, state government survival. And let's not forget the lawyers and city/county jail guards.

The last year I've been riding my bike to local bars to avoid getting a DUI.
And now after talking to any number of patrons at the bars, I learn now you can get a DUI on a bicycle just like in a car. Henceforth, I go on foot. And yes, you can get a DUI merely sitting in your car in a bar parking lot.

[opalminor]

Sometimes we make driving mistakes, but.. you are not the victim here.. you could have killed someone &/or killed yourselves, even though it may have been an innocent mistake. The purpose of cops on the road is to keep us from doing just that... not to 'pick on you'. Things happen to all of us where we catch ourselves, but there just happens to be a cop right there who nabs us. And yes it's not always fair. Just buck up and pay it.. like anyone else would have to!

[Adalfredo]

Go and present your side of the story. It helps to stop by the library and take out a book on "How to Fight Your Traffic Ticket" and surf the web on the same topic. Usually a very reasonable magistrate of some sort (not necessarily a judge) will hear your side and the side of the cop (if the cop shows up). It often helps to get the original court date postponed, since often the cops won't make it to a re-scheduled hearing. The least easy cases to win are the ones where the traffic cop is handing out speeding tickets based on their radar-detectors (though maybe the cop didn't have time to get your speed before you slowed down; they'll bluff and give you the ticket anyway since 99% of the people mail in their payment. The easiest cases to win are cases like yours, when it's a strange situation.