Only happens to good people (Cumming: how much, school, law)

[bigzonka]

I was ticketed for the move over law near Cumming Ga. I had not been drinking or violating any laws. I was simply picking my son up from an end of the year school dance. Two cops all ready had a car stopped on Ga 400 southbound .It was 9:30 at night and dark. There were two cars next to me and I could not pull into another lane. I slowed down to 35 and passed. The officer then tailed me a mile and a half down 400 to see if I would speed. I did not. Was this officers view obstructed when I passed him? I guess because he did not see the two cars next to me? Will a dash cam video show this, probably not. They usually only show the car in front of you when you are stopped. How does he know how fast I was going when i passed him. He doesn't because he never marked a speed on my ticket? Do they have to? You would think to prove their case. Does he even have the right car? The ticket says gold color car. My car is silver. My point is how does the officer know I didn't slow down (which I did) when I passed him. His word against mine if the video doesn't show two lanes over. What a joke from a divorced father picking his son up from a after school dance and all ready paying child support.

[BrightNSunny]

Not sure what you being a good father/paying child support has to do with your ticket so I don't even know why you brought that into the thread.

But anyway, up here in NY, they ticket people often for the same thing. You should probably fight it in court if the car color isn't even correct. Not sure how someone sees a silver color car and thinks it's gold.

Good luck.

[afdinatl]

Good! Learn how to drive. Stay out of the passing lane when people are behind you.

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

story doesn't add up... How do you slow down to 35 mph and yet the cars next to you doing 65+ mph speed limit not fly past you making it possible to move over. Also I've never seen anybody go 35 mph on a highway.

[lorilove]

Originally Posted by bigzonka

I was ticketed for the move over law near Cumming Ga. I had not been drinking or violating any laws. I was simply picking my son up from an end of the year school dance. Two cops all ready had a car stopped on Ga 400 southbound .It was 9:30 at night and dark. There were two cars next to me and I could not pull into another lane. I slowed down to 35 and passed. The officer then tailed me a mile and a half down 400 to see if I would speed. I did not. Was this officers view obstructed when I passed him? I guess because he did not see the two cars next to me? Will a dash cam video show this, probably not. They usually only show the car in front of you when you are stopped. How does he know how fast I was going when i passed him. He doesn't because he never marked a speed on my ticket? Do they have to? You would think to prove their case. Does he even have the right car? The ticket says gold color car. My car is silver. My point is how does the officer know I didn't slow down (which I did) when I passed him. His word against mine if the video doesn't show two lanes over. What a joke from a divorced father picking his son up from a after school dance and all ready paying child support.

You always have the right to contest, just not sure if it is worth it.

I was lucky. I got pulled over once and to be honest I just wasn't paying attention or thinking about it. For me the cop just warned me and let me go.

Life is not fair!

[cwkimbro]

I hate to say it, but you were breaking the law (perhaps not realizing it), and you're trying to find a red-herring excuse.

The fact that he didn't write down a speed doesn't matter. It would if you were cited for speeding, but you were not. The gold/silver difference is a moot point. Point it from your story it is self-evident you were indeed pulled over and the reason does not have any particular interest to the color of your car at night. There doesn't seem to be any legitimate question that he did not have the right car or person from your story.

The ultimate flaw to your argument is that you could not pull into another lane is a bit light. It does not matter if there are -two- cars next to you when you passed them. It only matters if you are able to get over beforehand. If there were only two cars besides you on approaching the police officer you should have been able to control your speed to put yourself in a situation to move a lane over. Traffic would have to be pretty thick not to and it isn't like to have been that thick if you were traveling well in excess of 35 mph. The mere act of slowing down does not exempt you from moving over, which is why you will have trouble in court if you gave this story word for word.

I don't think it is worth fighting. If you do, I would analyze the visibility you had on the approach to the officers. Look at how far away would you have seen them (ie curves, hill, etc...). This then leads to questioning how much time you had to react and safely move over in the traffic conditions. That can bolster your argument a bit, depending on the facts. You have to show you were not able to move over in regards to safety and traffic conditions. Two cars in the lane next to you at the moment you pass the police alone does not cut it.

After that (and only after that)... you have to make the argument that you slowed down to a speed where you were prepared to stop if needed. Slowing down isn't an option you get to choose, it is written in a way that it is only if you can't get over.

The maximum fine for this is $500. I would find out what your fine is and perhaps see if you can get the fine knocked down. You might have more of an argument that you slowed down a pretty good bit and get some sympathy. Has anyone had an experience wit this?

[ElleKaye]

I am not altogether clear what the question is. It seems in part you were saying you were driving slow in the fast/passing lane. In other part, you seem to be saying that the officer who pulled you over did not know what speed limit you were driving.

Just as common courtesy and not because of any law, you should move over to the right lane and not hem up people behind you. If they want to speed, risk get a ticket, take their pregnant wife to the hospital in hurry, or what not, then there's no reason for you not to let them pass.

As for the police officer not knowing how fast you were going, I've heard you can kind of guesstimate that the person in front of you is going 5 mph slower than you. I don't know if there's any truth to that though. Also, I'm pretty certain that an officer cannot use any ray gun data in court in Georgia unless it shows you were going more than 10 miles over the speed limit.

You probably just irked him if he had to ride for a mile before you got out of his way. Georgia definitely has traffic nazi officers. I'd definitely fight it based on the time of night and him getting the car color wrong. What's the worst that could happern? You'd still have to pay it.

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

Originally Posted by ElleKaye

I am not altogether clear what the question is. It seems in part you were saying you were driving slow in the fast/passing lane. In other part, you seem to be saying that the officer who pulled you over did not know what speed limit you were driving.

Just as common courtesy and not because of any law, you should move over to the right lane and not hem up people behind you. If they want to speed, risk get a ticket, take their pregnant wife to the hospital in hurry, or what not, then there's no reason for you not to let them pass.

As for the police officer not knowing how fast you were going, I've heard you can kind of guesstimate that the person in front of you is going 5 mph slower than you. I don't know if there's any truth to that though. Also, I'm pretty certain that an officer cannot use any ray gun data in court in Georgia unless it shows you were going more than 10 miles over the speed limit.

You probably just irked him if he had to ride for a mile before you got out of his way. Georgia definitely has traffic nazi officers. I'd definitely fight it based on the time of night and him getting the car color wrong. What's the worst that could happern? You'd still have to pay it.

The move over law he is referring to is not the slowpoke law. He is referring to the law where you must move over a lane when there are emergency services on the shoulder. If you are not able to do so then it is allowed for you to slow down significantly in place of moving over. If you see two cops pulled over a vehicle the 2nd cop is usually looking for violators of the move over law.

[skiime]

Wow, reading comprehension went out the door in this thread. He wasn't saying he was pulled over for the slow poke law. He was referring to the move over law for emergency vehicles. The law says if an emergency vehicle is on the side of the road with its emergency lights on, on a multi lane road, drivers must either move over one lane, or if they aren't able to do that, they must slow down to pass. In this case, according to the OP, he did exactly that. Now of course there may be other details that are missing from this thread for why the cop pulled him over, but if he truly did slow down to 35 mph on the hwy, and couldn't move over a lane, then I'd sure fight this one.

[coolieandre]

That sucks..... Whenever I approach an exit I always move over ahead of time. Generally the only time I'm in that far right lane anyway is when I'm about to exit. Most of the exits I find in the Metro don't give enough room to merge, etc with approaching traffic.