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Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,774,755 times
Reputation: 3587
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I am a little not happy. I was stopped on a street with a 2 track railroad crossing well short of the tracks. There is a stoplight right on the other side of the tracks and when it turned green, I proceeded on the tracks assuming the traffic would clear the other side. Well it didn't clear because somebody wanted to turn left and there was too much oncoming traffic leaving me stuck on the tracks until it cycled again. When it changed back to green, I proceeded across the tracks and made a left turn onto the other street only to see the man in blue on my ass who promptly gave me a $120 moving violation for "railroad violation- stopping on right-of-way". Has anybody ever heard of such BS?? I am thinking about whether it would be worth my time to show up in court (loss of 2 work days at least) or just pay the damn thing. I feel cheated.
I am a little not happy. I was stopped on a street with a 2 track railroad crossing well short of the tracks. There is a stoplight right on the other side of the tracks and when it turned green, I proceeded on the tracks assuming the traffic would clear the other side. Well it didn't clear because somebody wanted to turn left and there was too much oncoming traffic leaving me stuck on the tracks until it cycled again. When it changed back to green, I proceeded across the tracks and made a left turn onto the other street only to see the man in blue on my ass who promptly gave me a $120 moving violation for "railroad violation- stopping on right-of-way". Has anybody ever heard of such BS?? I am thinking about whether it would be worth my time to show up in court (loss of 2 work days at least) or just pay the damn thing. I feel cheated.
This sounds like a possible engineering problem. I personally don't agree with the tickets people get for stopping in an intersection when traffic binds up due to their light being green and the next one being red (stopping the "go" traffic behind it). Many times it looks like the traffic is moving then stops all of the sudden. It's not them as much as it is how the lights are set up. There is a REASON why it happens in certain intersections (often). It's not because people want to stop in the middle of the roadway (I wouldn't think), it's because of how the lights are set up. Pitt Transfer brings up a good point though...railroad tracks are dangerous. Sorry to be wishy-washy.
There are traffic rules about train tracks. Familiarize yourself with them and then decide if you were in the right or the wrong. Ignorance isn't an excuse to get out of a ticket. At the very least you may learn something new.
Put your car ANYWHERE but on a railroad track. Those thinks can sneak up on you and they do not stop all that well. I would go to court and explain that you were trapped by the lights.
I presume you make more than $120 over two days of work. Would you take sick/vacation time to fight the charge in court? I certainly wouldn't take unpaid time off to fight $120. I treasure my vacation time since I use it to the max every year so, as much as it chaps your ass, you might want to consider it a "that sucks" moment and just pay the ticket unless vacation time is no issue for you.
You absolutely must be sure that it is clear before you venture onto the RR tracks or go through an intersection and I 100% agree with that. You could have been killed if a train was coming so you should consider yourself lucky and been more careful. I can't stand it when people block an intersection doing the same thing. It does no harm to sit at the light until you know that you can get through, I do it all the time. It is illegal to block traffic and I personally, while I know that for you it sucks and I hate tickets as well, am glad that they give tickets out for that. Wish they did it more often. If we gave people free rein to block intersections because "it was an accident" or "I thought I could get though", we would have constant gridlock because people are to selfish and just have to get through that intersectin right then because heaven forbid they wait for the next light.
I understand that accidents happen and it very well may have been an honest mistake in your case. It has happened to me in intersections but if I would have gotten caught I would have griped but I would have accepted responsibility. In your case stopping on the tracks is much, much more dangerous!
its not BS i watched the guy in front of me die doing just what you did.
Last edited by Huckleberry3911948; 10-05-2009 at 12:52 PM..
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