Legal Advice

[kawasakirob]

After voting to have a legal advice section, I am in need of legal advice.

I rode my GF's ninja 250 from Oklahoma City to Golden on Sunday. I left Oklahoma at 4 a.m. and arrived in Denver around 3 p.m. Coming into Denver, I ALMOST was takin out by an Asian lady in a minivan. My mood went from mellow getting home to unhappy. This was the second time that I had avoided an accident during the trip. I was travelling Westbound on I70 and got off the Morrison exit to head North. I live off of Heritage which is having construction. The left turn on Heritage has been closed for awhile because of construction. The next entrance I believe is called Zeta or Zepa . After 800miles on a 250 in 100 degree heat, I turn on my blinker, check for cars behind me(none) and turn left. I notice a cop before I turn and think nothing of it. He flips on his sirens and pulls me over. He comes up to me and says. Liscense and Registration. I ask him why I was pulled over, and he sais you are unable to turn there, their are signs all over the place. I said I just came from Oklahoma City in 100 degree heat, I'm literally a block from home, and I cannot fucking believe it. The bike was not even in my GF name, but she had insurence for it, and the cop wrote me a 80 dollar, 4 point ticket for Disregarded Traffic Control Device. Fucking Moron. I refused the ticket because I could not believe it that this idiot was actually going to write me up for it, especially since there wer cars turning left, as I was getting written up! I did not see the signs, and apparently, not many people did, as continuous individuals kept on turning left. After the ticket, I turned around and tried to find these signs, I found them, one was about 8 feet off the ground, and the other was on the opposite side of the road, ground level. I also noticed that the cop had three cars once again pulled over AT ONCE. I was pissed. I do not usually come from that direction. It's unbelievable. I really can't deal with more points on my liscense, especially after getting almost takin out 2 times and then getting a ticket. Any help would be greatly appreciated on what angle I could approach this in court. I do not believe the officer knows that I am going to fight it. I cannot believe that the ticket sais disregarded traffic control device, if I had seen it, or knew it was there, I would not have done it. Simple as that. And judging by the number of people STILL turning left, they must not see the signs either.

[TFOGGuys]

Fighting a ticket of this nature is counter productive most of the time, but if you choose to, take pictures of the area, including ones that have a wide enough angle to show just how hard the signs are to see, etc. When you got o court to talk to the DA, let them know that you would prefer not to waste everyone's time by taking this to trial, but you are willing to do so if a reasonable agreement can't be reached. In this case, because they have closed the left turn lane on to Heritage Road, and not provided a reasonable well marked detour, a zero point violation with a fine would seem like a reasonable plea bargain. If they don't go for that, then you may want to contact a lawyer and take it to trial.

[puckstr]

He (COP) was just being a Revenue collector (TOOL). It has NOTHING to do with public safety.

[kawasakirob]

Fighting a ticket of this nature is counter productive most of the time, but if you choose to, take pictures of the area, including ones that have a wide enough angle to show just how hard the signs are to see, etc. When you got o court to talk to the DA, let them know that you would prefer not to waste everyone's time by taking this to trial, but you are willing to do so if a reasonable agreement can't be reached. In this case, because they have closed the left turn lane on to Heritage Road, and not provided a reasonable well marked detour, a zero point violation with a fine would seem like a reasonable plea bargain. If they don't go for that, then you may want to contact a lawyer and take it to trial.
Thank you for the advice. what you said makes sense, and I will see if it will work. Here is the kicker though. the signs were removed as of this morning.

[asp_125]

Thank you for the advice. what you said makes sense, and I will see if it will work. Here is the kicker though. the signs were removed as of this morning.

Hmm I would think that works IN your favor? Signs? There are no stinkin signs.

[kawasakirob]

I will contact the the people who are in charge of flagging the signs, and get the exact dates and times they were put up and down. I think all the information that I can gather will help. I'm not worried about the amount of the fine, just the points, that's what sucks. TFOG proved some good points

[BeoBe]

the best thing you can really do is take p ictures of the poor visibility of the signs showing no left turn and take them to court.. If the judge is in a good mood then they will most likely knock it down to a warning ticket.

And as it seems he was pulling alot of people over you may get lucky and most of them are taking the tickets to court to fight them as well..

But in all legal advice, there were signs (poor visibility is your best shot of the signs) so it could be hard to fight.. but like i said catch the judge on a good day and show him the pictures of the signs and you may get off with a no point warning.

on TFOG's response i highly doubt a judge will allow something like this go to trial, usually on petty things such as this the judge would rather throw it out of court then waste tax payer dollars on a trial for a no left turn

[kawasakirob]

Just got back from taking photos of the signs and lack ov visibility. Also got some photos of 3 cars and 1 mail truck making the same left turn. Should be interesting what they say about the mail truck

[BeoBe]

good luck man, i bet if you stay long enough you might even see an officer making that left turn lol

[kawasakirob]

:)