I pulled into traffic in front of a police officer. I saw the officer and did not think anything of it because I had plenty of room; he did not have to slow down- in fact he could have sped up and still not even come close to hitting me. I dont think I did anything wrong.
Hi Jacustomer, What US state did this occur in and what were you charged with/ticketed for?
In CA; I had pulled out from a gas station and was heading south. I noticed a police car far back in the road also headed south. He was so far back, I did not give it a thought and just pulled out in southbound traffic. If I thought there was the slightest danger of doing an unsafe lane change I never would have pulled out "in front of him" traffic was very light, there were only about 5 or so cars around and I was not close to any of them. The officer said I should have gotten in the lane closest to the gas station I was leaving, then let him go, then go behind him. He said that if he had been chasing someone (which he was not, no lights no siren, no speeding up at all) I could have caused him to crash into him which is baloney because even if I had slammed on my brakes, he still would have had PLENTY of time to stop.
Hi,Thank you for your response.I understand the background here and see why you're upset. However, in order to determine whether this is a traffic infraction or a misdemeanor that you're dealing with I still need to know the offense that you were written up for. The citation should have an offense on it. Probably VC followed by some numbers. If you can give me that, I can look up the law and let you know what you're up against.FranL40759.1086525116
The ticket states fail to yield; the # XXXXX the ticket states 21804(a)
Hi Jacustomer,VC 21804(a) says the following, and this is what the state will have to prove in order to win its case:(a) The driver of any vehicle about to enter or cross a highway from any public or private property, or from an alley, shall yield the right-of-way to all traffic, as defined in Section 620, approaching on the highway close enough to constitute an immediate hazard, and shall continue to yield the right-of-way to that traffic until he or she can proceed with reasonable safety. This is a traffic infraction rather than a misdemeanor. It comes with a fine of up to $100 and 1 point on your license. That means that you could probably get rid of this by simply paying the ticket.If you don't and you want to fight the case, this is clearly going to come down to your word versus the police officer's. Clearly, he's going to say that you were close enough so that you should have yielded to him and your position is that you were far enough out ahead of him that you created no hazard. If As this is civil, the officer doesn't have to prove you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. He only has to show that it was more likely than not that you should have yielded. Given that standard, the burden favors the officer, and as it is going to be his word against yours, if he shows up on the court date, you may have a difficult time winning.You can certainly try, and if he doesn't show up, the matter can possibly even be dismissed.