traffic court

I have to go to traffic court tomorrow for the first time, and I am not prepared at all. I am kinda getting scared. It is for an improper lane change, and the only reason I am not paying is bc I do not want the insurance points. Just wondering if any of you guys know the formalities of traffic court in VA, and if any of you guys could help me that would be awesome.

if you are guilty, suck it up and pay the fine

you should change the court date(way too late now) and then hopefully the cop won't show

We'll miss you here on the warpath. Until then...don't drop the soap.

Say hi to Rae Carruth for us

if you are guilty, suck it up and pay the fine

The thing is, it was kinda ify. I was going on route 50 in fairfax(its 3 lanes), and I was in the middle lane, when I realized that I needed to pull a U. So I switched quickly into the left turn lane. Cop pulled me over and said what I had done was dangerous because it was rush hour in the morning. I asked him, is switching multiple lanes illegal, and he responded no, but its dangerous to do so in the morning, but it is ok to do it at 11pm at night because there are not as many cars on the road. So I asked him what my ticket was for, and he replied it was for an "illegal lane change". He said that when I turned into the left lane I crossed over the solid part of the left turn lane, and not the dotted(see pic)

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep/tribaltrans/whitemtn_image018.jpg

And thanks TAF, I heard it is quite slipperly.


Another question I have, I never signed my summons ticket. Since the cop never made me, does that mean the case is null and void?

from your description it does seem kind of iffy

I can't speak for VA, but in NY if you don't have any recent points/violations you can usually get your infraction reduced and you just pay a fine. It's when you're a frequent offender that you'll run into problems.

If you aren't too lazy, which you seem not to be, fight the ticket. You got to ask yourself though, does the cop have a video of you changing lanes? If no, he has no evidence and you should go into court and tell the judge you didn't commit the infraction alleged and that you changed lanes properly. Whatever you do don't admit to improperly changing lanes. Deny wrong doing.

And like someone else said, if the cop doesn't show up the case is dismissed.

hey saden, good afternoon

usually if your record is clean you can take a driver's ed course and totally avoid the ticket even if the judge does find you guilty. cops get 1 court date a month, so counting on him not showing isn't the best idea (though if he isn't there, that makes your life easy).