Got a ticket for failure to yield to emergency vehicle. The cop had someone pulled over on the left side of the highway and I drove by in the left lane. The law doesnt state that you cannot pass a parked cop in an adjacent lane does it? Also, how the heck do you fail to yield to a parked car....what a crock. The speeding ticket he gave me combined with other ticket to total 8 MI points. This could put me into the high risk insurance pool because of this one event(no recent ticket in a couple years) The result could be an increase in annual insurance from $1600 to almost $5000 and the insurance remains raised for 3-4 years. Kind of a big deal because some cop was having a pissy day. Fight it or no?
failure to yield to emergency vehicle?
- Thread starter WOODY
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WOODY said:
Hate to confirm bad news, but that is the lsaw in Michgan. Is sounds stupid and is not enforced all that much but it is true. If you make an attempt to get over and cannot b/c of traffic most likely nothing would be done but if it clear sailing and you can get over and do not, if that cop is paying cloase attention he will pull you over. The speeding only made it that much worse. You can try and fight it to get it reduced or something along those lines but I do know how much good it will do. Sorry :frown: and good luck. :redface:
It states that you should try to pull over and if it isn't possible, that you should slow down. If you can demonstrate that you tried to slow down or pull over, I would fight it. If this happened near Grand Rapids, they are pretty bad over there about pulling over anything that is out of state or unfamiliar. I was pulled over for doing 70 in a 55 in the NSX, this was in the middle of bumper to bumper traffic on a 2 lane road. I asked him how he got me and he stated that it was on radar. My detector never went off and when I asked to see the "evidence", he said that he turned off the radar. His last reply, if you disagree, you can always contest it in court. This is of course after seeing that I was from 150 miles away. I wouldn't be surprised that the officer never shows up with the thought that you would never contest it since you are from Chicago.
Tim
Tim
That was my 2nd ticket and none since. I was going to work at 4am once (so it was pitch black). I'm going down a commercial area at 45mph (4 lanes with turn lane in middle) at the speed limit. I see a cop in the middle up ahead with his lights on so i shift over to the far right lane. I figure he's got someone over for speeding so I just continue at the speed limit. When I go by him he's standing at the front of his car watching a water main that's leaking. The street is wet but not flooded so I slow down just a bit once i see the water. He comes after me pulls me over and gives me a ticket. I ask him for what and he says not yielding to an officer with his lights on.
I get to court to fight it and the judge takes his side of course and says that I was suppose to slow 'to a roll' and look for the officer outside his car. Of course me giving him 50' side clearance wasn't good enough.
You can try to fight it, just hope the cop isn't there or you'll prob lose. If you end up paying for the ticket...give them unrolled pennies and nickels. They legally have to take it
I get to court to fight it and the judge takes his side of course and says that I was suppose to slow 'to a roll' and look for the officer outside his car. Of course me giving him 50' side clearance wasn't good enough.
You can try to fight it, just hope the cop isn't there or you'll prob lose. If you end up paying for the ticket...give them unrolled pennies and nickels. They legally have to take it
ekin95 said:
That's the law in Indiana too. If you see a police officer pulled over on the side of the road, you have to at least TRY to get into the lane away from them. They're trying to keep people from getting killed, running into parked cop cars on the side of the road. I know it sounds stupid, but just watch one of those "craziest video" shows and you'll see it happens all the time. :frown:
Get a lawyer to represent you... A. So you don't have to go back to their jursidiction to fight it. B. It's a revenue game - they just want the money (money for the court, money for the city, & money for the lawyer).
in california, we've had a number (many?) of law enforcement officers and road workers seriously injured or killed by cars in these situations. my observation is that in today's world, far too many drivers are distracted by cell phones, blackberries, computers, nav systems and dvd's to pay attention (or give a sh*t) to what goes on outside there own little world that states have finally started to get aggressive about reducing the risk to their LE folks.
bummer about your ticket - you should contest it if you want to stop the conviction.
that aside, this seems like a great law to me, and a great law to pay attention to.
bummer about your ticket - you should contest it if you want to stop the conviction.
that aside, this seems like a great law to me, and a great law to pay attention to.
I was in Indiana when I got the ticket. I checked online and they have a safety school, so maybe I can get out of it with a fine and no points. I don't disagree that it improves safety for officers but the arbitrary assignment of guilt sucks (I have since seen this happen 4-5 times were the lane of traffic continues past a pulled over cop car with every car continuing in the same lane) Kind of like getting a ticket for 5mph over-techically correct but unreasonable if the majority of traffic is going that speed.PhiAlpha44 said:
Seems silly to me.PhiAlpha44 said:
If you see a cop car on the side you are not going to hit it.
If you don’t see it, how can they expect you to pull over?
So the guys that are going to hit the cop car aren’t going to pull over because they didn’t see it, and if they didn’t see it, they might hit it.
Conversely, if you are not destined to hit the cop car, maybe it’s because you saw it. And if you see it, you are not going to hit it unless you really hate cop cars. And if you really hate cop cars and are going to hit it, then making a law against driving in that lane won’t stop you hitting him.
They should make a law against hitting cops. Except that wouldn’t work either because sometimes you just don’t see them.
Just tell the judge you didn’t see the cop car so plead that that law doesn’t apply to you in this case.
The law probably says something like “when you see a cop car parked, bla bla, then you must pull over…”.
So if you didn’t see it, how can you pull over? The law is flawed.
They might try to give you a ticket for not seeing him, THAT would be valid. But it is too late for them to do that maybe.
Too many laws over there…
Maybe the law says you must pull over if there is a cop car there, period. But what happens if you didn’t see it because there was a truck in front of you who WAS pulling over and blocked your view.
Are you supposed to have telepathy or something? Hell even the judge doesn’t have telepathy I assume.
If he says he does, then ask him why he doesn’t know there was a truck blocking your view.
That will be $500 please. Thank you.
Peter’s Free Internet Advice and Partners (Twiggy and Stoere; my cats).com
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Florida's "Move Over" law: http://www.fhp.state.fl.us/misc/MoveOver.htm
The main reason: "During the five-year period of 1996-2000, motorists in Florida crashed into working law enforcement vehicles that were stopped/parked along Florida roadways 1,793 times, resulting in five deaths and 419 injuries."
The main reason: "During the five-year period of 1996-2000, motorists in Florida crashed into working law enforcement vehicles that were stopped/parked along Florida roadways 1,793 times, resulting in five deaths and 419 injuries."
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CL65 Captain said:
Agree with CL65...get yourself a GOOD traffic lawyer, even if you have to pay extra for one, and i am sure he can work out a deal with the court to minimize your points or get rid of one of the charges and then paying just the fine.
good luck
WOODY said:
This happen on the way back from the meet? And yes, in MO thats the law as well, however it's not try an move over...ITS A SOLID MOVE IT OR LOSE IT here. First time for MO is UP TO $10K fine and loss of license for 1 year. They have lost a lot of state troopers here:frown:
Same in FL. Don't get over a lane and you could've while a cop has car pulled over, you are subject to get pulled over and ticketed for it.
Not trying to be a smarta$$ but I assume you know the reason why?
Not trying to be a smarta$$ but I assume you know the reason why?
Same law in North Carolina...
Michagan
M.C.L.A.
257.653a. Stationary authorized emergency vehicles, visual signals; approach with due care and caution; violation, penalty and fine
Sec. 653a. (1) Upon approaching and passing a stationary authorized emergency vehicle that is giving a visual signal by means of flashing, rotating, or oscillating red, blue, or white lights as permitted by section 698, the driver of an approaching vehicle shall exhibit due care and caution, as required under the following:
(a) On any public roadway with at least 2 adjacent lanes proceeding in the same direction of the stationary authorized emergency vehicle, the driver of the approaching vehicle shall proceed with caution and yield the right-of-way by moving into a lane at least 1 moving lane or 2 vehicle widths apart from the stationary authorized emergency vehicle, unless directed otherwise by a police officer. If movement to an adjacent lane or 2 vehicle widths apart is not possible due to weather, road conditions, or the immediate presence of vehicular or pedestrian traffic in parallel moving lanes, the driver of the approaching vehicle shall proceed as required in subdivision (b).
(b) On any public roadway that does not have at least 2 adjacent lanes proceeding in the same direction as the stationary authorized emergency vehicle, or if the movement by the driver of the vehicle into an adjacent lane or 2 vehicle widths apart is not possible as described in subdivision (a), the approaching vehicle shall reduce and maintain a safe speed for weather, road conditions, and vehicular or pedestrian traffic and proceed with due care and caution, or as directed by a police officer.
(2) Except as provided in subsections (3) and (4), a person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $500.00 or imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both.
(3) A person who violates this section and causes injury to a police officer, firefighter, or other emergency response personnel in the immediate area of the stationary authorized emergency vehicle is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000.00 or imprisonment for not more than 2 years, or both.
(4) A person who violates this section and causes death to a police officer, firefighter, or other emergency response personnel in the immediate area of the stationary authorized emergency vehicle is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine of not more than $7,500.00 or by imprisonment for not more than 15 years, or both.
M.C.L.A.
257.653a. Stationary authorized emergency vehicles, visual signals; approach with due care and caution; violation, penalty and fine
Sec. 653a. (1) Upon approaching and passing a stationary authorized emergency vehicle that is giving a visual signal by means of flashing, rotating, or oscillating red, blue, or white lights as permitted by section 698, the driver of an approaching vehicle shall exhibit due care and caution, as required under the following:
(a) On any public roadway with at least 2 adjacent lanes proceeding in the same direction of the stationary authorized emergency vehicle, the driver of the approaching vehicle shall proceed with caution and yield the right-of-way by moving into a lane at least 1 moving lane or 2 vehicle widths apart from the stationary authorized emergency vehicle, unless directed otherwise by a police officer. If movement to an adjacent lane or 2 vehicle widths apart is not possible due to weather, road conditions, or the immediate presence of vehicular or pedestrian traffic in parallel moving lanes, the driver of the approaching vehicle shall proceed as required in subdivision (b).
(b) On any public roadway that does not have at least 2 adjacent lanes proceeding in the same direction as the stationary authorized emergency vehicle, or if the movement by the driver of the vehicle into an adjacent lane or 2 vehicle widths apart is not possible as described in subdivision (a), the approaching vehicle shall reduce and maintain a safe speed for weather, road conditions, and vehicular or pedestrian traffic and proceed with due care and caution, or as directed by a police officer.
(2) Except as provided in subsections (3) and (4), a person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $500.00 or imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both.
(3) A person who violates this section and causes injury to a police officer, firefighter, or other emergency response personnel in the immediate area of the stationary authorized emergency vehicle is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000.00 or imprisonment for not more than 2 years, or both.
(4) A person who violates this section and causes death to a police officer, firefighter, or other emergency response personnel in the immediate area of the stationary authorized emergency vehicle is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine of not more than $7,500.00 or by imprisonment for not more than 15 years, or both.
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