Opinions on this ticket

[yeagersm]

Tonight (around 11:30) I was driving, and at an intersection I turned left into the far (right lane). I took the turn a little fast, but it certainly wasn't reckless, and I certainly wasn't out of control. When the officer pulled me over, he asked me how fast I thought I was going around the corner, at first I answered "About 25 mph" (both the street I turned from and onto were 35 mph streets", in response to this, he said "come on now, be honest", so I say "30?", once again he says "be honest, I'm not going to write you a ticket for the speeding", so I say "35?" (at this point it didn't cross my mind that going that fast through the intersection would have been insane", and he says "Yeah more like 35, it looked like you almost hit the curb over there". At the time it didn't occur to me to point out that I hadn't come anywhere near hitting the curb, because I was still slightly stunned from being pulled over. The officer, both of them actually, went back to their car, for a long time. When he comes back, he tells me that he is issuing me a ticket for an improper lane change, and I sign it. After that he says "It looked like you were coming around the corner too fast, and kind of got slung into that lane" this certainly wasn't the case, and I respond "no, I meant to turn into that lane". I understand that the improper lane change is a ticketable offense, but it seems like the huge number of people that police officers must certainly witness doing this every day could provide some basis for having the ticket dismissed. I have already used my deferrment previously, which I assume is relatively equivalent to the driving school option, so it just means that I will land with both offenses on my record. It almost seems like the cop had the story wrong, and may have not been inclined to give me a ticket if he had known the actual circumstances. There was one other person with me in the car, but they probably wont be useful as a witness because they live out of town. So I just want to get some opinions on if I have any chance contesting this.

[drdisque]

when making a left hand turn you have to turn into the left-most lane on the street you're turning onto, this is to keep the right hand lane clear for people making right hand turns from the opposite direction. Making a left hand turn into the right hand lane is dangerous because of this. Each officer has a violation that holds a special place in his heart because he feels it is overlooked but important. That was probably the case here. You can go to court and see if the court disagrees. In HS a friend of mine had a similar violation that was thrown out in court because the judge didn't think it was a big enough offense to warrant a ticket.

[fredjacksonsan]

Don't know about your local law, but here in VA, you can turn into ANY lane on the road you're turning into, unless there are multiple turn lanes in which you must turn into the corresponding lane.

Sounds like a check into your local law is in order, followed by a visit to court.

[yeagersm]

The law really should be like that everywhere, because no one bothers to follow it, and there is no way to enforce it, so there is really no point in having a law. I know that it is illegal here in WA though, unfortunately.

[fredjacksonsan]

If it's illegal in WA, it's illegal. What is the ticket for?

[YukiHime]

Originally Posted by yeagersm

The law really should be like that everywhere, because no one bothers to follow it, and there is no way to enforce it, so there is really no point in having a law. I know that it is illegal here in WA though, unfortunately.

But when it happens to you, I believe you will be cursing at the law makers that didn't put this in the law...
I almost got my 7 wrecked by some idiots like this...

[fredjacksonsan]

It's a common accident when 2 vehicles are turning.

[yeagersm]

After looking into things a bit, I ended up looking up the law I was cited under, here it is:

http://www.leg.wa.gov/RCW/index.cfm?...action=section

As far as I can tell, this has no bearing on what I did. I'm curious what others think.

[AlmostStock]

Turning into the same lane is not only a good idea but should be an enforced law in every state. It drives me nuts watching drivers swing out across lanes with no concern at all.

[Skyline86]

This cop is an a$$. That's my opinion.

It's 11:30 at night and he gives you a ticket for turning into the right hand lane on a left hand turn.

This is deuche-bag behavior on his part. He should've dismissed it.

[fredjacksonsan]

Originally Posted by yeagersm

After looking into things a bit, I ended up looking up the law I was cited under, here it is:

http://www.leg.wa.gov/RCW/index.cfm?...action=section

As far as I can tell, this has no bearing on what I did. I'm curious what others think.

Yeah; it doesn't mention intersections or maintaining lanes through intx, just that you should make sure you're in one lane or the other, and that any lane changes are safe prior to making them.

It does say that you must obey traffic lane signals (which probably includes signs) so it would pay to go back to the intx prior to court to look it over and take pics to show in court.

Since this is the law/statute the cop cited you under, I'd think that if you have a copy of the law, address each point in court and tell the judge how you did not violate the law for each point and explain the situation, you may be ok.

[YukiHime]

Originally Posted by Skyline86

This cop is an a$$. That's my opinion.

It's 11:30 at night and he gives you a ticket for turning into the right hand lane on a left hand turn.

This is deuche-bag behavior on his part. He should've dismissed it.

It really does not matter even it is 11:30 at night. It's a behavior that's wrong. You can never tell if someone is trying to pass the road. Therefore the cop is right. Especially he is making a turn, that means the road he is turning into is having a walk signal for pedestrians.

[yeagersm]

Believe me, there were no pedestrians, oncoming traffic or right turning traffic. It's perfectly easy to see if someone is "passing the road" (I assume you mean cross the street), if what you're saying is true, then it wouldn't have been safe to turn into either lane (maybe you are misunderstanding exactly what I did...). I'm not saying that it being at night makes it any more safe or right, infact I am confident I would have never gotten a ticket or even pulled over for this during the day (meaning of course in the perfect logic of the police that it is more dangerous at night... lol).

[YukiHime]

One more question, you are driving a Front drive?

[yeagersm]

Yes my car is front wheel drive, if that's relevent.