Accident pics/contesting ticket
Jack Gagnon
bullitt at cybertours.com
Fri Jun 28 07:40:38 EDT 2002
Wow Charlie, your take on this is pretty harsh! Jail time? Are you trying
to scare the bejesus out of him?
What is the point in giving someone a ticket for this ordeal? If you ask
me, the cop is an idiot for drawing attention to the inadequate sign. If
the sign is deemed inadequate in court, the government agency could possibly
be sued by the driver of the car!
The signs do not meet MUTCD (Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices )
standards. If the sign was only 100 feet from the closed section of road
and the lettering is inadequate it is quite possible that the driver did not
have adequate time to slow down before hitting the ice. It does not take a
whole lot of speed to roll a car after it has gone over an embankment
sideways.
There must be more to this story!
Jack
-----Original Message-----
From: quattro-admin at audifans.com [mailto:quattro-admin at audifans.com]On
Behalf Of Charlie Smith
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2002 5:45 PM
To: nicksimc at plu.edu
Cc: Quattro List; Charlie Smith
Subject: Re: Accident pics/contesting ticket
Earlier, nicksimc at plu.edu wrote:
>
> I finally got around to scanning some pictures of my April 2 accident.
> The ticket I received the next day was for "going down a closed road."
> This will be disputed in court at the end of July. How's that for a right
> to speedy trial?
>
> Here is the fork in the road. The road to the left was obviously closed
> by the snow berm in front of it, and by the sign 100 ft _behind_ the
> berm telling you it is closed (far left sign).
>
> http://www.plu.edu/~nicksimc/road1.jpg
>
> I went down the road to the right. This pic is of the sign telling you
> that the road ahead was closed. It is about 100ft in front of the ice.
>
> http://www.plu.edu/~nicksimc/road2.jpg
>
> I never actually saw the sign because I was too busy braking to avoid the
> obvious hazard. Unfortunately, I was unable to come to a complete stop
> before I reached the ice, and I began sliding across this:
I think you are guilty as charged. If you went past a "road closed"
sign (road2.jpg) that's the end of the story. The fact that you were
going too fast to see it is no excuse. If you told the officer that
you "never actually saw the sign because I was too busy braking to
avoid the obvious hazard", you are lucky he didn't also cite you for
either "too fast for conditions" or "reckless operation".
> I am looking for a nice way to say "this is BS" in court. Anyone?
I think you'd better pay the ticket and stay out of court if you can.
I'm a volunteer police officer in Columbus Ohio. I've seen judges around
here that on hearing a story like yours would add the "reckless operation"
charge themselves and sock you with a healthy fine. Look up the penalty
for wreckless ops in your city / state. It may even specify jail time.
- Charlie
Charlie Smith charlie at elektro.cmhnet.org 614-471-1418
http://www.elektro.com/~charlie Columbus Ohio USA
http://www.elektro.com/~audi photos & technical info
95 S6 Quattro - 24 PSI, RS2 6 speed, and other features
96 Dodge Ram - 30 PSI, w/Cummins turbo diesel
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