California sr 87 -Traffic ticket!

Freeborn530 wrote:
You are correct California sr89. As for safety, I have a 20 year safe driver award from the National Safety Council , my last ticket was 1976!

Doesn't matter. In Peoples Republik of Kalifornia, all are guilty until proven innocent.

jimh425 wrote:

Raften wrote:
For those of you avoiding CA, thanks.

You are welcome, but you all should return the favor and avoid going anywhere else ... joking. ;)

Not a problem, my days of going far from home are over, bad knee, heavy clutch.

mkirsch wrote:


The $37 fine doesn't even pay the officer's salary and benefits for the time he spent pulling you over, writing up the ticket, and doing the paperwork at the end of his shift.

There's all that other bureaucracy that the ticket has to go through too (office staff to process, clerk to collect the fine, computer systems to store the information, etc), plus the court system if you decide to fight it. Remember all that exists to protect your innocent-until-proven-guilty rights.

If not for the fees, Average Joe Taxpayer would be footing all of the bill for "your" bad behavior. As it is, we're still picking up some of the tab after all this "money grabbing" is said and done.

It's my understanding that the costs to run a police department and the court system isn't funded by the ticket revenue. At least, it isn't supposed to. Let's just imagine that folks started obeying the traffic laws. Revenue would dry up and police force and courts would not have enough to operate for the year. Can you even imagine the whole law enforcement syndication reducing it's staff because they weren't needed any longer? Neither can I. Like any enterprise, Law enforcement look for ways to spend their budgets and for new ways to increase their operations, not decrease them.
I'm pretty sure I've been bombarded by the government with 'threats' that police, fire and schools will be cut unless new taxes are voted in. If ticket fees were the funding source, then wouldn't it be 'double-dipping' to also tax the citizens for the same service?

Don't blame cops! its the bureaucrats and pol's have turned public safety into an excuse to generate excessive and unwarranted duplicate charges for false and duplicative administrative costs with no consideration for the effects it has had on the public and the publics attitude toward the police who are enforcing the actual law.

laws are like locks they help keep honest people honest

Freeborn530 wrote:
Returning from Lake Tahoe to Seattle on California sr 87, a winding, mountain, two lane road in my truck camper pulling my boat I was ticket ed by CHP for lane violation! Officer observed that on this twisted, winding road I failed to maintain my lane. Ticket cost $238. Public safety or revenue inhansment?

I wish the CHP would enforce this more often on canyon/mountain roads. Too many times are people forced off the road by drivers who blithely consume both lanes with oversize rigs where they have no business being. It is a significant safety hazard. This isn't like doing 10mph over the speed limit on a lightly traveled, straight road under clear skies. If you can't stay in your lane, then stay off the road. Period.

I've had friends killed when they came around a corner and found a massive oncoming vehicle in their lane.

I cannot believe that you can be flippant about this. The CHP certainly thought you were a safety hazard if he took the time to write you a well-deserved ticket.

Raften wrote:
For those of you avoiding CA, thanks.

You are welcome, but you all should return the favor and avoid going anywhere else ... joking. ;)

Cowboy up, pay the fine and try to avoid making the same mistake again.

For those of you avoiding CA, thanks.

I'll also point out that without all the "extra charges" to a fine, many people would happily ignore any law they didn't like because they could afford to deal with it.

obgraham wrote:
Seems like SkiPro, RedDog, and I are the only ones driving safely here. We're looking ahead, assessing the whole situation, and acting accordingly.

The rest of you are obsessing about the line, and it's likely your eyes are 100 feet in front of your rig!

(OK, I'm exaggerating just a bit.)

I once had a Doberman, but I've never dropped a good steak!

First, i'd argue that if it's "safe" to do it, then you shouldn't be afraid to do it when a police officer is there or not.

Which leads to the second, if it's against the law to do it, it doesn't matter if you do it "safely" or not - you're doing something illegal.

So, regardless of your determination of being a good/safe driver, you drive over the line and get a ticket, you deserve the ticket. If you can justify your way out of a ticket, we'll done! But if you can't justify your way out, then suck it up and acknowledge you failed to follow the rules.

mkirsch wrote:
If there was nothing posted about limits for vehicle length or weight on this road, then you might have a leg to stand on in a court of law.

Your extenuating circumstances would be that you didn't know that the turns in the road were so tight as to make it impossible to keep your vehicle in the lane.

Decent argument, but the simple fact is the driver has to maintain control of the vehicle he is operating. If he can't keep it in the lines then he is driving too fast for conditions/roadway. So regardless of what anyone thinks, some type of violation occurred if the vehicle left its lane.
But yes, I agree that it is despicable our governments/localities have decided it's reasonable to have an extra $200 of court fees tacked on to a minor traffic ticket, especially if one were to plead guilty by mail and mail in the fine.