Justice on the Road (Help Vanity)

5/9/2003 | me, Kickstart

[kidd]

I have a friend (who is also a Freeper - kickstart) who recently got into a minor car accident in northern Delaware (he is from Massachussetts).

He was travelling on I-95 north in a passenger van, following another car in the left lane at a safe distance, travelling at about 60 mph (under the speeding limit). The car in front decided to make a U-turn across the median. In doing so, the driver signalled her turn, locked up the brakes and skidded. My friend attempted to avoid contact, was unable to so, because of traffic, and clipped her right taillight.

My friend was cited $45 by the investigating state police officier for following at an unsafe distance. My friend disagreed, tried to explain this to the officer (pointing out the skid marks), but the officer told him that he had no choice in the matter. My friend is mostly concerned about proper justice and points against his driving record.

He has discovered a procedure called "Trial by Written Declaration" whereas he pays the fine, but also provides a plea of "not guilty" along with a declaration of facts.

Has any Freeper heard of this procedure and can you provide some insight?

Does anyone have any other advice?

Thanks in advance.

[Cicero]

I don't know about the procedure in question, but maybe someone else will chip in. I assume your friend is concerned about having a moving violation for insurance purposes, since the fine isn't really significant.

Regretably, there is an assumption in most jurisdictions that if a car behind clips a car ahead, it was following too close and is presumed to be at fault. This is pretty much regardless of what the car ahead does. I agree that the car ahead in this case behaved very foolishly, but I'm not sure what the chances are of making that point so it will stick with the courts or the insurance company.

[ClearCase_guy]

I should probably say nothing, since I know so little about these things. And I am very sympathetic to your friend's plight. However ...

Any contact between a "car in front" and a "car behind" might (possibly) be seen as cold hard proof that the "car behind" was at an unsafe distance. Had your friend been 2 miles back, no contact would have been made. So 2 miles was a safe distance. The actual distance in the case you are citing might well be seen as "unsafe" on its face.

Not trying to be a jerk, but courts are often pretty literal-minded.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Any contact between a "car in front" and a "car behind" might be seen as cold hard proof that the "car behind" was at an unsafe distance

. . . then there was the story of the driver who got rear-ended, and smugly watched as the officer questioned the other driver.

The officer said, "How fast was this fool backing up when he hit you, judge?"

[Kaslin]

A few years ago, I was involved in an accident when I hit a pickup truck who had made a left turn on a straight green light. I was coming from the north and had the green light. The other vehicle was coming from the South and was in the turning lane. The let turn arrow on the turning lane was already turned off, hence my green light. As I proceeded through the green light the other vehicle did too, and wham. This happend early in the morning and the driver of the Truck had turned of his headlights, because he was going in to Ft. Campbell where it is required to turn of the lights when going through the gates.

To make the stor short, the police officer gave me a ticket for failing to yield. I went to court and the Judge didmissed the case when I proved that I had the green light.

The bad thing about your friend is that he might not can prove that the vehicle in front of him made an illegal U turn in front of him. As far as I know it is illegal to make a U torn across the median on a Interstate.

[Kaslin]

didmissed = dismissed sheesh

[UCFRoadWarrior]

Kaslin has a point.....not only its illegal to make a U-Turn (in most cases) on the Interstate.....I-95 in DE, if I am not mistaken, is a toll-road (DEL Tpk)......and U-Turn's on Toll Roads are usually illegal (because it is implied that the U-Turn was made to avoid paying a toll)

The question is: Is it worth the money spent to fight it worth the cost of the fine?

If it is not too much of a drive to go to DE and challenge it...I would give it a shot...especially if it means points on your driving record

[Kaslin]

Yikes, I just read my post again and noticed several typos. I should have checked closer before hitting the post button.

[Vinnie]

A lot of these laws vary from state to state.
Here in NC we have something called 'prayer for judgement. I'm not sure how it works, but somehow it keeps points off your record. Check it out