Last month, i'm driving home from downtown indianapolis. I get to an intersection where all the lights are red. (both directions of traffic.) So i stop. I then see, in my rearview mirror, that the fire engine behind me is flashing his lights. With only a split second to make a decision on what to do, i decide that since there is no traffic, no chance for traffic, and no way in the world i can turn right, (a car is in the right lane. i am in a left turn and straight lane.) to proceed through the light to get out of the way of this fire engine.

The car on my right turns out to be a police officer. He pulls me over immediately, gives me a $150 ticket for disobeying an automatic signal. He then acknowledges the fire engine, and its lights, and says that it could've just gotten off a run and that since there was no siren, there was no emergency. He then states that fire engines do not make traffic laws. Wishes me a good evening, and goes about his business.


Now, i could understand being given a ticket if i had run a red light and put others' lives in danger, but this was 1:30 a.m. with no traffic, all red lights, and a fire engine who's just flashed his lights, i have no clue if he's going ON a run, or coming OFF a run. i see emergency lights, i get out of the way.

 

Dispute it. Worst they can do is make you pay the original ticket fee. Contact the local F.D. and find out what call it was, arrival & departure time. Go to court w/ that information and see if the judge will be lienent on you given your circumstances. Hopefully the judge will see your point of view and understand why you did it and give you a lower ticket fee or none at all. G.L.

 

yo that sux. the fuji says to fight it

 

You got screwed. Fight it.

 

You definitely should fight it in court. The judge should understand the circumstance.

 

Look at it like this: did you break the law, YES or NO?

Yes, you did.

Take it up on your day in court, because obviously the judge will be using his brain, unlike this officer.

And my personal vote for most absurd ticket ever is to receive one for equipment which came with the car, bone stock with no add-ons.

 

I admit i went through the light, but what choice did i have? Make way for this fire engine, or not make way and get a ticket for not yielding to an emergency vehicle? It's all screwy.

By the way.... Court date is set for October 3rd.

 

Fight it. Even if you don't win you will at least have wasted the time of our screwed up justice system, and that always gives me satisfaction.

 

Get all the info and fight it! Good luck!!!!

Then claim the good officer was 'profiling' you....

 

I'm with everyone else, fight it!

 

You should fight it! And light others have said go to the fire station and find out if they were on a call (provide physical effidence if possible or atleast some type of tracking #).

In my opinion however, I believe you should've stayed in your spot even if you did see the lights flashing (specially since there was a cop next to you and because it can potentially be dangerous if people run traffic lights).
The "officer" on the other hand should've MOVED his vehicle into location to help to the F.D. allowing space for the fire engine to get through @ the same time controlling the traffic situation (even though there was none in your situation). Are you positive the fire engines lights were actually on? I mean how could a police officer NOT see that???

 

I'm positive that when i looked in my rearview mirror, i saw flashing lights of the fire engine.

The officer DID acknowledge the lights. he said "i dunno, they could've just gotten off a run or something and forgot to turn their lights off. there was no siren, so there was no emergency."

 

No siren could mean they're in a residental area (or something of that sort) because I've seen fire engines with lights only flashing without audio sirens which in Cali still means you'd better let the engine through otherwise you could get ticketed, but more importantly it's out of RESPECT (because if it were any of us the engine was rushing to, we'd want them to get there ASAP).

 

Exactly. silent runs. 1:30 A.M. seems to contribute to that possibility. The best part is, officers from my town (greenfield) told me the ticket was ridiculous and i should fight it. They also said it sounded like someone was out to get their quota.

 

It depends on whether there was any way for the fire engine to get thru if you (and the cop) didn't move.

If there wasn't, you should ask for the call log at the firehouse - bring evidence that the fire engine was out on a call at the time of your ticket, and that the intersection was on the fire engine's route of travel. Proof will be a lot better than the cop's conveinently forgetful memory about that little detail.

On the other hand, if there was a way around for the fire truck, including driving in the oncoming lanes, you're screwed because you did the wrong thing. Your intent was to do the right thing, so maybe the judge will go easy, but the wrong thing done is the wrong thing done.

 

That's what I was going to say.

Fight it anyway though, it seems a bit ridiculous to me. Was this intersection in a businness or slightly residential area?

 

And just for kics, find out if the police dept ever runs with just lights and no siren....I know, apples to oranges, but, point out to the judge that an emergency vehicle is just another vehicle until it turns it's lights on...A siren to a deaf person is useless, but very few blind people drive.

 

When you say the cop "acknowledged" the fire truck, did he state such acknowledgement on the ticket?

 

No... just verbally. All the ticket states is "disreguarding an automatic signal."

 

You may have issues then. The cop does not want to look like an a$$ in front of the judge, and if it comes down to it, may say, "your honor, I didn't see a fire truck. Now that I think about it, I should have taken him in for suspected drug use as well."