Well the cop told me he isn't going to be @ the trial. Yea like I said whenever I took the exit I came to the light which I've never seen it green at the moment it stayed red and traffic built up at a usually fast light. So ppl started to treat it like a 4 way intersection like you said. Yea just sucks that I was the 1 out of 10 cars that went to get the ticket.

 

I would fight it, just because I fight everything...it's your right, why not use it.

 

If the cop flat out said he wasn't going to be at trial, he was TELLING you to fight it. You'll get off no problem.

That's his way of saying he's just doing his job to keep out of trouble, but don't plan on paying a fine.

Just be smart, hire a lawyer and fight. Lawyers' standard fees for traffic court is $75 (typically).

My second ticket after coming home was a cop running a trap....he basically told me "I'll pretend I saw your current insurance (I had my old card on me at the time); and I'll write you up for just a couple of miles over the limit."

That ticket was dismissed easy, he didn't show, and didn't plan to. Same thing with your ticket. He's just doing his job but thinks it's lame to nail people for lil crap so he gave you an out. Use it.

 

Yeah, if the cop doesnt show, i believe they dismiss it

 

They do. Unless the ticket is from a state trooper, if there's no cop - there's no charge.

Trooper tickets are different for some reason though.

 

Either way, it's always best to get a lawyer. Then, even if the cop shows up, the lawyer will have some things he can do to keep it off your record and reduce or eliminate the fine.

 

i hate dhe cops

 

Either you're just unlucky or cops like to pick on tC drivers.
4 minute long traffic light is not unusual. I would fight the ticket telling the judge a different story. Say the traffic light was 6-8 mins long.


And where did the cop come from? behind you or what?

 

innocent until proven guilty

COURT!
FIGHT THE MAN!

 

Same situation happened to me last year when I did a rolling stop thru intersection. My case was dismissed with the officer absent. Even told me on the spot that he was not going to show up at the trial. You may not need a lawyer if this is the case.

 

That's true, chitown. However, you can't really bet on that. His bosses might make him show up. You never know.

Cops really aren't the bad guys usually. There are some punk cops out there, but more often than not, they're just doing what the higher ups told them to. And they're not any happier about it than we are. That's why they let people off whenever possible by saying they aren't gonna show.

But if that same cop gets hit up by his sergeant later and told to be in court or else, then you're screwed with no lawyer.

It's always best to play it safe and hire the lawyer. In some cases, the lawyer will get it dismissed and you don't even have to show up yourself. That happened with one of my tickets. I got a letter in the mail saying it had been dismissed and I didn't need to do anything else.

 

I would fight it. Seems like a simple mistake.

If your record is clean, you should have nothing to worry about.

 

are you serious? standard fees on long island, NY are like $300-600 for a lawyer. i'd like to live where you guys are.
I've also NEVER heard of an officer saying "i won't show up to court"... that's ludicrous! Or at least unheard of where i'm from

 

Check to see if the DPW had worked on the light since you got the ticket which would indicate that it was not functioning. And you did stop - where is it written that we have to wait forever for the light to turn green? If you waited a reasonable amount of time at the intersection and the light had not turned green it is safe to assume that it was not functioning since it has to turn green in a reasonable amount of time to be considered functioning.

There is a light on East Main Road in Portsmouth RI at a Cumberland Farms store that turns red on the main road when no one is on the side roads and the light only turns green for a few seconds and the yellow is about 2 seconds long if that. Total waste of gas for people traveling on the road.

 

Actually the worst is that if you fight it and lose...then traffic school is not an option if it applies to the offense

 

That's if you push it all the way to a jury trial. If you just hire a lawyer and go to court, then the lawyer can very often argue that you get deferred adjudication, which means you just pay the fine and it doesn't go on your record.

 

It's not fair, but you can probably fight it. BTW, I do make a right then almost immediately a U-turn and right turn again, if it's late and I see the light just turned red and no one's around....... who am I kidding, I often do that during day time/rush hour! Safety first though.......