****RESULTS ARE IN 8/10/2007****

Scroll down a bit further for the Cliff's notes version. Read on for the detailed version.

All right, so my court date was this morning at 8:00. I had never been in this situation before so here's a little background how it goes. You sit in a glass room where you can see the judge, clerks, etc. The officer tells you your options...guilty, not guilty, no contest, etc. and tells you how to approach the judge. IF you plead NOT GUILTY, today is not the trial. You have to go a pre-trial to try and settle. If that doesn't resolve anything you go to the third and final trial where the police officer who cited me would be subpoenaed. They said it could drag on 6-10 months and immediately I thought about pleading guilty. They call 7 people into the courtroom and they go up one at a time. People just say guilty or not guilty and are sent on their way. No one is telling their story. On top of all this, the judge is really being kind of a jerk to everyone and losing his patience. The judge finally calls my name.

He says "I understand you were honking your horn." I said yes sir, and asked for permission to explain my story. He said "make it brief." I started out by saying "I was driving my MINI Cooper..." at which point he looked up and smiled a bit. I touched on EVERYTHING from that morning, but he stopped me before I could reiterate what the officer told me about being closest to him and annoying him. The judge immediately says "...ok, so let me get this straight. You were in your MINI Cooper and you honked 5 times?" He laughs a bit. I say "that's correct!" He goes "Excessive horn honking from a MINI COOPER?!?" while he is laughing a bit more, and louder, which gets the other people having to go up after me laughing as well. I just smile and say "Yes, sir!" He then asks, "Do you know the law about honking?" I said yes, absolutely, and reiterated the law referenced in this thread about giving audible warning. He says "That's exactly right, you hit it right on the head. I think you had reasonable cause to honk your horn...even if it was coming from a MINI Cooper. I'm dismissing this charge!!! I guess he was saying even though it may be an annoying horn, I still had the right to honk. I dunno, but either way I was thrilled! No charges or anything. I didn't have to owe a dime. I was quite surprised really. And REALLY surprised the judge and everyone else had a sense of humor about the MINI. Oh well....V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!!!!!!!!!!!









***CLIFF'S NOTES***
Charge dismissed!




I never posted this, but everyone I've told has gotten a kick out of it so I thought I'd share.

This was about two months ago. I'm in Vegas and I was turning from a major street onto the interstate. There are two lanes, and at certain times, the on ramp has blinking lights that allow for one car to go at a time. One lane, than the other, over and over. Well I'm about the 3rd car from getting on the highway when the lights just stop. OK, that means everyone can go, right? Apparently not, as we sat there for 2 minutes. People had already started honking...including SEMI'S!!!!!! For good reason I would say. So what do I do? I just go "beep, beep, beep, beep, beep" with my fist. They were just 5 short staccato beeps. Apparently there was a police officer walking up the on-ramp to tell the two cars to go. I guess I startled him when I honked because he knocked on my window and in a VERY pissy voice said "YOU, PULL OVER...RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!" I shrugged my shoulders and pointed at the cars in front but proceeded to pull over. Of course traffic moves.

As soon as he walks up he goes "LICENSE AND REGISTRATION, RIGHT NOW!" I say "what's the problem?" He says "LICENSE AND REGISTRATION NOW, SIR!!!" He writes me up and says "I know I know, everyone was honking right? Well I pulled you over because you were closest to me and you were annoying me!" He hands me my ticket...it's $190.

I'm going to do some research on this, but I plan on fighting it in court. August 10th is the date so I plan to have my material with me and present my case. I think he was just pissy because he had to direct traffic...lowest level for a police officer. It's not like I was flailing my arms and cursing at the people in front. I just wanted to give some friendly taps to encourage them to go. Ah well...will let people know how it turns out. :impatient :impatient :impatient

 

I think you'll probably most likely win in court

 

You should have signed the ticket "Road Runner" (beep beep)
Hopefully it gets tossed - that's weak.

 

Man I hate pigs Best of luck with your ticket.

 

Oy, that's silly. Sounds like he was having a bad day or had a headache or something!

 

Uh oh...

 

real nice

 

Everyone has a bad day and it's truly unfortunate for these forums when people decide to call sworn officers "pigs."

 

Opening myself up for flamage...

This officer was acting like a pig, not an officer of the law. "I pulled you over because you were closest to me and you were annoying me!" Not a very good leg to stand on, IMO.

 

Man I hate morons.

 

I think in CA it's illegal to tap the horn to let someone know that the light has changed! Seemed to me (haven't read it in a while) that the law was written such that you can't use the horn where anyone can hear it!

Matt

 

 

I'll call them that to there face, I hate cops they waste everyones money. I wish I could tell someone whos paying me "hey I don't think I'll be able to get around to helping you for 8 hours because your not important". Its funny that they don't have enough officers when real stuff goes down. But I see the same 3 cops everyday on my 10 min drive to work.

The two times in my life I really needed them they were no were to be found. But everytime I go 10 MPH over the speed limit they always seem to be there. I'm sorry if I hate paying for something and then try to collect on it and they tell me i'm just not important enough to help.

I don't blame them for not wanting to do real work, Heck I don't want to. So call me what you will and say "real nice" & "Everyone has a bad day and it's truly unfortunate for these forums when people decide to call sworn officers "pigs." But know I do have what I feel are good reasons for feeling the way I DO.

 

In Washington State, honking for any reason other than an 'emergency' is grounds for a ticket. Here's a link to an article about it: http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.co..._a_honk_1.html

Seems that the Nevada Revised Statutes has an almost identical law:

Still, I'd imagine you caught the officer on a bad day... Perhaps contesting it would get it cut a bit?

 

wow you can get a ticket for honking?! that suprised me. i thought your story was going to end differently.
i'd def be pissed if i got a ticket. but im sure you'll win in court. i mean cmon. just cause he's having a bad day he gets whoever's closest in his range. oh well..that's life

 

It's ok as long as it's a safety warning. Like some chowderhead wandering into your lane.

 

Pretty nasty coments. They treat you well when you call them that to there face? Grow up.

 

I'm thinking the officer will not remember saying anything to you and the judge will ask if you honked, which you did.

Of course this officer was way wrong and clearly not adding to the quality of life or increasing safety by any measure in issuing this summons. But my experience in court suggests that this will be a he said, he said and the man with the badge and gun usually wins those.

Perhaps you can plead it down beforehand to something cheaper as I assume this is no points.

My bet is it will cost you $190 and the officer will get overtime pay. The thought of it does not bring a smile to my face. And a lawyer will cost the same as the ticket so that is no option here either.

Rich

 

Found this on Nevada Traffic Laws :

NRS 484.607 Horns and other warning devices.
2. A person driving a motor vehicle shall, when reasonably necessary to ensure safe operation, give audible warning with his horn, but shall not otherwise use the horn when upon a highway.

I guess mabye you can argue that you are not on a highway yet.

 

Its a law?

 

Hey ChrisW, need a pal in the doghouse?:
'Round here we call them (horns) Mexican Doorbells. You know, pull up in front of someone's house and hit the horn. 15, 20, 30 times. Rather than get off their fat butts and walk up to the door.
Wish we had a law like that.
(Post #1400 needed to be something memorable. How'd I do?)

 

Well, you were going 10MPH over the limit and that is breaking the law. It's to bad that no one was there when you needed them, but it doesn't mean that they are ALL bad. I have had my run in with the police, but it has been mostly pleasant and without attitude. Perhaps you sub consciously exude an attitude and the cops that you deal with can see it and automatically kick it up to the next level.

Also, perhaps most people don't think about this, but people whom become cops are, most of the time, the ones that have that Alpha Male mentality, so when they come across another person showing them that, they are trained to dominate over that personality to take control of a situation.

 

Seemed a tad racist and angry...if thats what you were going for you nailed it !

 

Horns were put on cars for emergency situations, not impatient "people" to put it nicely.

 

cop sleep with your girlfriend?