Acouple of days ago I was pulled over by a CHP officer for an illegal lane change, "infraction" box is checked rather than the misdemeanor box. There is no "amount" to pay and he said the court would be sending me something in the mail. The back of the ticket says I can send in "bail" in lieu of an appearance.
=is there a way to find out how much it will cost? Is an infraction worse than a misdemeanor?
...I was about to miss my exit off 280S, I went from the car pool lane to the exit, 85 south to Gilroy, pretty quickly and came close to another car. Of course we didn't think it was dangerous, my passenger or I, but the officer obviously did. We weren't speeding, just made a mistake and made a qiuck move, no turn signal either.
Thoughts?

 

You can always call the courthouse in the county the ticket was issued (it should say somewhere on the ticket) and ask. They should be able to tell you. I believe that an infraction is less serious than a misdemeanor but I'm not positive. My hubby usually gets speeding tickets. :???:

Cindy

 

>>Acouple of days ago I was pulled over by a CHP officer for an illegal lane change, "infraction" box is checked rather than the misdemeanor box. There is no "amount" to pay and he said the court would be sending me something in the mail. The back of the ticket says I can send in "bail" in lieu of an appearance.
>>=is there a way to find out how much it will cost? Is an infraction worse than a misdemeanor?
>>...I was about to miss my exit off 280S, I went from the car pool lane to the exit, 85 south to Gilroy, pretty quickly and came close to another car. Of course we didn't think it was dangerous, my passenger or I, but the officer obviously did. We weren't speeding, just made a mistake and made a qiuck move, no turn signal either.
>>Thoughts?


an infraction is nothing (relative speaking) a misdemeanor is like shoplifting (the first time).

the best thing to do is go to traffic school. In most cases this can be done on line (I have used http://www.traffic101.com) (also, i have no interest in this school) it is easy and you just answer the questions -- you are suppose to read it all first but I never did as you will know most of the answeres. if you miss one or two it will give you a chance to correct them. If you miss too many it will go back to the first of the chapter and make you go through all of the information again (just keep hitting next like i did and fix the ones you missed) Write down the ones you missed and your answers and you will know which one to GUESS the second time. FAST, EASY, AND DOES NOT GO ON YOUR RECORD.

you still have to pay the fine and pay a FEE to the court plus pay for the traffic school BUT it is a lot less then the insurance company charges. And if you get a second ticket the insurance co. will think it's your first.

I have been to traffic school more times then some of the instructors and this is the best way to go.

Earl

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SCURVES is NOW 1O851 CS

 

Thanks for both of the above ... I'll check the costs of the school and the ticket, etc. Bums me out that I get like one ticket every 5-8 years, no accidents ever, and insurance would even consider taking a bite out of me too on top of DMV... well, like they say, "driving is a privilege, not a right." Hmmm, what about armed rebellion?

 

"...I was about to miss my exit off 280S, I went from the car pool lane to the exit, 85 south to Gilroy, pretty quickly and came close to another car.......made a qiuck move, no turn signal either."

I agree with the cop -- you should have been ticketed. You may have been perfectly in control but you created an extremely hazardous situation for other drivers to contend with. You could easily have caused an accident by someone else over-reacting. I think you would agree it would have been much safer for everyone if you had taken the next exit and back tracked if necessary.

By all means, take the traffic school option. There is no point having this thing on your record if you can avoid it. There's always the next ticket to worry about, especially in a quick, maneuverable car like a MINI!

btw, if you had just made an effort to briefly "establish lane" for each lane you traversed, you probably wouldn't have been ticketed. I learned this the hard way many years ago...