Hey, to any constibles on the board or former or anyone in law enforcement, it seems an officer and I had a disagrement on the color of a light this AM on my way in to work. I turned left and didn't see him, he felt the light was red. He wrote me a ticket. Here's the qstn, he put on the ticket that the weather was "Clear". In Atlanta this morning, it was cloudy as hell! Is this a loop hole? Does this invalidate the ticket? The fact that he made a mistake?

I could be wrong on this but I think "clear" means no rain, snow, or fog....sunny or cloudy is "clear" for driving visibility. Maybe Rookie can explain more, whenever he stops mowing the lawn.

Hope it works out for you.

The NOAA website declines to define the term but the weather channel has it this way.

CLEAR

The state of the sky when no clouds or obscurations are observed or detected from the point of observation.

http://www.weather.com/glossary/c.html 

Not a definition I would bet the farm on.

Here were the options;

Weather

o Clear

o Cloudy

o Raining

o Other

It did not say visibility, it said Weather.

Robby, Instead of asking for a law enforcement officers opinion you might want to see if there are any lawyers out here. Police tend to stick together on something like this.

I would think it doesn't matter much. Although if you say it was cloudy that means there wasn't as much light in the area and the traffic light would be even more visible. As opposed to a very sunny condition where the sunlight is so bright you can't tell which of the lights are on.

I'm with osage. Cops and judges stick together. Good luck!

No, I'm not saying I wasn't guilty. Just that he screwed the paperwork. Just like if they bust in and find you snorting coke, but they don't have their paperwork right, it's inadmissible. I'm wondering if this kind of paperwork faux pas is a loophole for me. Any lawyers on the board? I’ve heard of people getting off on stupider things.

Once heard of someone getting off...

Let me choose better words...

Heard of someone getting their ticket dismissed because the ticket's small print said the cop car had to be white and black or the issuing car???...something of that sort...anyways, new paint scheme on the old cars...old tickets=get out of jail free...

RasDas

When I was a stupid teenager, I was stopped for speeding (first and only time, I might add). The cop wrote the wrong date and make of my car...I was driving a 65 Mustang, so the error had to be deliberate. Being a stupid teenager, I didn't bother to show up at traffic court and eventually lost my license briefly. Afterward, a cop friend of mine checked out my ticket and told me they messed up the ticket deliberately just to make it inconvenient for me by forcing me to appear in court. The judge would have thrown it out if I'd just put in an appearance.

Maybe that's what's going on with you Robbie...

Ah, Trish, so that IS YOU on the Pop Quize post wearing the yellow top and brown short shorts:-)

ROFL

Ummm....no. Definitely not!

Well Robby, I am a retired Police Officer and as far as what info you have put up here,this is what I think..Just my 2cents worth..(after 28 years) thats about all it's worth. lmao.. If he said it was clear then CLEAR means that a normal person would be able to see with out a problem for at least 100 or more feet. Now if it were Foggy and it were thick Fog then you may have a complaint. What you would need is a Weather forcast from a certified weather station as to what the conditions were like at the time the ticket was issued and it would have to say what the conditions were in that area at that time. Now the other question is The Officer you said stated the light was RED. Dooing that awful thing we call assumption I would think that the light would have had to hit amber before it hit red.. So if the light were Green as you entered the intersection the time it takes to go from green to amber to red you could crawl throught the intersection. So saying you were driving at normal speed for the conditions and say it were foggy then you could have been caught in the intersection when the light turned red due to the foggy conditions and your cauious safe driving. (Get my drift)..Other wise either the Officer needs Glasses or you jumped a Amber light and did get caught in the intersection when it turned Red.. But it sounds like with some Tact and a weather report from your local weather station you might get off with a warning in court. But thats just my thought from what you stated in here. TinMan.Good Luck My Friend and Be Cool..

Plead insanity or get color blind real quick.

It depends what state county etc. the offence occurred. I had one trooper mess up every thing but his name. Even gave me a court date on a Holiday weekend. I show up - no court, go to police station to get documentation I showed up - the desk cop laughed said come on back next week son and we'll try again, ol' Joe messed up a whole bunch of tickets. I could not believe they wanted me to drive an extra 400 miles to fight a ticket they should have dismissed. Long story short called the DA, got into a tiff, he threatens to bury me under the jail, I paid the ticket by mail with a note (and extra $5)inside wishing him well on his re-election. Now I drive around the state of Louisiana.

What about a nolo contrendre? That way you pay the ticket, but don't get the points on your licence, right? Or, your honor, I was so drunk, I'm lucky I even made the turn! Let alone stopped for the light! (not on your life, judged are like little Gods in their courtrooms, yes your honor, no your honor, with the courts permission...)

No contest will usually still end up on record and fined, it is up to the judge. Plead for deferred judification with the ASST. DA or other district attorney reps usually hanging around court rooms. Get lower fine maybe and if you're good no record.

If you really believe you are right, I would just tear up the ticket. This is America.

Sheesh!

Find a local "Mr. Ticket" attorney...

We have one in San Diego. You pay $99 bucks and he gets you off...usually.

: )

Still beats a buck fifty or better fine...

did she really just say

"you pay him $99 bucks and he gets you off... usually."

lmao!!!!

A traffic summons is an accusatory instrument and must be prepared accurately. If it contains errors or omissions it will be considered invalid and dismissed by the judge. These errors should be obvious ie. incorrect location, date etc. Unfortunately for you, your perception of what is "clear" might be argued by the summonsing officer as cloudy of vice versa. This is a point for a lawyer to argue to the judge. An experienced officer can paint a vivid picture of his observations at the time of the incident. I doubt that the summons will be dismissed but maybe you'll have a nice judge.