On the 2nd day of my trip to WinterFest, I was driving through west Texas approaching Fort Stockton, TX. The drive had been great, no issues.
As I come over this hill, I see a cruiser in the distance on the right hand shoulder with a car pulled over. so I slow down accordingly, and I pass the officer as he is getting out of his car. Now they are pulled all the way to the right hand side of the shoulder, and I am all the way to left hand side of my lane.
I pass by doing about 65, the speed limit is 80 there. All of a sudden, about 15 seconds after I pass this cruiser, he is in my mirror with his lights on. Turns out, that in Texas you are supposed to move over a lane when passing an emergency vehicle or be 20 miles an hour below the speed limit. So he gives me a citation for not yielding to an emergency vehicle.
In Texas they do not post the fine on the citation, you have to call the courts. So I called today to find out that the fine is $299 for this offense.
THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS...
My choices are:
1. Plead not guilty, go back to Pecos County, Texas and appear in court to fight the citation.
2. Plead Nolo Contendere and pay the fine.
Anybody got any thoughts on this one. Do we have a lawyer who is a member in Southwest Texas who wants to fight this for me???
This is just outrageous, they know I am not going to go 1500 miles back to fight this, how is an out of state driver supposed to know that this is the law in Texas (and I know ignorance is no excuse, but really).
I can make a phone call for you?? Not sure if it would help.
You know how some cops are...
That would be very cool.
On a similar note, I was driving to the fest last year and rode along with Jim Lembo. I was helping him by driving as much as possible. So, as I motored thru IL in Jimbo's Diesel pickup with EB Z06 in tow, I got nailed for speeding. I didn't know that the speed limit was different for vehicles that were towing. Hell, I even commented to Jimbo that those motorcycle cops were following us for a long time. LOL Duh.
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Norman, that's the first I have heard that one !! Any clue about Georgia ? I just heard radar detectors are illigal there..I have mine in the window all the time going to Valdosta..guess I have been lucky. I better check out the towing limit before Bowling Green.
Pit
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Re: So, I got this ticket going to WinterFest...
Sorry to hear that Mark. The fine is outrageous.
For safety's sake (law or not) I always move over a lane whenever any vehicle is on the shoulder. More and more states are passing the "move over law."
For safety's sake (law or not) I always move over a lane whenever any vehicle is on the shoulder. More and more states are passing the "move over law."
As far as I'm concerned it's just another way for the cops to generate revenue. I'd be willing to bet that if you had Texas plates on your car you would not have been stopped and ticketed. Seems to me that everytime you turn around there is some new BS "law" with the sole purpose of emptying our pockets! I don't know about you guys, but I am fed-up with this kind of BS!
Jimbo
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For safety's sake (law or not) I always move over a lane whenever any vehicle is on the shoulder. More and more states are passing the "move over law."
Yeah, the law is catching on.
We can thank the idiots who drive off the road, slamming into the emergency vehicles because they either fixate on the stopped vehicle, or are eating/texting/reading/cell phoning/???? - but NOT driving.
Bummer Mark, that sucks.
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SB 193 requires drivers nearing stopped emergency vehicles-with lights activated -to either slow down or change lanes.
The law states a driver must either vacate the lane closest to the stopped emergency vehicle if the road has multiple lanes traveling in the same direction or slow down 20 miles per hour below the speed limit. (If the speed limit is below 25 mph the driver must slow down to 5 mph.)
Emergency vehicles include police, emergency medical service and fire vehicles.
A violation is punishable by a maximum fine of $200. If the violation results in property damage, the maximum fine increases to $500. If the violation results in bodily injury, the offense is enhanced to a Class B misdemeanor.
If this is the law, then it gives you the option of moving over or slowing down. If terrain did not allow for sufficient warning for a lane change(ie: coming over a hill), then slowing down would be an allowable option. Did he say you failed to slow to 20mph under the speed limit or failed to move over? It would be interesting to know how he knew you were not 20 mph under the posted limit.
if so, it MIGHT be worth paying a lawyer for it to disappear. my little escapade in BG a few yrs ago cost me $500, I never went to court, never got pts, NOTHING. POOF! gone
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Mark,
I'm with Joe in his post just above....you said you had slowed down, that the speed limit was 80.....did he state he had a radar shot at you???? Or did he just say you didn't slow down.
Good luck with this buddy.....out of state tickets can come back to bite you. Ins companies get reports from all states. Your MVA might not if they don't have an agreement with TX.
Oh, by the way.....MD has the same law along with others on the East side. Don't know of FL.
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