Traffic School and Written Not Guilty Plea

[monkeythumpa]

Can I still take traffic school if I am found guilty after pleading not guilty by mail in Alameda County? The ticket is not clear on whether this is an option.

Anybody used Ticket assassin's forms to contest a ticket?

Here is the senario. I was doing 80 with flow of traffic and a Denali or Tahoe passes me doing 90. Seconds later I spot a cruiser hauling ass in my mirror. To my surprise he lights ME up. I thought he was in pursuit of the SUV.

[Trogdor]

So the situation is that you were going 80 in a 65(?) and got a ticket for it, and your excuse is going to be 1) you were going with the flow of traffic, and 2) you were being passed by other people? Good luck.

Most judges won't allow traffic school once you have contested a citation, even if doing so with a TBD. You can ask for it, but it is no longer a sure thing. And based on what you posted about your incident, you'd lose the TBD. I'd cut my losses, plead guilty, and take traffic school now.

[Junkie]

the question isn't whether or not other people were breaking the law, its whether or not you were. it sounds like you were, so you will be found guilty.

[jbt56]

It's unfortunate that you will probably be found guilty, since any reasonable CHP will admit that the safest speed to go, no matter the signs, is the same speed everybody else is. Moving either faster or slower than prevailing traffic will cause problems. That's why CA (and Federal) law says speed limits are to be set at the 85th percentile speed. Our highways are some of the most noticeable of roads that don't follow this law.

In my (non-credentialed) opinion, this is one case where the proper application of "everybody else was..." might- just MIGHT- make a difference. If the vast majority of traffic was, indeed, moving at 80, then travelling at 65 would have constituted a traffic hazard. Again, this is only my opinion, and I am not a LEO or a lawyer.

[monkeythumpa]

My excuse is not that everyone else was going that speed, it is that people were going FASTER just seconds before, which is not a stretch of the imagination for anyone who has traveled on 580.

Damn holiday, normally it is too congested for me to really go fast. If people had gone to work to day like I had to I would have never gotten a ticket.

I am not looking to shift blame, I was breaking the letter of the law. I am just exploring all the options our legal system has to offer.

[JPM]

Unless you are not eligible for traffic school for a prior citation or being cited for anything other that just basic speeding, you should be able to go to traffic school. A quick call to the court will clarify.