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collision report - cited 22350

pepperell

pepperell

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I received a copy of my collision report from my crash on 1-6-07. It appears that I will be cited for VC section 22350 which I assume is “driving too fast for current conditions”. This may be warranted as I did crash. However, a few glaring inaccuracies appear in the report. It seems that the officer came on the scene with a preconceived notion of what had happened—that I had been going too fast and had blown the corner, bounced off the embankment and came to rest on the opposite side of road. His conclusion differs completely from my account and my riding partner’s statement.

In the Collision Coding page it lists road conditions as “NO UNUSUAL CONDITIONS”. There is a section which was not checked for “LOOSE MATERIAL ON ROADWAY” which I clearly stated to the officer. This was easily verifiable yet he only quotes ME as having said it in the report. He could have checked the corner himself and noted the gravel.

It states (and diagrams) that I failed to navigate the corner and hit the embankment, which is not at all true. I hit the gravel, lost the back end and high sided, landing face first on the road. I didn’t bounce off the embankment as they said.

It also says “complaint of pain to head”. I never hit my head and never told them I did. I clearly told everyone that it was my arm that hurt. My helmet was untouched. I think a head and neck injury would have pointed to a higher speed, out of control crash.

This was the same CHP officer who laughed at my estimate of speed. Well, I managed to salvage the tracking data from my GPS. The unit came to rest under the bike exhaust pipe and was severely melted. From the GPS, the lead up to the crash I was going about 20 mph. I don’t know what to think about this pace because it seemed reasonable though obviously if I had been going 2 mph I probably wouldn’t have crashed. I was sighting previous corners fine and had spotted dirt and sand in a couple and slowed accordingly. This particular corner it looked like CALTRAN had spread light grey (same color as roadway) gravel for traction on ice. It was completely invisible from a few feet.

Given what I’ve said above, do I have an argument against a citation.

Thanks.
 
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officer's diagram

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my own

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It would not matter if you had been going 2 mph, 20 mph or 200 mph. In a single vehicle accident where the operators actions couse them to be ejected, the PCF is going to be a violation of the basic speed law (22350 CVC), excessive speed for conditions.

You can write a statement and have it included with the report, but there is noting you can say that will change the PCF, you can say you feel "loose gravel or debris" should have been checked in the first column of page 2, you can note that you did not hit the embankment and had no complaint of pain to your head. It will not change the PCF though. It is the operators responsibility to adjust their speed for weather and roadway conditions as well as their vehicle capabilities. That puts it on you to do a good surface appraisal and ride within your skill level. You just learned first hand that life is not like a video game. Trial and error can have major real-life consequences. Your high-side was life's way of saying you screwed up.

That said, I would prepare a typed statement and go in to the RWC CHP Office and ask for a Sergeant. Lay out your dissatisfaction with the collision report and ask if the report can be amended to your satisfaction if the facts substantiate it. At the very least, you should be able to have your prepared written statement attached to the official report. You may want to bring in photos of the gravel to make you case.

In the end, you can file a claim against CALTRANS or whoever maintains the road. If they put down gravel (for the ice issues), they could have (and you will maintain they SHOULD HAVE) posted advisory signs (the yellow ones that say "LOOSE GRAVEL"). If the claim is denied, then you could sue them. If they did not put the gravel down (you may have to subpoena records and/or hire a PI to find out for certain) then you likely have no case, unless you can prove they had been made aware of a roadway hazard and did not address it (clean it up or post signs) within a reasonable time.

I think Alpine Road west of Skyline may be maintained by the county, not CALTRANS, sdo you may want to look into that when it comes time to file a claim.

Good luck and let us know how it goes. :thumbup
 
motorman4life said:
It would not matter if you had been going 2 mph, 20 mph or 200 mph. In a single vehicle accident where the operators actions couse them to be ejected, the PCF is going to be a violation of the basic speed law (22350 CVC), excessive speed for conditions.
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that's unfortunate but is what i figured. i did not receive a ticket on the scene nor have i received any notification in the mail. i had to write in to request the accident report. should i assume that it's trickling through the system?

any idea if this is a 1 pt infraction and could i take traffic school? it would be difficult to argue against as i did crash. if this is $100 fine and traffic school i will bite the bullet. if it's more, then i will push it further.

i don't think a law suit is warranted. a letter to the county highway maintenance maybe. i think they could have chosen a better material for traction. even sand would have been better (more visible) than the little grey pebbles they used.
 
Look on page two of the report under the primary collision factor. To the right of that it should say if you were issued a citation for 22350. Since this occurred on the 6th and you have not received anything in the mail, I doubt if a ticket will be coming. Pretty common not to cite at the scene.

As previously stated 2 or 20 mph the PCF would be the same. It looks like the correct PCF was used for this type of collision.

If you want to contest anything on the report you can contact the a/i officer or the sgt. Either one will tell you to write your statement down and the officer will read it and make any changes he/she deems needed. Most likely the officer will read it and then write a supplemental saying there will be no changes to the report. If you are not satisfied with that you can ask for a 15 minute meeting with the officer and a sgt. After they hear what you have to say the officer will decide, again, if there will be any changes. The only thing of importance is the PCF and I do not see that changing.

These type of accidents really do no good for anyone.
 
Sidesaddle said:
Look on page two of the report under the primary collision factor. To the right of that it should say if you were issued a citation for 22350. Since this occurred on the 6th and you have not received anything in the mail, I doubt if a ticket will be coming. Pretty common not to cite at the scene.
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Under the primary collision factor section it says "VC section: 22350" and then there a two check boxes with an X mark halfway between YES and NO??? so it's kind of ambiguous whether i am getting cited or not.

Sidesaddle said:
If you want to contest anything on the report you can contact the a/i officer or the sgt. Either one will tell you to write your statement down and the officer will read it and make any changes he/she deems needed. Most likely the officer will read it and then write a supplemental saying there will be no changes to the report.
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but what point would i have in contesting the report if in the end i did crash and that's all the proof that's needed? i'm just not sure where it gets me. if i can protest the report and in so doing protest the citation that would be different, is that the case?
 
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Well, just based on what you have stated I do not think a citation is coming. It is possible, but I think you would have received it by now.

Also, we do what is called a long report and a short report. If we did not observe the collision then a long report would have to be done in order to issue you a citation. It's real easy to tell which one was written. At the very end of the collision is there a "RECOMMENDATION" section? Which states either a citation is being issued to you or that the District Attorney is requested to review the report and a charge of 22350 v.c. being filed against you. If you do not see this then I doubt (without looking at the report) that if a citation is in the mail.

Even if one is being sent to you, the only way to fight it is to plead not guilty, go to court and have a judge hear the case.

To be honest with you, contesting anything at the CHP office will not get you very far on this type of collision. It looks like the 22350 v.c primary collision factor is correct. It's a solo collision and whether your neck, back, arm. leg or ass hurts, it's not going to change the 22350 v.c. P.C.F.

If you get a citation in the mail for 22350 v.c. the officer will have to show up and unless he has either a witness or very good evidence he cannot really testify to much and will generally ask for a dismissal.

Hope this helps.

Hope this helps.
 
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You were found at fault for the crash, but not issued a citation. Normally, 2 pts are excessive....
 
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