Husband got 2 tickets on top of Grapevine in CA- question? Please read!!?!

What does read mean. If drivers could read they fewer tickets.

 

I got 2 tickets (from the same stop) on grapevine about 1999. The court to handle it was in Valencia, which is on the same mountain. At the time I got my tickets, the highway patrol did not put the fine on the citation; the standard routine is it would be set later by the judge. In my case, I had forgot to draw my line on the log from off duty to drive when I left the truck stop 15 minutes prior, so I had a ticket for log book not current, and for 12mph over the granny speed limit CA puts on the downgrades. So later the court sent me a letter saying that the judge decided on a $1600 fine for these 2 offenses. OMG! My first thought was that once I get this handled, I will never run CA again, because only Jesus could ever be a perfect driver, and if you ain't perfect then CA will nail you to the cross sooner or later. My second thought was that I had better have an attorney. I called an actual criminal attorney in Valencia who told me that it would do no good to hire a lawyer for defense in that court because it was a "kangaroo court" (although he didn't use that exact terminology, but thats clearly what he explained. He said that DOT officers sit on each side of the judge in that court to guide the judge. I called one more attorney in Valencia and got exactly the same opinion. Next, I called Carla Weisner (an L.A. attorney who specializes in trucker defense (323) 933-8155 ) and she had a lot of experience in that court and basically confirmned what the 2 Valencia attorneys told me. I decided to ask her to represent me anyway, to at least give it a try against all odds. The court required either me or my attorney appear IN PERSON to enter the plea, so this of course would run up your attorney hours and cost you big time, but she was able to appear at the given time/date on the behalf of many other drivers (she also represented) at the same time, so she pro-rated the fee for me on this, so this helped keep my cost down. Ultimately, to our suprise, a plea bargain was worked out. One ticket was dropped and the fine reduced to $600, but only if I paid in full immediately; if I needed to make payments on the fine then the offer was withdrawn. I accepted, paid the fine in full, and once I was sure that I would not have appear in the CA court, I gave my carrier 2 weeks notice and I got a job with a carrier that would not require me to go to CA. Since then, in talking to others, I have learned that there are a lot of drivers and O/O that arrange their jobs or loads so they don't go to CA, and for the same reason as me, the CA fines are draconian, and log book violations can easily be felonies. I also think the officers in CA are more like Barney Fife (they humiliate you with how they treat you).

I do not recommend ever believing a citing officer about how the court is sympathetic or the court will cut you a break. In my experience this ALWAYS turns out to be untrue. I think the officers say this either to keep you cool-headed during the stop, or because they don't want their conscience to suffer for what they do in their work, especially in CA with the severe punishments. When the court doesn't cut me the break that the officer said they would, I ALWAYS then tell the judge what the officer had advised me, and the judge will tend to get red-faced angry about that. My hope is that the judge will have a talk with the officer to get him to stop with the false advice.

In summary, if you can drive as perfect as Jesus, and if God sees to it that your truck has no violations, and if you trust that the CA officers will always interpret the law correctly, then go ahead and drive CA. Otherwise I think it would be masochistic to drive CA and risk such draconian courts. I'm just sayin'.

Another legal service I have used and recommend is Interstate Trucker,

 

LOL..yeah I read several then jumped to the end to post before reading the final post where it was over..hehe.....Glad it ended well

 

Can not speak for the state of California a a native Californian I fled the state a long time ago but I can tell you SOME judges are sympathetic to drivers, but won't put up with b.s. excuses. Sometimes they might agree that signs are not clearly posted or things such as that. I know for a fact as my wife has 8 years experience driving as my co-driver and is now our Town Court Judge. But I'd get a good attorney and hope for the best.

 

SaY WHAT?!
You're married to the Judge?
Welcome to the forums.
Any chance you could influence her decisions?
Or do you suggest that we just obey the laws?

 

Let see 12 mph over and to lazy to draw a line in the book. And your calling cops and judges names. Seems to me you admitted you were not current and speeding. The speed limit is reduced because trucks a couple a week get involved in accidents coming off the grapevine. The speed is well marked, most stay close to the speed. For you to run 12 over you were undoubtedly running the number 2 lane also, because normally both slow lane are plugged up with slow trucks.

I wish they would designate a lane for empty's with a higher limit, but thats doubtful. And yes if your unable to stay within 7 mph of the posted, and draw a line in your book before you move maybe you should stay out of CA.

When you clearly admit to violation's you were citied for kind of ruins your argument that the poor truckdriver was being picked on. As far as the court in Lebec, CA I have had the judge reduce a 10 ticket to a coasting and I believe that to be a fair resolution.

 

Thanks so much Woofless, for posting about the traffic ticket ordeal. My dad just got that identical ticket.....top of the Grapevine, 45 in a 35, empty, starting to slow down when the officer flashed his lights.....very similar to what you described. Can you recommend a good lawyer out there? Or the lawyer you used?(if you thought he did a good job, that is...) I'd appreciate your imput, if you're willing to share. Thanks again.

 

I need some help please. My father received a speeding ticket recently in the same spot everyone has been describing- northbound I-5 at the top of the Grapevine, cited for 45 in a 35. Mostly everyone here has said to get a good lawyer, but we are from Florida. I don't know anything about California lawyers, good OR bad. So can anybody please suggest a GOOD lawyer or two????? Thank you all in advance for your help.

 

Spoken like a true cop

 

I love how police and government officials say that speeding is dangerous and how many people get killed by driving fast. But, if you will read all independent studies, only 5% are written up as speed related. Bottom line is that police officers are too lazy to do anything but sit on the side of the road and point a radar gun. If it comes to really policing bad drivers, it never happens. I have no respect for speed enforcers, it is a joke and if you believe it isn't you are brainwashed.