question about a ticket

You painted with as broad a brush as anyone.


And you are wrong.

Now that we know the intersection, direction of turn and all, I'd have you on the witness stand justifying yourself to a jury of my peers.


It's pretty obvious you haven't a clue of off-tracking on a truck and what it means in a turn like this.

 

Otatken,

I have 4 years experience driving truck. I drove for the now deposed of Arrow trucking for 2 years and Crete Carrier for 2 years. I understand the difficulties associated with making TIGHT right turns and trying to ensure you don't take out a curb, pole, etc and I'm also aware of impatient four wheelers trying to pass on the blind side. With traffic offenses it is not the officers job to determine the intent. I don't know what Charleston PD policy is when it comes to traffic accidents. Departments such as mine require the officer to find a party at fault. The OP said her husband made a right hand turn from the left lane. She then later stated he wasn't entirely in the left lane. The law requires for you to have control of one lane while making a turn. I don't know if he could have made a button hook or not. You and I agree not all laws are good laws, but that isn't for a police officer to decide. Police officers don't make the laws they just enforce them, and with anything involving humans sometimes an error can be made, but that is up to the judge to see if the law was applied correctly. I can't give the justification for the officer's decision and I can't give an answer that will appease all parties involved.

 

Well this is your opinion and if you had the opportunity to cross examine me you would quickly be wrong about my supposed lack of knowledge about off tracking. Don't assume you know my history or anyone else's for that matter. You know what they say about assuming. Furthermore, the picture only show's part of the intersection, and it doesn't show the ENTIRE intersection. It doesn't show the lane he turned from, it shows a street corner.

 

You also have the ability to see ALL the different circumstances too.

And your own admission, you'd point to the truck before the car.

Even the way the state law is written...

If he had to crowd to the left and take two lanes, then he was "As close as practicable"....

Or doesn't that matter to you.

The driver behind him FAILED TO YIELD to allow the truck to complete a maneuver.

 

Then why would you ticket the truck?

He was fully within the description of the law.

 

Your criminal record is now only worth $200?

 

I agree entirely, one can never please all. As I said in my post, I don't know what happened in this particular incident, so I was speaking generally.

I now have a more pressing question...What on Earth were you thinking leaving such a glamorous, rewarding career? You had to at least make half of what a police officer makes and worked twice as much...at least.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

He didn't ensure that maneuver could be done in a safe manner. He wasn't fully within the description of the law. You have to have control of ONE lane. It says as close as practicable to the right hand curb or edge of the roadway, it doesn't say you can go into another marked lane if you need extra space. You have to maintain your lane up to and through the turn.

 

Show me a single semi-tractor trailer unit that can accomplish that on that intersection.


Because YOU CAN'T in a practical fashion.

Show the statute that states you MUST remain solely in the right lane.

 

I left b/c I have a wife and kids. I tried my hand at truck driving. I enjoyed it for the most part, but I missed my kids more. I've considered coming back to it. I've had fun being an LEO, but that can grow old, too. There are very few happy endings, most of the time you see people at their worst time when you come into contact with them, and you deal with the underside of life that few people can truly cope with.