Crossed over double paralel lines to make u-turn in intersection

[Aneliese1982]

I was driving on the street and pulled into the left turning lane which had four yellow lines to the left of me. The left turn arrow was green and there was no sign saying a U-turn was illegal so I made a U-turn. There was a police officer two cars behind me who then pulled me over. He stated I did not pull far enough into the intersection to make my U-turn. I do not believe I crossed over any part of the four parallel yellow lines, but the cop says I did. Also the car ahead of me had already mostly completed their left-hand turn before I started to make my U-turn. There was only that one car ahead of me.

The ticket code he wrote me up for was vc 21655.8 (a). After researching this code I found that it pertains mostly to carpool lanes.

So I'm wondering, do I have a chance to fight this? Is the code he wrote me up for the correct code?

Thanks.

 

[army judge]

I was driving on the street and pulled into the left turning lane which had four yellow lines to the left of me. The left turn arrow was green and there was no sign saying a U-turn was illegal so I made a U-turn. There was a police officer two cars behind me who then pulled me over. He stated I did not pull far enough into the intersection to make my U-turn. I do not believe I crossed over any part of the four parallel yellow lines, but the cop says I did. Also the car ahead of me had already mostly completed their left-hand turn before I started to make my U-turn. There was only that one car ahead of me.

You are free to go to court and present what you believe to be is your defense.
However, if the officer cited the incorrect code, the prosecutor will simply make a motion for the court to amend any error(s).
Furthermore, the court will weigh your testimony and the officer's, but the officer is paid to enforce the law and tell the truth.
The court knows the officer, in many cases, and his or her reputation is often above reproach; meaning the officer is often more believed than Joe or Jessica Citizen.

If you decide to defend the accusation, your defense must be predicated against the correct charge, assuming your reasoning is correct.
So, to be safe, you need to prepare two defense: one for the charge you were cited under, and one that you think should be the correct charge.
If that is too nebulous to properly prepare for, you can ask the court for a continuance, if the prosecutor moves for a correction.
As a lawyer, I would want extra time to properly prepare the defense.

The best thing to do is obey the laws and avoid any traffic citation.
If you somehow end up being cited anyway, as in your example, see if you can get traffic school or request deferred adjudication.
If you are allowed to avail yourself of either solution, they are both sure fire winners!
Otherwise, statistically speaking, fewer than five percent of those who choose to defend the citation prevail.
The other side of that coin, the losers, amount to 95%.
It gets a bit better with a lawyer, ending in about 10-15% (some say one out of four) of defendants prevailing.
The loser rate still is less than satisfying.

Good luck.

 

[mightymoose]

From what you describe I'm not sure you committed any violation. It may be worth the time to appear in court and make the officer explain what you did wrong.

 

[army judge]

From what you describe I'm not sure you committed any violation. It may be worth the time to appear in court and make the officer explain what you did wrong.

Great idea to defend yourself.
I sure hope its done better than the post.