Georgia Move Over Law

[Keith_Haynes]

I received a citation for the move over law. I was not aware that the law exsisted and I agree that ignorance is no excuse. When I was pulled over the policeman wanted to know why I did not move over. I told him that I thought I would be to close to the car in the inside lane and the police car was pulled well off of the road and there was no one outside of the cars. I felt that it was safe to stay in my lane. He then started to talk to me like I was some criminal that had killed someone. He accused me of speeding and when I said that I was not speeding he basically called me a liar. The policeman was not very proffessional in the way he handled this situation. The policeman that pulled me over also stayed in the same lane I was in when he passed the other police car that was on the side of the road. Will this have any impact on my case. This situation felt like a trap.
Do I have a chance of fighting this to at least get this reduced to a lesser charge and fine that will not put points on my liscense.
Thank you,
Keith

 

[jharris352]

You don't have much of a way to beat this if you did it. The cop doesn't have to pull over. I don't know how many points it is, but if it is a lot and you go talk to the solicitor and explain that you had no idea that you had to pull over they will work with you if your record is pretty clean. It isn't the end of the world.

 

[mightymoose]

Police have to obey the same rules of the road as you do. However their violation of the law doesn't justify your own. You can certainly bring it up though.
There is no harm in appearing in court and pleading your case. If you can argue it from a standpoint of safety you might be best off.

 

[jharris352]

Police have to abide by the same rules of the road you do IF THEY ARE NOT PURSUING SOMEONE. That policeman was pursuing someone. What the Policeman did or didn't do irrelevant to this ticket. Saying, "but the policeman did it too" is not a defense.

 

[mightymoose]

Well this would all depend on whether the police had lights and sirens activated and for how long... but even so- if his defense is that it was not safe to do so, then it will be hard to stick him with it. You aren't required to move over at all costs or to risk personal injury or damage to property. It would be his burden to prove that it was not safe to do so because of traffic in the lane next to him.
Police can usually avoid this problem by not getting right up on people's tails so they can brake, get some space, and move over. I can picture this as a typical situation where the officer was suddenly there, right on his bumper, and he felt like he had nowhere to go.
It is worth arguing in court if it is truly how he felt at the time. He won't be expected to do anything if it isn't safe.

 

[Keith_Haynes]

You don't have much of a way to beat this if you did it. The cop doesn't have to pull over. I don't know how many points it is, but if it is a lot and you go talk to the solicitor and explain that you had no idea that you had to pull over they will work with you if your record is pretty clean. It isn't the end of the world.

Thank you for this information. I will try talking to the solicitor and maybe they will work with me. I know that this is a serious charge and this is the only other option that I have been informed of.
Thank you again for replying to my message.
Keith