Passing school bus with flashing red lights; Saint Mary's County, Maryland

[Criminal]

Received ticket for passing an oncoming school bus with red lights flashing. I never saw the school bus and cannot honestly plead guilty to an incident I did not see. Traveling on a 2 lane country road, during rush hour, following traffic, within the speed limit. The road opens up into a quasi commercial/residential (only a trailer park, behind shopping center on opposite side of the road from my travel). At the juncture, where I alledgedly passed the school bus, there were at least 3 lanes of traffic on my side of the road and at least 2, maybe 3 on the other side of the road, where the bus was travelling. Traffic in my lane, which would be the 2nd from the left or center line continued to crawl to a stop light at an upcoming major intersection. A policeman stepped out into the road and directed myself and at least one other, perhaps 2 drivers into a convenience store parking lot. The officer did not offer a reason for stopping me, until I provided my license and registration and he began walking away. I asked and was told that I passed a school bus. The ticket was then presented to me by an officer, other the officer, who wrote the ticket and I was advised that the "3 of you were stopped, because we have received complaints about vehicles passing school busses.

I went to the States Attorney, who told me they cannot deal bargain tickets for school buses and I would either have to plead guilty or argue my case in court. Having not seen the bus and the rather unique nature of the intersection leads me to believe, I should plead not guilty, but my real intent is to mitigate the damage to my license and wallet. I have no driving record; last ticket was over 20 years ago. Any advice? Get an attorney; plead guilty?

Thanks,

 

[lwpat]

Maryland has some very high insurance rates and this is a serious ticket. The fact that so many of you went past the bus shows that there is a problem based on the configuration of the roadway. You could get the names of the others from the depratment under FOIA and go together to hire an attorney.

It is possible the judge will offer you probation when you go to court but you are taking a chance. Call your insurance agent and ask him how much this will increase your insruance. Then you will have some basis for making a decision.