JUSTICE
I Fought the Law and I Won
Actually it was a photo enforced ticket. But I still won.
Skies were black. It was raining sideways. My wipers at high speed could hardly keep up with the deluge.
It was close to 10 pm and I’d just finished teaching two yoga classes and closing down the studio for the night. I crossed the Sellwood bridge, a construction site for the past few months, on my way home. I turned left onto Highway 43. Ah, I was ready to relax.
In the dark, I couldn’t see anything except the roadway illuminated by my headlights and one car ahead of me. No other traffic.
All of a sudden, a blinding flash of light, and before I registered what that was, another.
Then I got it — I could expect a photo-enforced citation in the mail in the next few days. So could the car ahead of me.
Sure enough, the ticket arrived and I was amazed at how clear the images: of me behind the wheel; of my license plate. And my speed: 40 mph, which was the posted speed along that highway, except for this construction site, where the speed is 25 mph during construction.
Damn. The fine was $200, which wouldn’t break me, but it would hurt. That’s what I made for teaching four classes. The whole situation bothered me: the amount of the fine itself; no one at risk for my “excessive” speed; but especially the citation based on a photo.
I looked online and found that photo enforcement must also have bothered a local attorney. He’d posted information on defeating the fine, which he hinted at, probably hoping for some business.
I looked up the statutes and decided I’d fight it myself.
These are what I found:
A citation for speeding may be issued based on photo radar if the following conditions are met:
(A) The photo radar unit is operated by a uniformed police officer.
(B) The photo radar unit is operated out of a marked police vehicle.
(D) One or more highway workers, as defined in ORS 811.230 (Definitions), are present and the photo radar unit is operated within 100 yards from where highway workers are present and located on the same roadway where highway workers are present (Emphasis mine)
Ha. I definitely did not see a uniformed police officer anywhere in the vicinity, nor a marked police vehicle. And there wasn’t a shoulder anywhere along that stretch where he could have been parked.
And there were definitely no highway workers at that work site at that hour in the driving rain.
I prepared my written response to the citation and sent it in. I, however, received nothing back and when I checked the ticket for the date of my appearance, I decided I’d better show up rather than lose this by default.
I parked my car at the TriMet transit center and hopped a bus into town. At the Multnomah County Courthouse, I noticed that there were five windows set up to take payment for fines — they were certainly set up to take your money — but no windows for entering pleas or contesting tickets.
An agent stood at a table with a handy laptop standing by. After waiting in line, I told him that I’d responded in writing but never received an acknowledgment of my response. He looked it up and sure enough, it had been received and noted. I wasn’t on the docket for that day. My court appearance date was set for the following month.
Somewhat exasperated, I left.
The next month, I again took TriMet to the courthouse. On the periphery of the courtroom, policemen were meeting with people about their tickets. The cop who issued my ticket was there, he called my name, and we met up.
I showed him my paperwork: the letter I’d written to the court entering a not guilty plea, and the supporting statutes.
He dismissed A and B:
(A) The photo radar unit is operated by a uniformed police officer.
(B) The photo radar unit is operated out of a marked police vehicle.
Though I didn’t see him there, or his car, he said he was there.
He also dismissed that highway workers were there at close to 10 pm in a torrential downpour. He was willing to chance this before the judge. He went and sat down with the other policemen and I took my spot and waited for my name to be called.
Still, I was nervous. But I felt that I was right — there were definitely no construction workers anywhere near that site. I was going to plead my case to the judge.
In the following few minutes while I waited, there were a stream of “guilty, guilty, guilties” and “next.”
But the wheels must have been turning in Officer Newman’s head because before I was called, he came over to me and said he’d be willing to agree to let this one slide.
I was elated. I’d won.
When my name was called, Officer Newman said the magic words to the judge and my citation was dismissed.
Hindsight. I realized as I was on the bus back to my car, that though I was happy about prevailing, I should have let the judge hear my case. I wondered how many others like me had received citations and fines at that construction site after hours. The work there on the bridge had gone on for two years.
And I wondered if Officer Newman was concerned that he’d lose his illegal-after-hours-speed-trap and all the glory he was getting for all of the money it was bringing in. Is that why he “let it slide?”
I’ll never know.
Have you ever had a traffic citation? Photo enforced? How did you deal with it?
Here’s a good one from Malky McEwan about the how and why of SEO. Before I read this, I’d never even given it a thought.
