Can a Texting ticket me reduced?

[Decoligny]

Are any of the people responding to this thread LEO's? Or is this the usual rehash of what somebody heard or read or saw on the internet?

OP: The traffic court commisioner (usually it is not a judge) has discretion to adjust fines, although a reduction may come with community service to make up for it. People rarely admit that they were wrong, so honesty and accountability are a good tactic if seeking leniency.

Don't bother mounting a defense based on "just checking the time at the red light." If you read 23123(a) CVC it doesn't matter what you were doing with the phone. Just using it with your hands constitutes a violation. Streaming music, looking at internet, checking time, irrelevant.

Case law has overridden your interpretation of 23123 (a) CVC.

Spriggs v. California ruled that the prohibition on cell phone use in 23123 (a) only applies to "hands free talking and listening" only. Not other uses of the phone.

http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/archive/F066927.PDF

[TheOriginal]

If you are going to contest it you have to set a trail date. The commissioner can not dismiss the cite on the first appearance date.

I see, so either I just plead guilty, ask for a reduce on the fine if possible and settle it on first appearance

or...

Fight it, plead not guilty, with proof of phone/text bill and end up going to trial, and end up spending a little bit more time and energy.


hm..

[Bobby Ricigliano]

22350 VC - Unsafe Spd (I usually write "distracted drvr" under the violation)
Mark the "safe speed" as 0 and then note the approximate actual speed. The judge will hit them with a moving violation instead of the cell phone. Make sure you detail the level of distraction in your notes. Judges want details and explanation.
In the case of the vehicle stopped at the light. I write the exact opposite ticket for 22351 VC - Unsafe stopping or slowing. I also reverse the speeds. "Safe speed" is now the posted limit and "est. actual speed" is 0.

I worked a traffic car and wrote lots of cites. It never even occurred to me to use the above approach, but it looks like it would be extremely effective, and legally it is completely sound.

It would be a useful application for those 23123a stops where the first thing I hear when I approach the vehicle is "Why the f**k are you stopping me?!?!"

[Decoligny]

12 yrs LEO. Motor Unit
22350 VC - Unsafe Spd (I usually write "distracted drvr" under the violation)
Mark the "safe speed" as 0 and then note the approximate actual speed. The judge will hit them with a moving violation instead of the cell phone. Make sure you detail the level of distraction in your notes. Judges want details and explanation.
In the case of the vehicle stopped at the light. I write the exact opposite ticket for 22351 VC - Unsafe stopping or slowing. I also reverse the speeds. "Safe speed" is now the posted limit and "est. actual speed" is 0.

How exactly is the posted speed limit considered the "safe speed" when the driver is stopped at a RED LIGHT??? If the speed limit is 45 mph, you are saying that at the red light it would be safe for the driver to be traveling at 45 mph. Totally incomprehensible.

[robocop1051]

How exactly is the posted speed limit considered the "safe speed" when the driver is stopped at a RED LIGHT??? If the speed limit is 45 mph, you are saying that at the red light it would be safe for the driver to be traveling at 45 mph. Totally incomprehensible.

You're reading into this too much. It wasn't a direct response to the OP's exact situation. In fact, the people that needed to understand it, probably picked it up just fine.

More often than not, the guy/gal using his/her phone at the stop light, usually loses attention to the traffic around them and the phase of the light. When the light turns green, nondistracted drivers pull away... leaving the distracted driver behind... that's the violation. The "safe" speed would be the average speed of the vehicles around him/her.

For the times a road has more than one lane... If a vehicle passes the distracted vehicle, in the adjacent lane, I would use the speed of that vehicle as the "safe" speed.

If the distracted driver misses the green light, getting stuck at the red again, and there was reasonable enough time to have cleared the intersection... that's another violation.

[CBR_rider]

How exactly is the posted speed limit considered the "safe speed" when the driver is stopped at a RED LIGHT??? If the speed limit is 45 mph, you are saying that at the red light it would be safe for the driver to be traveling at 45 mph. Totally incomprehensible.

He wasn't talking about the specific situation posed by the OP.

[e90bmw]

If the fine is set by statute, you cannot have the fine reduced below the statute amount.
An example is a red light ticket. You can not have it reduced below the state mandated minimum. That will be the same for any ticket in that category.

A speeding ticket is one that you can have reduced because the fine is not set by statute and varies from area to area.

[Gun Kraft]

I worked a traffic car and wrote lots of cites. It never even occurred to me to use the above approach, but it looks like it would be extremely effective, and legally it is completely sound.

You can also use this for people using their visor mirror to apply makeup while driving.

[SVT-40]

You can also use this for people using their visor mirror to apply makeup while driving.

Or masturbating while driving.....

Don't ask it was not a pretty sight....

[gogohopper]

Or masturbating while driving.....

Don't ask it was not a pretty sight....

Penal code violation ?

[SVT-40]

Penal code violation ?

Nope, no intent...

According to the driver, Just "rubbing one out on the way to work"

Kinda wish he would have gone to court. It would have been epic!!!

[TRICKSTER]

Or masturbating while driving.....

Don't ask it was not a pretty sight....

Couldn't be worse than driving while completely naked and covered in Vaseline.
People are weird.

[Off the Roster]

12 yrs LEO. Motor Unit

In the case of the vehicle stopped at the light. I write the exact opposite ticket for 22351 VC - Unsafe stopping or slowing. I also reverse the speeds. "Safe speed" is now the posted limit and "est. actual speed" is 0.

Unless I am illiterate, this just jacked the driver for stopping at a red light.

[JFwantsbrownies]

I'm not very familiar with the law, but I don't see any harm in asking.

[SVT-40]

Couldn't be worse than driving while completely naked and covered in Vaseline.
People are weird.

LOL.... I did chase a very sweaty, dirty, crazy large naked female down a So Calif freeway one time...

My partner and I each tried to run just slow enough so the other would be the first to catch her....

Additionally we were laughing so hard we almost couldn't run...

It was top of the evening rush hour the looks on the commuters faces was priceless.

Great times!!!!

And yes "people are VERY weird"...