simon

I wasn't sure where to post this, sorry if this isn't the correct forum.

I was in a strip mall parking lot of which there was located a movie theatre. I was driving through the rows around the busy lot looking for a spot. I eventually come up on the first row in front of the theatre. Before entering the one way row i notice a back up of vehicles loading/unloading and just waiting. Before entering the one way lane, i stopped and put the car in reverse and procceeded to back up as i didn't want to get stuck in the jam. Before reversing i looked back and saw no pedestrian or vehicle in my path. The problem occurred when i reversed quickly the rear tires screeched a little - nothing crazy. I then turned down one of the open rows. Well a cop observes the whole thing and screams up behind me. At which point i stopped and was ticketed for a moving violation - specifically "Improper start from a stopped position" The officer made no mention of breaking the speed limit which they couldn't confirm as no speed measuring device was used in the course of the incident.

The penalty for this offense is $80 plus 3 points.
My options are:
1. Pay the find accept the points - insurance rates go up.
2. Go to court and plead not guilty and pay up to $500 + points if
found guilty.
3. Attend a driver improvement course, pay a reduced fine and no
point will be assessed. However you can only choose this
option a total of 5 times per lifetime. This will be my second.

I live in the state of Florida, and am 23 years of age. My wife was in the vehicle during the ordeal. Any opinions would be appreciated.

92CamaroOcala

Man that's hated. Where do you live in Florida? So I know where not to go. Best bet dude is to go and take the Traffic Course to keep the points off. I've never heard of getting a Ticket for that :mad Oh well it's Florida for ya

simon

I'm leaning towards the course - its the easy guaranteed way to get out of the points. A part of me still wants to fight this though. I live just outside Tampa

92CamaroOcala

Well heh man Don't!!!! I fought a Similar Ticket at your age and ended up spending 1,200.00 and 30 days with a suspended license. So it's just not worth it. Just choke it up to experience man and just go to Traffic School. Since your in the Tampa Area and I'm originally from there but in Ocala now I need more peope in the Tampa Bay Board. Sign up and say hi at www.fl-thirdgen.org I'm in Ocala but most of the members are from Orlando area and some from Tampa Bay Area. But I would I know you want to fight it I did too 10 years ago but now that I look back at it I got a ticked off Judge, A Cop with an attitude just a no win situation all the way around. I would have only spent 120.00 for the ticket but ended up with Court costs and all that spending 1,200.00+ with the Attorney and fines and the suspension. So believe me the only time you want to fight it is if you are in danger of losing your license. Otherwise it's just cheaper to go to Laughing School and choke it up. Just my .02 though.

Vader

...and option #4 - Move out of Florida.

simon

Yeah, i don't like my odds of getting an angry judge. When i lived in MD they had a way you could plead "de contesto" no contest. And the judge would usually give you "Probation before judgement". No probation, it just meant you got off with no points and paid a reduced fine. I did this when i was fined for doing 80 in a 55. Worked out well. But it doesn't look like that is an option here in FL.

92CamaroOcala

LMAO Vader!!!! Move out of Florida!!! Ha Ha. Well for the most part they are cool in Florida. Exception being Orlando the Sheriffs Office there and the Hillsborough County Sheriffs office in Tampa along with Tampa P.D. They all seem to love busting Camaro's and Firebirds. But oh well. I'm lucky enough to live in a city where we probably have more horses than People.

ronterry

Where you not on private property ?

Fight Fight Fight, at least get an opinion from a lawyer.

Even getting a defective vehicle plea will not effect your insurance rates.


Ron

92CamaroOcala

Well Simon you can do what you want. It's just my opinion having dealt with the Courts here in Florida they are not so nice. And asking an Attorney for advice is like throwing money out the window. I hired one to defend me on two speeding tickets from the same cop in Maitland. 500.00 for the Attorney and 500.00 for each ticket when it went to court. Mind you the tickets were written for going 3 miles over the speed limit. Judge was just appointed and was having a bad day or week or month I don't know which. Anyways book thrown at me. It's cheaper paying 55.00 and going to traffic school and not having the points rather than fighting it. But heh if you want to then go for it, let us know how it went.

92CamaroOcala

Uggh What's a Defective Vehicle Plea? I mean is that some new fangled Plea

In Florida your either Guilty or Guilty there is no Not Guilty or Insane Vehicle Defense.

V8Astro Captain

iTrader: (1)

Man and I thought cops here were a$$holes.

For cryin out load who were you going to endanger. Sometimes I think people forget why there are law in the first place. Don't you hate bull$hit stuff like that. I mean, if I want to drive around without a seatbelt (I do wear it, just an example) and die a nasty death when I crash why shouldn't I be able to?

arg.

Or it could just be the car. One time I was going 80 in a 55 and passed a Fox-Body Mustang. A cop pulled out and pulled the Mustang over. Oops, he took one for me. Cops never look at the van funny, but boy they eyeball the IROC.

RedFirebird

Damn the cops down in your area must be real a-holes. The cops around here aren't and won't give you a ticket unless your doing something really stupid or dangerous, just as they should. Here in southern california, they have real crime to deal with.........

simon

I did a search here is the FL law I supposedly broke. It would seem since I looked for pedestrians and vehicles before reversing, i did it in a safe manner. Any road noise even chirping the tires wouldn't seem to be in violation of this law:

"316.154 Starting parked vehicle.--No person shall start a vehicle which is stopped, standing, or parked, unless and until such movement can be made with reasonable safety. A violation of this section is a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable as a moving violation as provided in chapter 318."

The safety or breach thereof was determined by the opinion of the officer as to the reversal of the vehicle being rapid. This was subjective on his part and not neccessarily correct.

The only thing i can think of is this: Is it illegal to reverse in the outside lanes of a parking lot. Its not one way in these lanes.

What is you guys opinion?

92CamaroOcala

Man well I live here and I was Deputy in Pinellas County and Never in my days did I hear of that one. U managed to find a bonehead for a Cop. Simon what county is this in? Hillsbourough or Pinellas or Polk where exactly? Now that I think about it and looked at the law you might 60/40 change of winning. 40 on the winning end. Depends on what department though. If it's TPD or Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office your toast Pay it and Get on with Life If it's a Muncipality like Plant City PD or Lakeland PD or some smaller Dept and your not in Hillsborough or Pinellas County then I'd say Fight it.

The Only reason I say that is that along with my Law Enforcement Career I worked for the Clerks office in Orlando and in Clearwater and I know that Hillsborough Traffic Court is particurally viscious when it comes to Sports Cars of any kind. But heh it's your choice man. Choose 55.00 or so or a Major PITA and your time in Traffic Court. As I said just speaking from experience I would just pay it but then again that's what I would do. But you can do differently.

Iroc n roll

We get tickets like that all the time out here at the local cruise strip in Connecticut. Its basically the smoke show ticket. If you smoke your tires, hell, even chirp your tires enought to ****-off some jerk porker you get pulled over and get the "improper start" ticket, and harassed to boot. Thankfully I have yet to receive one <knock on wood>, but just about everyone I know with a sports car has. I even have video proof. Go on my website at http://www.angelfire.com/mt/aod Look at the Integra burnout video. I mean, its alot more dramatic than a tire chirp, but getting arrested for a burnout???

simon

The incident occurred in the Couty of Pinellas, and the City of Oldsmar. I was stopped by a deputy with the Pinellas County S.O.

I neglected to mention that the incident was witnessed by a FL State Trooper as well. But the ticket was served by the S.O. deputy.

There were some kids loitering in front of the theatre. I witnessed one such "loiterer" being vehemently questioned as to his intent. They probably saw the shiny black Camaro as just another punk kid. On a side note, it is possible the LEO thought i was avoiding them by backing up hurredly. This might have sparked their initial interest in me. Who knows.

The LEO mentioned something about reckless endangerment, and said he cut me some slack with lesser offense he charged me with. I looked up the reckless driving statute and it has some nasty fines and penalties. I'm glad I didn't get that.

I might just cut my losses, I'm still unsure at this point. Still researching.

Where in the FL statutes does it state what is considered "safely backing up" or is this just up to the officers/judges discretion? Is their any case law on this I could look up?

ede

it's not tech so it gets closed. if you want to post non tech in the future go to macgyvers board at www.nethirdgen.org thanks