Traffic ticket given for incorrect violation?

But you are required to STOP. That means coming to a complete halt, noticeable by the reflexive movement of the car slightly back as it halts. Then you may proceed after a complete halt with no movement.

You may both disagree with the ticket, but the officer told you he didn’t stop for long enough. There isn’t an easing of the cessation of movement because of no other traffic. In fact, you should stop, look both ways, then proceed.

Pay the ticket or see if he can do traffic school to keep it off his record.

You are quoting from your drivers manual that you received to prepare for your drivers test, correct? The guidance you quote is not the same as the law.

I don’t think the issue is how long he was stopped, but whether he did come to a complete stop.

Your boyfriend should show up in traffic court and explain to the judge exactly what happened. I have been told that if the ticketing officer does not show up to court, the ticket will be dropped (and you will only have to pay the court surcharge).

I agree that your boyfriend should contest it in court. It will probably result in a reduced fine.

It is my understanding that in order for a stop to be considered complete, all forward motion of the automobile must stop. If all forward motion has not stopped, the car is not considered to have stopped at the stop sign. I think that is the way a traffic court judge will see it, if it is not a complete stop – it isn’t a stop.

I second @zenvelo go to traffic school or pay the fine and be done with it.

If traffic cops enforced that law in Connecticut – and if people could and would pay the fines that it would generate – then we could probably pay off half of the national debt in a year. No one (except me, it seems) comes to a complete halt at stop signs in Connecticut, or at the right-on-red intersections. Some barely bother to slow down.

When I stop with traffic behind me I always cringe in the near certainty that I’m going to be rear-ended, and many drivers have come very close to running into me because of that.

Having seen what I’ve seen about how people treat stop signs these days, I’m going to side with the officer on this until your boyfriend can establish that he came to a “complete” stop. It’s a rare thing, and to see an officer actually stop and write a ticket for it would make me interested to hear his side of things.

However, if he shows up in court to contest the ticket, the judge will probably grant a continuance – and another court date – to the officer and to your boyfriend to allow the officer to defend his stop next time. (Cops don’t routinely show up in court for every traffic citation, and judges don’t routinely throw out the ticket just because he’s not there the first time.)

I think he should pay it and in future stop completely, count to three, then go.

California stops kill people, it’s a big problem in our neighborhood with teenagers blowing through stop signs with kids all around playing.

What your bf did is called “a rolling stop.” He did not stop, therefore he is guilty.

What I try to do when there is a chance there are cops around (meaning usually) is count to 5. That way, 1,2,3,4,5, there’s no doubt that I was stopped.

Where I live, (and cops that I know tell me) they now get paid to show up in court, so there are less chances of cops not being in court when you have your date. What they will do is “work with you” meaning you can bargain the charges down to a lesser violation.

One more thing: if by chance the cop does not show up, the judge will throw it out and the driver goes away lucky. I am not sure if this is the law, but it is the practice. I am going to call a cop I know and ask if the judge is obligated to throw it out if the cop does not show, but like I said, the cops get paid to show so it’s not like they’re showing up on their own free time and not getting paid for it.

I agree with @jca. This sounds like a rolling stop. Your BF did a rolling stop in front of an officer. He got a ticket. He can contest it. Often just by showing up to traffic court you can reduce the ticket amount.

The problem seems to be that your boyfriend and the cop have different definitions of “stopping.” My guess is that the cop is probably right. If he wants to contest, that’s what the court date is for.

When it comes to tickets it’s not fair. I got someone else’s speeding ticket once because we were both driving white cars. :-(. The risks of fighting it would have potentially made it way more expensive. It was his word against mine and they always believe the cop. I paid the fine and went to traffic school to get the ticket removed from my record. It sucks.

Whether a cop gets a second chance after missing a court date or not varies by state.

I think your boyfriend is probably screwed. It sounds like an ambiguous case at best, and even a lying pig, rather than the citizen, always has the presumption of being the honest party. Unless there is some other evidence, the cop only needs to stick to what the ticket says. Your boyfriend can fight on principle, but don’t expect to win.

It’s quite remarkable that driving is seen as synonymous with freedom, considering that even basic constitutional protections disappear when you do it. Not saying your boyfriend is in the right in this case, either, but the sad part is it really doesn’t matter in the end.

In our state, if you go to court you can often negotiate a greater fine rather than getting points on your license. He might want to consider doing that.

How states handle it can vary a lot. Sometimes it’s a civil offense, sometimes you get an administrative trial. In New Jersey and New York, the trial begins as an administrative hearing, though I don’t know what happens next if it’s not resolved at that level (and in my experience, it won’t be resolved in your favor at that level) – though I never had a moving violation in those states.

I did have a moving violation in Virginia, and was able to negotiate a serious charge down to a minor one.

It was a rolling stop. Locally, we call it a Quebec stop, and I’ve heard it given local names in several other regions. It’s such a ubiquitous thing, that no judge will hear the story you told and think, “Ah! The officer reacted incorrectly – perhaps the driver actually stopped.” The judge will say, “It was a rolling stop. That is not a stop.”

@CWOTUS is right; everyone does it. And not all cops will bother to pull someone over when they see it happen. But it’s still against the rules of the road, and you risk getting a ticket whenever you do it. I don’t see how you can win if you fight the ticket.

In our little town court it is always the case that, if you and the cop were polite to one another and there were some ambiguities, you can plead “not guilty.”

Then the fine is increased (bring your check book with you) and you get no points. Win-win all around. Here the town is only interested in getting the cash to help with the school and road repair budgets.