Miata Mailing List: November 1995, Message #117
sponsored by



     


   From: russotto@pond.com (Matthew T. Russotto)
Subject: Re:  I got a ticket & SILVER
   Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 11:54:03 -0500

} Hey everybody just a question and some comments. First, I got a ticket
} this morning for "avoiding an intersection." Actually, what myself and
} 20 zillion others have done for the last year since construction has
} started is to turn into a shopping center, go behind it where the road
} is paved and wide enough for 3 semi-trucks, and proceed to the exit
} onto the street where we actually want to be.

Congratuations, you're a criminal.  Cutting across private property to
avoid a traffic control device is illegal in most states.  

} This morning I got
} pulled over. Although the quote above is what the officer said to me,
} the ticket says "cutting across a drive."  Is this a law? Can I really
} be fined for this? If so, the city thinks it is worth $82.

You'd have to check the motor vehicle code in your own state to check
the exact wording and see if there's a loophole.  What most likely
happened is that the cops noticed that everyone was doing that, and
decided to make some money the easy way.

There's lots of lies to get out of this, if you aren't opposed to
lying to prevent stealing.  The easiest one is to say you had some
business at a store, but noticed it was closed when you drove in.
But the judge probably won't buy it anyway, as he's there to raise
revenue for the state just like the cop.