I got a careless driving ticket on Friday night that I plan on fighting. Let me explain the situation:
I was coming back from hanging out with some friends at the bar, and it was snowing out. Not too hard, but it was slippery out.
We pull up to a red light, on a slight uphill grade. Light turns green, I step on the gas, and lose traction. A common occurance in my car (1999 Mustang V6, automatic). I was barely making any forward progress, but neither was the car fishtailing or doing anything funky to make me worry, so I just waited for it to get traction, which took a second or two, and went on my way.
A block later, a cop pulls me over for "burning out" at the light. He slaps me with a careless driving ticket and tells me I'm lucky.
Now, granted, I probably should have let off the gas when I lost traction and started over, but I was the car was under control, it just wasn't moving. I don't understand how it can be defined as careless.
New Jersey defines Careless Driving as:
As I see it, I was neither endangering nor likely to endanger person or property. The only car around was behind me, and I was barely moving.
So I called the court and told them I plan on pleaing not guilty. Its only an $85 ticket, but its two points, and I already have a couple points on my license, and aside from that, to me it seems like a BS reason to give someone a ticket.
So I printed out two copies of the hourly weather reports for the town I received the ticket in for that day, clearly showing it was snowing at the time in question. Also, the cop marked the ticket as "wet and snowy".
Any other advice besides the obvious (wear a suit, be polite, etc)? What information should I bring to court to back myself up? I already plan on taking photographs of the scene, perhaps even with a level to show the grade. I've never had to fight a ticket before (any previous tickets were out of state, and I was guilty, so I just paid them and dealt with it), so any advice would help.
I was coming back from hanging out with some friends at the bar, and it was snowing out. Not too hard, but it was slippery out.
We pull up to a red light, on a slight uphill grade. Light turns green, I step on the gas, and lose traction. A common occurance in my car (1999 Mustang V6, automatic). I was barely making any forward progress, but neither was the car fishtailing or doing anything funky to make me worry, so I just waited for it to get traction, which took a second or two, and went on my way.
A block later, a cop pulls me over for "burning out" at the light. He slaps me with a careless driving ticket and tells me I'm lucky.
Now, granted, I probably should have let off the gas when I lost traction and started over, but I was the car was under control, it just wasn't moving. I don't understand how it can be defined as careless.
New Jersey defines Careless Driving as:
Originally posted by N.J.S. 39:4-97. Careless driving.
So I called the court and told them I plan on pleaing not guilty. Its only an $85 ticket, but its two points, and I already have a couple points on my license, and aside from that, to me it seems like a BS reason to give someone a ticket.
So I printed out two copies of the hourly weather reports for the town I received the ticket in for that day, clearly showing it was snowing at the time in question. Also, the cop marked the ticket as "wet and snowy".
Any other advice besides the obvious (wear a suit, be polite, etc)? What information should I bring to court to back myself up? I already plan on taking photographs of the scene, perhaps even with a level to show the grade. I've never had to fight a ticket before (any previous tickets were out of state, and I was guilty, so I just paid them and dealt with it), so any advice would help.
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