Not guilty!
Not guilty!
Here’s my “trial by written declaration” for the ticket I got. Any constructive criticism? Convincing enough?
On July 25th, 2006 I, Martha Bangs, was driving over the Vineyard Ave. Bridge at the 101 Freeway. Being a bit short at 5’2”, I sometimes have a problem with the seatbelt cutting into my neck. Although my seatbelt was fastened as it should have been, I hooked it beneath my elbow in order to keep it from digging into my neck. When the officer pulled me over he seemed to think I did not have it fastened, upon inspection he realized I did and said he pulled me over because of how I was wearing my seatbelt. He said it would not be any use to me worn in that manner. Upon issuing me a ticket, the ticket reads “No Seatbelt”. I was absolutely wearing my seatbelt and feel this ticket was unwarranted and plead not guilty. Section D states that “person must be restrained by a seatbelt.” I was restrained by a seatbelt and would never operate my vehicle without one.
I’m not holding out for a win, but now it’s just principle. I had to say my piece.
August 30th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Looks good babe!
I will withhold my skepticism of the legal process until we know the outcome, to avoid jinxing anything.
August 30th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
I think you should call the cops a bunch of bad names and don’t forget to use plenty of swear words.
August 30th, 2006 at 8:02 pm
I’m being totally serious when I say I don’t think they’ll care that your short and that the shoulder strap hurts you. I’d take that part out.
August 30th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
But shouldn’t I explain why it was that way, or just say that it was? That’s what a lawyer guy told me. Or should I just say, I had it on, he thought I didn’t, end of story.
August 30th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
They won’t care why you were wearing it that way, and may comment about one of those stap adjuster things. But the point is that the officer issued you a ticket for something that was not true. If he had said improperly wearing seat belt I would agree, but that is absoltuely idiotic that he would lie like that. When is your court date?
August 30th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
Take the lawyer’s advice over mine but to me it makes it sound like a poor me story and I don’t think the law will care. If you have a chance of winning it’s because wearing the seatbelt the way you were is a valid way to wear a seatbelt. If it’s not and the law says so I think your screwed. You’d be screwed even if you were a midget. If “no seatbelt” is the same “wearing seatbelt improperly” in the spirit of the law which I’m inclined to think is the case the judge will blow you off as a nit picker. Of course, that’s just my two non-lawyer cents. Good luck.
August 30th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
My suggestion:
The other day I was driving over that Bridge on the 101 Freeway. Since I’m not tall I move the seatbelt so it wont slit my throut. So I hook my seatbelt beneath my armbow to keep it from sliting my neck open and that day some pig cop pulled me over thinking my belt wasn’t fastened, after checking my ass out he realized I did. “I told you”, I said but he told me he pulled me over because of how I was wearing my seatbelt. So he switched his story you see. He’s a liar. He said it would not be any use to me worn the way I had it. And he gave me the ticket read and the bastard put on it “No Seatbelt”. But I was wearing my seatbelt so can you guys take care of this sh*t. Some law says “person must be restrained by a seatbelt”, if I want to have rope around my waste I can, so suck it.
August 30th, 2006 at 10:11 pm
i’ve done these types of things before, trying to give the whole story. they’ll get distracted by the story and not reply to the real issue. they’ll say, “your seat beat was not secured in the proper fashion,” and let it stand, ignoring the fact that you _did_ have a seatbelt on and that that is your point of contention. i’m confused as to why you’re writing in at all, though. shouldn’t you appear in court for this kind of thing?
August 30th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
Personally, I think that since this is a “trial by written declaration”, it is important to explain why the officer did pull you over, thinking that you weren’t wearing it, since you won’t get an initial opportunity for a back-and-forth, to answer any questions they may have, etc. I think you did a good job of that.
My reasoning is that most judges evaluating these things will be more inclined to believe the officer involved if it’s a simple he said / she said thing. If you only say that you were wearing it and the officer obviously says you weren’t, I’m guessing you will lose.
On the other hand, if you explain a bit more of the situation as to why you were wearing it that way and why the cop may have gotten the mistaken impression that led to him pulling you over, the judge may be inclined to realize what really happened: once he pulled you over, the cop was too much of a jerk to acknowledge that he was wrong and decided to just give you a ticket anyway.
The judge will know that cops will do that. You don’t have to come right out and tell the judge that, or even directly suggest it, just paint the picture that makes it obvious enough for them to come to that conclusion on their own.
I think you did that well, but if I were to offer any constructive criticism, I’d go with what Nate said, and specifically suggest taking out the sentence
and leaving everything else exactly the way it is. I think the message comes across perfectly clearly without that, and while I didn’t perceive that sentence as being whiny, you never know what a judge may think, so I’d tend to leave it out since your point is well made without it.
August 31st, 2006 at 6:44 am
I can’t appear in court, I have a job. Teachers have to be there every day.
August 31st, 2006 at 8:59 am
I was pulled over for no seatbelt last year on Thompson Blvd. I was absolutely wearing a lap belt, but no shoulder belt. Mine is gone, the dog ate it. The officer acknowledged that I had my lap belt fastened but because I was driving a vehicle that was meant to have a shoulder belt, I got a ticket. I explained that the lap belt offers more protection than the shoulder belt, but he didn’t give a crap. I believe it’s a violation of my civil rights to force me to wear a seat belt. Then he asked to see my license and it was expired. He ticketed me for DRIVING WITHOUT A LICENSE. I explained that I wasn’t driving without a license, he was holding it in his hand. I said in my best Andy Griffith voice, “It’s just expired, s’all.” All that to say, Martha, good luck. =)
August 31st, 2006 at 4:58 pm
That was funny Dan
Wearing a lap belt only, while driving, is really not much protection in the case of an accident. Sure, you are less likely to die, but you would get so many neck, back, and head injuries that you probably wish you would have just been tossed out of the car.
Thirdly, I think you should either reword the whole “short” section or just leave it out. Simply stating that it was under your armpit is enough, if wearing a belt like that is legal. The first thing that entered my head after finishing that first part, not having read anything else, was “So.”
I am under the impression that it is illegal to not wear a seatbelt in the way it was inteded to be worn according to the manufacturer (although I am not certain of this), and if that is the case, there really is no difference between “no seatbelt” and “improperly wearing a seatbelt.” And possibly, leagally there is no difference at all, which might be why he wrote it up as “no seatbelt”. Unless you know that it is legal to wear a shoulder harness the way you had it, I would not even send any letter, since you were doing something illegal either way.
August 31st, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Ok i think I’ll just change my letter to “The cop was a complete ass, as all Oxnard police are and he gave me a ticket just to be a prick. Therefore you should not make me pay. And just so you know, I was wearing my sealtbelt. Thank you.”
August 31st, 2006 at 9:07 pm
I’m inclined to say get a sub for a day and go in to court to fight it. Most likely the officer won’t show up at the hearing and you may not have to pay (so I’ve heard). If he does show up at least you will have a chance to hear why the officer wrote the ticket the way he did; and ultimately understand the judges decision.
August 31st, 2006 at 9:15 pm
Nope, no subs. It’ll have to work this way. Or not…whatever happens, happens.
August 31st, 2006 at 9:26 pm
I’ll sub.
August 31st, 2006 at 9:41 pm
no subs as in they don’t have subs at all, or none are available?
just for sayin’s sake: it’s best to know for sure you’ll win the court case if you do go in. judges are known to throw the book at guilty parties that fight traffic tickets in court. it kinda pisses them off.
August 31st, 2006 at 11:18 pm
Cops always show in court, they get paid overtime to do so. And even worse you don’t just go in one day to do it all, the first day is to plead guily or not then you get scheduled another time with a another judge and then the cop shows up because he schedules it. There’s no way around it, although I’ve heard of a really good book out that will help. I think it’s called Fight Your Ticket, or something like that.
Anyways, just send your letter in, it sounds good even with the short thing.
August 31st, 2006 at 11:49 pm
It’s not even that expensive of a ticket, so that’s one reason why trying to get a sub wouldn’t be worth it. Subs are OK for when you actually HAVE to miss work, but they don’t (usually) actually TEACH, and since Martha is a conscientious teacher, she’s not going to let the kids fall behind in their lessons just to take care of this. [Speaking for Martha - she can correct me if I'm wrong]
The trouble with “knowing for sure” that you will win is that you never can know this. Like I said before, assuming the cop will be there and will even go as far as saying “no, she wasn’t wearing it at all” (which is effectively what he did by writing the ticket and will probably continue to defend that even though he’s wrong), then it’s a he said / she said thing, and the judge will probably give it to the cop 99% of the time. Otherwise, people would be getting off of seat belt tickets left and right, because it’s not like the cops take pictures of you not wearing them.
That goes back to why I actually think she has a better chance with the written appeal. If the cop is actually involved and has to show up, it’s pretty unlikely that he’s going to walk in and say “yeah, I screwed up”. He would be much more likely to defend his position (as I described above), and the judge will be forced to take one person’s word over another, with predictable results. With the written process, however, it’s more likely that the judge can review it and come to the conclusion (on his/her own) that it was a misunderstanding/mistake on the cop’s part and possibly throw it out without wasting any time in court, etc.
September 1st, 2006 at 10:36 am
Send the note if you can’t be there. You won’t be any better off if you lose (just minus some cash) but if the judge thinks it’s a good excuse then he’ll throw it out. Just don’t call yourself short, simply stating your height is enough. The judge may be that short and have a Napoleon complex “I’m king of my world and short men rule all” and may be offended. Oh- and tell the judge what you will be doing to rectify the belt problem you have (getting a seat belt adjuster, for example) so that you will not be wrongly pulled over in the future. Even if the judge thinks you are guilty by not wearing the belt in the right place, the fact that you are going to “learn your lesson” without having to pay for this ticket may sway his/her decision.
September 1st, 2006 at 4:10 pm
I like the Kristi’s idea of stating how you are going to rectify the problem. Good psychology.
September 1st, 2006 at 4:49 pm
On subs…Last year I had subs way too often and the result is a detriment at my school because basically we get babysitters, not teachers who can pick up where you left off. So I spend days catching back up to where I left off. Not worth it.
On the short thing…I took part of it out. I made it short and sweet and to the point. I did like to idea of the “how I will learn from this” but alas, too late, I sent it this morning.
Thanks everyone. Now we wait…probably a long time…for the verdict.
September 3rd, 2006 at 10:55 pm
I do the same darn thing…. Being short and having a seat belt that comes to my neck is not comfortable, besides, Seatbelts in the old days were lap belts….. Why else do they tell pregnant women not to use shoulder belts?
September 4th, 2006 at 9:51 am
Thank you, Jeannie! We know what it’s like. Maybe they should invent a booster for us.
September 4th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
I think our car does let you adjust the seat up and down. Don’t know if you’ve tried that; I’m assuming you have, but I thought I’d mention it just in case.
I guess I could have just told you that in person, but then that would break down the blog/verbal conversation barrier, and everyone else wouldn’t get to participate in the ongoing conversation.
September 5th, 2006 at 5:18 am
Yeah, it is down as far as it goes. Thanks, babe.
September 5th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
Seems like you’d want the seat to be higher, so that the belt would come across lower on your body.
September 5th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
Ok…I didn’t read completely what you wrote. I thought you were saying the seatbelt moves up and down. Yeah, I can put the seat up and see how it goes. Sorry, I’m a skimmer.