Yay for BS traffic citations.

[Jordan]

So I got my first citation in the e30 Weds.

This is what I was charged with violating:

811.340 Improperly executed left turn; penalty. (1) A person commits the offense of making an improperly executed left turn if the person operates a vehicle and is intending to turn the vehicle to the left and the person does not:

(a) Approach the turn in the extreme left-hand lane lawfully available to traffic moving in the direction of travel of the turning vehicle;
(b) Make the left turn to the left of the center of the intersection whenever practicable:

Here is a well laid out (and acurate) map of the intersection and the area around it. Yes its to scale, yes I made the drawing, yes you may compliment my mad intersection drawing skills.



The grey line indicates my path through the streets, the black car is Officer Roach (what a suiting name) and the X is where I pulled over. Not that the drawing couldn't have told you that...

I do plan to plead guilty... because I am. However I'm not the least bit pleased with the situation. The officer told me that I was required to turn into the left lane, then the center, then the right, then over to the right turn only lane. There is no way to do that and not break Oregon state law! The ORS pertaining to that are listed below.

811.375 Unlawful or unsignaled change of lane; penalty. (1) A person commits the offense of unlawful or unsignaled change of lanes if the person is operating a vehicle upon a highway and the person changes lanes by moving to the right or left upon the highway when:

(a) The movement cannot be made with reasonable safety; or
(b) The driver fails to give an appropriate signal continuously during not less than the last 100 feet traveled by the vehicle before changing lanes.

811.335 Unlawful or unsignaled turn; penalty. (1) A person commits the offense of making an unlawful or unsignaled turn if the person is operating a vehicle upon a highway and the person turns the vehicle right or left when:

(a) The person fails to give an appropriate signal continuously during not less than the last 100 feet traveled by the vehicle before turning.

_________________________________________

I plan to argue that there is simply no way to properly and legally execute any sort of right hand turn onto 4th after turning left onto VanBuren.

I'm hoping to get the ticket dropped outright (obviously) The base fine is $237 (what I was fined) and the minimum the ticket can be reduced to is $180 (unless dropped)

Provide input and feedback.

[E30ownerwithanopinion]

nice work on the drawing but you made your car look like shit, it looks like a gray X.



I pulled my self over once after passing a cop in a 40 doing 105. When he got to where i was waiting for me he could only give me a bullshit ticket with a 100 dollar fine and no points because i passed him so fast that he did not have time to clock me.

[Jordan]

Also I went back to the intersection that evening and collected data on every car that turned left onto VanBuren between 6:45PM and 7:54PM. 40 cars total made the turn.

85% of traffic surveryed was guilty of violating ORS 811.340
20% of traffic performed the same actions as I had
15% of traffic cleared the intersection lawfully (ALL of them went straight on VanBuren, none of them turned right on 4th.

Percent of traffic that chose lanes:

Left - 15%
Center - 52.5%
Right - 35%

[KDZROK]

Go get 'em Tiger!

[kansas-ix]

This unfortunate event clearly demonstrates that traffic citations exist for one reason only:

REVENUE FOR MUNICPALITIES.
:evil:

That officer probably gave out 10 tickets for that in one day and got a bonus, fucker, probably scoped it out and knew everyone would break the law there.

Sorry to hear Jordan.

[MattE30]

Ok, let me see if I understand correctly. While making a left hand turn, you must turn into the nearest lane, and not take the furthest lane (like you did on Van Buren)?

That's the law here in Illinois, but I never heard of anyone getting pulled over for that.

Probably just a reason to pull over a nice car with a young driver.

[Mot]

dude I know the exact intersection, i got pulled over for something very similar but i was let off. ( Probly cause my E30 is dirty and ugly and yours is nice ;) ). But ya BS law and corvallis cops can suck my wang.

[Jordan]

Ok, let me see if I understand correctly. While making a left hand turn, you must turn into the nearest lane, and not take the furthest lane (like you did on Van Buren)?

That is correct.

[UNHCLL]

Re: Yay for BS traffic citations.

The officer told me that I was required to turn into the left lane, then the center, then the right, then over to the right turn only lane. There is no way to do that and not break Oregon state law!

That is the law in every state. One must properly execute the turn and only merge 1 lane at a time. you must individually signal before each lane change. This is successfully accomplished by adjusting your speed and merging actions to suit the intersection.

To bad you got pulled over. Thats the name of the game.
You can hire me to do a complete traffic survey and organized report citing the violations and infractions upon OR state law. It is what my business deals in... :P

[Jordan]

Re: Yay for BS traffic citations.

That is the law in every state. One must properly execute the turn and only merge 1 lane at a time. you must individually signal before each lane change. This is successfully accomplished by adjusting your speed and merging actions to suit the intersection.

Thats all fine and dandy, but if you had take the time to read the 2 ORS's I posted you would see that lane changes would be a illegal, and moot point there.

[UNHCLL]

I see no reason in the ORS's to state you could not have completed the turn within the law.

oh well. shit happens.

[KDZROK]

I see no reason in the ORS's to state you could not have completed the turn within the law.

oh well. shit happens.

It states you must give a min of 100 feet of signal-age. The distance between the intersection and the right hand turn is aprox 250 feet. That is not enough distance to legaly execute the two lane changes and one turn needed to complete the path Jordan was taking.

The intersection is poorly designed.

[nando]

I see no reason in the ORS's to state you could not have completed the turn within the law.

oh well. shit happens.

because you need to move 100ft before changing lanes while signalling. how is it then possible to move over 4 lanes in only 220ft? it's not, you either break the law or you stay in the 2nd lane.

[Jordan]

I see no reason in the ORS's to state you could not have completed the turn within the law.

oh well. shit happens.

One must signal for 100ft prior to a lane change or turn.

Thats 300ft right there. Need to allow 50ft for a smooth and safe lane change, also 12ft for the initial length of the car.

thats 462ft right there. The length of the road is 220ft. And the last ~75ft of it are not usable to make the last lane change because of the bicycle lane. So you have ~145ft to complete 3 lane changes and a turn. Can't be done legally.

[E30ownerwithanopinion]

that is why I would just drive with my hazzards on.