i was in an accident about a month ago, in which i lost control on the mass pike, going about 30-35 miles per hour due to the extremely snowy conditions. my car was subsequently totalled, and i was taken via ambulance to a hospital for a few stitches to a cut on my head. admittedly, it was not a good decision to try to drive from hopkinton to umass amherst in such conditions, but love will make someone do stupid things. i had been travelling alone, and there was no one else on the road, due to it being about 1 am and not good weather. i called 911 from my cell phone, and mass state police got to the scene very quickly. the ambulance arrived very shortly afterwards, and i was promptly taken to the hospital. about a week and a half after the accident, i received a ticket in the mail for $150, for a 'marked lanes violation' and for speeding, but there were no numbers filled in on the ticket for how fast i had been going, nor for the speed limit in the area in which i crashed. the police never even said a word to me at the scene, other than asking me if i was ok to walk to the ambulance on my own. i called the barracks to inquire about the ticket, and the officer on the phone just said that in accidents in extreme weather conditions, officers presume that an individual was travelling too fast, otherwise he or she wouldn't have crashed. i told him that i was never questioned at the scene or anything, and he suggested that i simply contest the ticket. i have a court date set for may 12th, any suggestions on what i can do or say to help my situation, other than obviously stating what i have just outlined here? i feel confident that this should be overturned, but i must admit i don't have the best driving record, which will certainly not fare well in my favor. thanks in advance to anyone that replies.

nick

 

I had something like that happen to me several years ago. I was driving my sisters's car back from a nearby town after having gone to physiotherapy for a broken leg. It was mid afternoon and I skidded across the center line and down an embankment. I had to hobble up the hillside on my crutches. A cop came by and ticketed me for crossing the centerline on the highway. At the time it was snowing like crazy.

I went to court and the judge threw it out. I emphasized that I was driving below the speed limit and hit some slush on the road which caused the car to veer to the left. There were no witnesses and no other car was involved.

 

usually you can get weather related tickets thrown out assuming you weren't doing anything blatantly illegal..

 

Here in Texas you can get a ticket for "failure to control speed", which is a catch-all term used when a person has an accident when they are not exeeding the posted speed limit but are traveling too fast for the road or weather conditions.

 

Just show up and tell them basically what you said here.... you were travelling 30mph or so, which was fine for the conditions..

then you hit something in the road- black ice or a large chunk of ice fallen off a truck or something, qhich then caused you to lose control of the car. they can't ticket you for that since they were obstructions in the road due to unforseen circumstances.

They also can't assume you were going any speed- especially since nothing was written on the ticket about it and the officer at the scene didn't question you at all about what happened befor,e during, or after the wreck. they have NO way of knowing, other than the legnth of the skidmarks in the snow- which were probably trampled by wrecker, ambulance, police, other traffic, etc... so they have ZERO proof you were going more than 2mph and something jumped out and hit you. (of course we know that didn't happen, but they can't prove you WERE speeding. remember.. innocent until proven guilty.. the burden of proof is on them, not you.)

the judge will throw it out and you're done... if he doesn't and wants to set a trial date, make sure you ask for a trial by jury. you're entitled to it by law, and the jury will be more sympathetic than some ******* in a robe that doesn't care what actually happened to you.

 

FIRST OF ALL: ASK THE JUDGE FOR A CONTINUANCE!

If you asssume that the officer at the scene will not produce photographs or other evidence that you were speeding and changing lanes improperly, you figured wrong.

What you need to do is to request a copy of the officer's notes so you can see exactly what he thinks he knows.

Also, go back to the accident scene at 1am and take photos of exactly where you were when you lost control of the car: the road, the markings, & the surroundings.

If you hit a patch of ice, at even low speeds, you can skid -- but, not necessarily across marked lanes. What you want to show is that, first of all, no one could see the road markings due to the snow (not you or the officer), and secondly, that you were travelling well below the marked speed limit and at a safe speed when your wheels lost traction. You want to take photos of your tires to show that they are in good shape and suitable for safe driving in snow.

You can argue that the officer had no idea what speed you were travelling, nor could he have known that you crossed any marked lanes -- which you can deny you did.

 

I don't see any way they can ticket you for speeding but I know in CT you will definately get one for traveling too fast for conditions. And the marked lanes violation....if it was snowing, you can't see any marked lanes

 

Exactly my point! Get the weather report for that day to prove how much it snowed.