Fighting bicycle traffic tickets in Pima County Justice Court
Readers of this blog know that I have recommended fighting those stop-sign tickets you get on your bike if you are pulled over by Tucson Police Department officers. As I have often stated in this blog, you aren’t going to win (most likely) on fighting the ticket, but what you can do is get the judge to decline to forward the ticket to the Department of Motor Vehicles. So, your car insurance won’t go up and you won’t have points taken off your license.
But it’s a different matter in Pima County Justice Court. This is where you end up if you get pulled over by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
There, the judges do not, apparently, have the ability to keep the information from the DMV. They use a different form.
I learned this, of course, the hard way — and my client now has to not only pay the fine but suffer the consequences to her driver’s license. (The judge did reduce the fine amount substantially, because he said he appreciated the argument and would like to be able to do what I asked.)
Shortly after that hearing I received an email from another person who tried this argument on his own. He had the same experience but he said the judge decided to let him take the Tucson bicycle safety class in lieu of payment, even though officially Pima County does not recognize these classes! That’s quite a step, and I am sure it is because the judge is gradually getting educated about these tickets.
Even when you lose a case like this, you still make progress. Judges are human beings, and they think about things, and their behavior and approaches to problems will change. I suspect that Pima County will soon adopt the Tucson bicycle safety program, especially if the judge who handles these matters starts sending people over there whether they have adopted it or not.
–Erik Ryberg
March 16th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
This could very likely be the result
of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Manager
for Pima County and some members of the
BAC delicately spreading the notion
around.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:32 am
CNN, covering the TED talks, weighs in with…
Replace stop signs that waste your time
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/16/lauder.new.road.sign/index.html
April 8th, 2010 at 5:59 am
[...] your drivers insurance will likely increase. Ryberg said he has been very successful with that. The story is different in Pima County. Ryberg said Pima County judges can’t prevent the MVD notification, but in one instance [...]