Okay, I need some help/advice here. I have NEVER gotten any speeding tickets or moving violations before and the one I have gotten now I'm going to fight. I've never been to court and have no clue about what is going to happen or what to look forward to. Do I ask the cop questions or does the judge ask questions? Any and all help would be GREATLY appreciated.

My violation is failure to obey traffic light. It is claimed that my light was red and therefore the accident was my fault, however this is not true. I'll tell you what happened if it will help.

I was on University Ave. going away from Austin Peay State University. The other driver was on Madison Street coming into town from my left. My light was green so I precided through the intersection (when I come over the hill the light was green so I was already moving), heard a noise and looked out my window to see a car coming straight for me. I slammed on the brakes and swirved a bit to my right hoping that the other driver would hit their brakes and swirve to miss me, however that is not what happened. The other driver hit the driver side of my car totaling the car. The inside dash and consel are all out of shape due to the impact, not to mention the damage to the outside of my car. Now here is where it gets tricky and to explain the way the lights go I'm going to copy the note I got from the person who programs the lights. There were two witnesses who were going the opposite direction as me and since their light was red, the cop automatically assumed mine was too and therefore ticketed me.

Here is the note: You are correct in that one approach to an intersection may or may not display the same indication on the opposite side. At this intersection, depending on several factors, you could have a green indication on one approach while still displaying a red indication on the opposite approach. The eyewitness accounts may have seen this, but this is not unusual. "If" there was traffic in the left turn lane in the same direction (as I was going) and there wasn't traffic in the left turn lane in the opposite direction, then the situation that the eyewitness described could have occured. Again, this is not uncommon. What couldn't have happened was that both Cumberland Drive and Madison Street both have green indications.

Now, with this note and a little video recording of the intersection, what do you think my chances are to get out of this ticket. Will my almost four year insurance record help me also, it is spick and span?

The other driver did file a claim and apparently it isn't looking good here, could this be a factor in court also? One of the witnesses claim that the other driver was in the intersection before me and therefore I was in the wrong because they had control over the intersection. However, I have no control over the claims court case do I?

I have pictures of the car to prove to any judge that the person driving the other car was going very fast. Could this help me out, it could show that they were trying to beat a red or blow through it before traffic started up?

One last thing is that the police report is wrong. It claims that my light turned red and I continued through it, the other drivers light turned green so they started in the intersection. Then it says that I hit the other driver when really they hit me. The damage that they marked for my vehicle is wrong too, it says that I have front end damage, which I have NONE. The only damage to the front end is a crack in the bumper that I got when I went over the curb.

Anyway, any suggestions, information, or personal experience that you can tell me would be great help. I'm a bit nervous since I never had to do this before but I'm doing it because I don't feel I should be punished for something that I did not do. Thanks ahead of time for all your help.

first, just make sure you get a lot of sleep and for god's sake stay calm...practice your speech or whatever. make sure you write it down too...you can have all the notes you want in court.

take pictures of your car from every angle possible to show that there is only side impact damage, and take it to a mechanic and have him sign a letter too. if you have to, ask him to come to court and call him to the stand.

next, that letter from the traffic light guy is important because it proves that the situation which you say happened could have happened. if possible, get in touch with the witnesses and ask them if they recall seeing any traffic and see if they saw what was described in the letter. and if they have a good enough video, then that should definitely help you.

i'm not a lawyer, so this is just my take on things, but it makes sense to me. any more questions, post em up and we'll try to help.

good lukc

Try and find out how much it costs for to hire a lawyer to represent you for this thing. The only reason I say that is becos when I got my first speeding ticket I did some math and found out that even if I spent $1000 on a lawyer, I would still come out ahead after adding up all the increases in my insurance costs over the next couple of years. You dont have to but it doesnt hurt to find out what your other options are besides representing yourself. Also its great that you have a clean record. A lot also depends on the kind of judge you get. Some are great and some arent so great. But you seem to have done a lot of homework so good for you! And like 93rollaracer said, the letter from the traffic guy could be a very important piece of information. The more information you have the better.

How about when I'm in there? Am I being asked questions or am I asking questions. The only witness I have is my brother who was in the car with me, will this help?

When you say to take it to a mechanic, the only thing I can take is the pictures, the car is not drivable. What can the mechanic do to help?

Thanks for your help guys.

if you represent yourself, you'll probably be asked questions and you'll get to ask questions.

you can call the cop and the driver of the other car or pretty much anybody else you think can provide useful information.

if you have a mechanic look at it, have him sign a letter or something that says the damage is only on the side of the car/came from a side impact, something like that

and now that i think about it, with that letter from the traffic guy, prove that it's possible for the light pattern to work like you said and then its up to the prosecution to prove that that couldn't have happened. seeing as how it would be next to impossible for that to happen, that should be enough to get you off.

have a backup plan just in case though...in my mind that would work, but once again i'm no lawyer

I figured that the cop would be there, but the witnesses and other driver will be too? I thought since I was the one given the ticket it would only be me and the cop.

you can question whoever you want as long as they can provide useful information. the witness and other driver don't have to be there, but if you subpoena them (pretty sure you can do that) then they have to show up. cop will almost definetly be there though

I'm not exactly sure what to ask. The only people I can ask questions to are my brother and the cop who gave me the ticket. I don't want to talk to the witnesses or the driver, too mad at them and something not very nice may come out of my mouth during court. The one witness came right up to my vehicle after the accident and flat out told me I was in the wrong, he was lucky that I was crying and was still in my car. lol

I don't know, the closer the date comes, the more nervous I get. Court is on the 4th.