So yesterday was a great day to drive around town. My friend had called and ask me for a ride to his house. I was driving just fine and the traffic light turned yellow. I accelerated to make sure I was in the clear before it was red. When I meant accelerate, I meant about 5 more miles over the speed limit. A white Toyota Rav4 pulled me over about 300 yards away from the light.

First thing the Cop said to me was, "You already know why I pulled you over, so I need your license, registration, and proof of insurance." After him taking his sweet time, he told me he wrote me up for reckless driving. When I asked why reckless driving, he told me, "I saw you go past the light, heard a chirp and a cloud of dust go up...."

On the ticket, he didn't even write what happened. It just says "Nevada and Austin bluffs Road"

Definitely fighting this ticket, because I know for sure he was in the wrong. I have never had a ticket ever and for some reason yesterday was the day. Don't get me wrong, I like to have a spirited drive once in awhile, but not during traffic times.

Has anyone else came across something like this before?

 

You definitely want to hire an attorney, I'm not sure about Colorado but reckless driving in NJ has some steep consequences. I'd also look into if that intersection had a traffic camera, the video could shed some light on what you really did.

Best of luck

 

Cops hate Evos.

 

I would fight it. If it was me in that situation i would have said " i felt like i wasn't going to stop in time, as the yellow light was turning to red, rather than to stop in the middle of the road "

Dust? Yeah ok, pretty sure dust could pick up off any kind of wind force
( if this was the case )

Chirp? Uhh you can clearly explain that to them

and so on.

 

Reckless driving here in Colorado isn't as bad as you think. We have a point system here and I believe clean records have 12 (please correct me if i'm wrong). My ticket cost $165 and its 4 points off my license.

 

I would def take this one to court, also going on what CAD_EVO said, check and see if there was a camera. That would def help your situation.

 

See if you can file a request for discovery. if you time it right, it doesn't allow the court to gather all of the information, and it kind of botches the case on their end.

There are specific time guidelines that you must have the paper work in by, so if you wait til the last days of the deadlines to process the forms to the courthouse, prosecutors office, and.. I forget the third. I just know there is 3... I can look through my old email and see if I can dig up the info if you're interested in this route for fighting the ticket.

I live in WA state, so I don't know how it would differ.

 

Tell them all wheel drive cars don't "chirp". A wreckless driving is WAY worse than running a stop light. I'm pretty sure a stop light is 2 points whereas Wreckless is 4 points. It doesn't sound like you really ran it at all either. You were just in the intersection when the light went red because you saw the yellow light as you went under it...right?

 

A Rav4? Now that's scary. Here in NJ if you see a Crown Vic, Caprice, large size SUV, or Dodge I cover the brakes immediately. If cops start driving around in any old crap vehicle how is the driver to know? :-/

Sorry about your ticket. Probably worth your time to go to court and plee it down.

 

Depending on how far away from the light you were and how you had to accelerate you should have stopped. Now, if someone was tailgating you or something of the like I could understand and you could justify it to an extent. I've been rear ended before for not trying to run a yellow light.

 

You should never have to accelerate to clear a traffic light so as to not "stop" in the intersection. You either have room to stop in time, or you continue at the same speed and go through the light like normal

 

No. Cops just hate jackasses.

Agreed. Yellow means be prepared to stop, not accelerate and avoid having to stop. You also put yourself and your car in a potentially bad situation, its not even worth it.

 

Your screwed. You accelerated, your in the wrong even 1 mph. Doesn't mean the cop wasnt over zealous. Just means he had just cause. The case would be your word against his regardless of video. Maybe you can get a plea down.

 

Was the Rav4 cop car undercover or painted like a cop car?

 

This is utter horse****. A guy with NO tickets on his license goes 5 mph above the limit to make a light and gets reckless driving? And you think the driver a jackass. While I agree running yellows is often not worth it, it can be the far safer choice than drilling your brakes and trying to step before the light. Fight this ticket, and you will easily get PBJ even if your judge is a total asshat like half of the people responding to your post.