Advocacy & Safety - Florida: Two Citations, Identical Circumstances...Opposite Verdicts

http://flbikelaw.org/2010/03/two-citations-identical-circumstances-opposite-verdicts/#more-460

More evidence that the Orlando pamphlet mentioned earlier should be sent to every single department in Florida.

-Kurt

Dumb, stupid, !@#$%^, *&^%, $%^, *$&$&* idiot judges! And the cops are worse!

Like I needed another reason not to return to FL.........

The environment in traffic court is not conducive to thorough examination of the laws and circumstances of a case.

A painful thing to read.

(I already know it from experience, but I continue to be in denial. My experiences must have been flukes, right?)

It's like a different country down there.

http://flbikelaw.org/2010/03/two-citations-identical-circumstances-opposite-verdicts/#more-460

More evidence that the Orlando pamphlet mentioned earlier should be sent to every single department in Florida.

-Kurt

Not that long ago here in the Tampa Bay Area we had a cyclist up in Clearwater who was cited for making a left hand turn from the left hand turn lane. In that case I think that the charge was impeding the flow of traffic, but I'm not sure.

I had to kind of laugh as I live in Pinellas County and have had numerous LEO's pass me (both traveling in the same direction as I was as well as the opposite direction) when I've been sitting in the left hand turn lane and none of them have said anything to me.

And yes, when he went to court it was dismissed. Of course the problem(s) is/were:

a) no ticket should have been issued in the first place
b) the DA's office should have refused to prosecute (they do have some discretion don't they?)
c) it never should have made it to the docket and should have been dismissed as soon as it showed up on the docket

But as we know there are a lot of LEOs and judges who need educating as to what the laws are regarding bicycles on the road.

Dumb, stupid, !@#$%^, *&^%, $%^, *$&$&* idiot judges! And the cops are worse!

Like I needed another reason not to return to FL.........


OK, let's calm down a bit.

As a member of Florida's judicial branch (though I do not hear traffic cases), I can tell you that the best name I have ever been called in court was a "dumba** motherf***er" when I suggested to a young woman that one way to help keep from raising her children in poverty was to stop having out-of-wedlock children, a suggestion she did not appreciate. No one, but no one, has ever called me a "Dumb, stupid, !@#$%^, *&^%, $%^, *$&$&* idiot judge." I'm sure that more than one person has thought it, and maybe they said it after leaving my courtroom, but I try to be smart and not screw up more than three cases per day. It also seems to me that using the terms "dumb," "stupid," and "idiot" in a single, inspired, turn of phrase would appear somewhat redundant. Forceful, maybe, but also repeatedly and repetitively redundant.

Not that long ago here in the Tampa Bay Area we had a cyclist up in Clearwater who was cited for making a left hand turn from the left hand turn lane. In that case I think that the charge was impeding the flow of traffic, but I'm not sure.

I had to kind of laugh as I live in Pinellas County and have had numerous LEO's pass me (both traveling in the same direction as I was as well as the opposite direction) when I've been sitting in the left hand turn lane and none of them have said anything to me.

And yes, when he went to court it was dismissed. Of course the problem(s) is/were:

a) no ticket should have been issued in the first place
b) the DA's office should have refused to prosecute (they do have some discretion don't they?)
c) it never should have made it to the docket and should have been dismissed as soon as it showed up on the docket

But as we know there are a lot of LEOs and judges who need educating as to what the laws are regarding bicycles on the road.

The DA never sees cases in traffic court, just the ones that demand a trial.

The DA never sees cases in traffic court, just the ones that demand a trial.

Never having had to go to traffic court I admit ignorance as to those procedures, but I would think that the first and last points still stand.