Last Friday, I got a ticket for riding in the bike lane. In Los Angeles, California, where the law clearly states you can legally ride an electric skateboard in the bike lane.
I tried to show the officer that the board was electric and pulled up the law on my phone for him to read. He refused to even talk to me about it, only saying over and over that I needed to give him my license so he could write me a ticket. Eventually I just gave up and he wrote me the ticket.
Now I’m going to challenge the ticket in court, but I’m worried that if the officer doesn’t even know the law, will the court even bother to read it or will they up-hold the ticket, basically making the law that lets us ride here in CA meaningless?
Anyone have any advice for going to court and getting them to remove the ticket?
That’s good to hear. Should I bring my board as proof that it is electric and meets the standards set fourth by the law? I’m worried the officer will claim it is just a normal skateboard and the the judge will take his words over mine.
I’d bring it. Just in case. Although depending on the court, you may have trouble with security. Our local courthouse has metal detectors and a security staff with no sense of humor.
Also sometimes depending on how your court deals with tickets you can fill out a form and dispute the ticket without going to court. Maybe try calling the court house and see what they say your options are.
I don’t live in Cali. But if I tried to bring an electric skateboard into a courtroom over here, well, it would not end pretty.
Take photographs of your board. If ti goes to trial, call the cop onto the witness stand before he gets any wind of the law and ask him if this picture looks like the skateboard he saw you riding. If he says “yes”, you have a pretty bulletproof not-guilty by just reading the law after that.
If he lies, which cops do ALL THE TIME then you’re just fucked and you’re going to pay for his small-penis-syndrome.
I’d recommend asking the officer to describe what the board looked like, then show them them the pictures. Also if you have any other proof of you going for that ride and that you where using that board.
I handed him my drivers license. I suppose I could have given him my university ID but he would have just looked up my license number on his computer and the result would have been the same.
Quote the law when filling out the paperwork for dispute. It will likely be dropped without going to court. Happens quite often when mistakes are made, as it’s not that cop him/herself that reads the dispute. It’s a person that will actually look into the law, realise that there’s no photos or accurate description of the board to argue it wasn’t electric.
Otherwise if it goes to court, quote the law to the judge and that you were riding an electric board, have photos of the board in case the Judge would like to see them, but without the cop having pictures of what is clearly not an eboard you’ll win the case hands down.
Thanks for the advice about disputing, I wasn’t aware I could dispute it before going to court. Hopefully you’re right and I won’t even have to appear before the judge.
