I recently received a red-light ticket from a camera trap. The problem was that just before my headlights went out and when I reached over to turn them back on, the control panel for the car light fell into the dashboard. So at the time of the crossing I was desperately trying to get at the controls to turn the lights back on and thusly did not notice the signal change in time to stop. This all occurred within a matter of seconds.
Is this an acceptable defense?
IANAL…
I would think that defense would get you in more trouble… as you clearly weren’t paying attention to the road at hand as well… that and the light would’ve been yellow long enough ahead of time that you knew you shouldve been stopping anyway.
IAANAL, but yeah, if your headlights went out, you should have pulled over to fix the problem instead of both being distracted from the road AND having no headlights on.
At least, that’s probably what you’d be told.
I think you need to consider the possibility that some sort of hex or curse has been placed on you.
Using that defense your like to be charged with more vilations, and it still doesn’t get you out of the running a stop light charge. They would add in inatentive driving and make you get a safety check for the car.
It all happened within a very short ammount of time, maybe three to five seconds. I did manage to get the lights back on during that short period, but only by pushing farther and farther into the dash to keep pressure on the button. After the light a fuse blew and I was able to pull over and jury-rig the lights to stay on.
It’s the car operator’s responsibility to make sure the car is in safe working order. That includes making sure your car is not in a state of repair that would allow your dash to come apart during operation. If you can demonstrate that the panel failure was due to a sudden and unexpected manifestation of a manufacturer defect, then you have a chance at shifting the blame to the manufacturer. I wouldn’t count on it though.
The court lackeys will lower a black hat onto the judge’s head, and he’ll send you to the gallows for driving a car that by your description sounds like it’s falling apart. Then by court order, your heirs will have to fix the car.
Traffic court is wonderful free entertainment. If you’ve never attended a session and plan to plead not guilty, take in a morning session or afternoon matinee first. The explanations for running red lights, speeding and whatever else can be hilarious. You might even finish telling your story before the gong sounds.
Eat the ticket.