Also meant to add that I do move over (if able) and slow down if not, whether I was aware of the change in or I wasn’t. It scares me too to get that close to anyone standing on the shoulder. I’m way terrified of doing permanent damage unintentionally. You guys (policeman, paramedics, etc.) have my undying respect.
Spavined Gelding, there are just not enough :wally for you.
Troopers
Troopers have a quota? Cite.
Patrolmen get plum assignments based on ticket writing? Cite.
Your advice mirrors your attitude-it smells of ass. Are you a lawyer or other person well versed in the laws of Wisconsin? I know of no place where the defendant can contest a citation without showing up. The trooper is under no obligation to explain why the matter was handled as it was, and around here, many of them show up in court while on duty, or receive comp time for court appearances. He/she only need show evidence that a specific portion of the Wisconsin MVC was violated by the defendant.
I’m not saying that a ticket to an out of state operator wasn’t perhaps harsh, but I wasn’t there, and neither were you. Therefore, you’d do well to check your unwarranted attacks on law enforcement professionals at the door.
It’s just a natural inclination for me anyway to give police officers a wide berth and I can understand the law. It just seems like it shoukd be instinctive to at least move over into the other lane.
If you’ve ever had to stand on the side of the interstate with cars whizzing past you can understand how vulnerable the troopers feel when they’ve got someone pulled over or why one of them would get pissed when somebody shaved right by him doing 65. I’m guessing he probably wouldn’t have done it if Hampshire’s MiL had at least moved over into the far lane even if she hadn’t slowed down.
But try doing that job all day and see if you don’t start losing patience with all the idots blowing past you with a foot to spare. It’s nerve wracking.
And hey…it is the law. The trooper shouldn’t be faulted for enforcing laws that he’s paid to enforce.
Clearly, the solution is a national set of traffic laws and a powerful federal traffic enforcement agency to enforce them–that way there’s only one set of laws to memorize!
Hampshire’s MiL is from IL? The law is the same in IL. Move to the left if you can, and slow down.
So pitting another state just doesn’t get it.
I didn’t know that moving over and slowing down was a law. Like others have said, it just seems like common sense.
“What ifs” are pretty useless, but what if traffic is heavy and you don’t have room to move over? I can easily see grandma (or me) panicking and moving left into another vehicle. Or what if you don’t see the trooper until you’re almost on them? Slowing down to 20 mph? That could be dangerous too.
$250 seems a bit high for an infraction that isn’t deliberate.
Thirty-seven years of professional experience as a prosecutor, as defense counsel, and a like period of association with highly professional and not so highly professional peace officers.
If a citizen thinks he was given a raw deal by an officer he always has the option of pleading not guilty and looking for some one who can reverse the officers judgement – that means, first, the prosecutor and, second, the magistrate. Unless the ticket is contested neither the prosecutor or the magistrate will know about it. Pleading not guilty is how you bring it to their attention.
You will note dances that I do claim there is a quota, only a claim that the officer who writes lots of tickets draws the favorable attention of his superiors. You don’t do that reading Stephen King novels at the Highway Department garage (it’s been known to happen).
The point is that the officer, the prosecutor and the magistrate are all vested with a certain amount of discretion. If one does not exercise his another may think it an appropriate case to cut a little slack, especially if there is a smell not of ass, but of abuse of discretion. When you let the street officer’s judgement control the whole process then you might as well let the LPN who changes the bed pans start doing diagnoses. I know that on TV the cop is always just and right. But on TV the righteous always win, even in wrestling. We know TV isn’t reality.
No issue taken with the discretion of the magistrate. Should the cited party wish to request a hearing, that is certainly their prerogative.
My objection was to the tone of your post, as it presumed the trooper to be abusing his/her authority. As I said before, neither you nor I saw what actually transpired, so it remains unknown whether or not the officer abused discretion, correct?
Furthermore, it has been contributed that the same statute applies in MI, WI, and MN, and as such I find ignorance of the law to be an invalid defense. YMMV.
I didn’t know that was a law, but it does make sense. You don’t want to mow someone over that’s getting in and out of their cop car doing their business.
I wonder if they passed it in NC in response to this God awful accident two years ago:
http://paramedic.com/research/researchheadline_view.asp?cid=2329
Man, that was just horrible. I usually pull to the middle lane even if someone is just there changing a tire or something. People don’t need you blowing past at 55 or better just feet away if you can help it.
It was law before the accident.
http://www.nccrimecontrol.org/mediadvis/shp/2002/newlawmoveover.htm
BTW…
If you are on a four lane road and can’t move over because of traffic, you are required to slow down.
I think it says that the law requires you to slow down to 20 miles under the posted limit. Which is usually the minimum speed for an interstate highway.
I never heard of this law before now. Does California have a version of it, too?
From an Illinoisian, this is certainly correct. Come on. I’ve seen the signs (in Illinois). They’re there. It’s a reasonable and common-sense law. So why are we here?
What horrible advice. You think its a chore to go to court? Yes it is horrible to go to court and get paid overtime just to stand around for a little bit. Or worse yet, get pulled off the road and forced to stop working and still get paid. What a horrible fate. No judge is going to ask why no warning was given. A police officer does not have to give any warnings. Was the law broken? Yes. Guilty. You actually think the prosecutor or the officer is going to worry about the circumstances of this ticket? Seems to me the only defense is that she did not know that WI had a similar law to her own home state. Not much of a defense.
Things might be different in WI but I would love to see a cite about the streets being flooded with cops on Thanksgiving. In my experience it is just the opposite. No one wants to work on a holiday, especially Thanksgiving. All departments are at minimum manning requirements. If you start pulling over cars on Thanksgiving the other officers are not going to be too happy with you. I have a feeling this was a very clearcut and obvious violation.
The last part of your post is correct. She needs to take care of this. It may mean a suspension of her license. It might mean a warrant in WI for her arrest if she doesn’t pay.
I would like to point out that, in ten years experience traveling through Wisconsin and in talking to a bunch of people who have been doing the same for a lot longer, including a wife who grew up near there, Menominie county has been infamous for balancing their budget with radar guns, seemingly targeting people from out of state.
I say “seemingly” because Minnesotans report getting pulled over more often than Wisconsonians, but that’s probably because natives know to slow the heck down when they see the Menomonie County sign, and people from out of state don’t know to slow down when they suddenly start passing people with Wisconsin plates.
If this wasn’t Menomonie county, my apologies to the rest of the state. Go Packers! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
::: Sigh:::
Many years ago I used to have a cop for a drinking buddy. One night I got a speeding ticket from one of his fellow officers. When I bitched about getting a ticket, he gave me this advice. I would suggest that the OP read this to his MIL, and he memorize it also.
This advice has worked for me for over 30 years. I have had officers cite me for lesser offences, or give me warnings, when a cite was justified. Just due to my attitude. When asked, I have told them this story, and told them I am way ahead on points. 
I have never had an officer act like a prick to me, when I have been nice to them. YYMV of course.
While I don’t question the trooper’s right to write the ticket, I do have an observation that I don’t think has been made yet.
I think what you have in this instance is a minimum of 2 troopers working together for the sole purpose of catching ppl breaking this law.
1st trooper pulls a vehicle over, the other one hangs back and waits till someone drives by without moving over to the other lane. He then pulls 2nd perp over and while he is writing that ticket the 1st trooper has wrapped thing up with the 1st offender and hangs back till someone passes 2nd trooper without changing lanes. Easy Money…
You might be right in this, OTOH we only have a single second hand account of what happened, and it’s not exactly impartial. It could be the MIL sped past cop#1 at 70mph (or whatever the speed limit was) and missed him by an inch. He immediately radios to any cop nearby to stop the deranged lunatic. We just don’t know.
Her biggest mistake was having those Illinois plates on her car. Those Cheeseheads love to pull over FIBs, as if we don’t already provide plenty of economic aid to their poor state.