HOV Lane

[dieselmatt]

Well, yesterday I got a ticket for driving in the HOV lane here in Oregon. I wasn't in the lane for 300 - 400 yards before the HOV restriction ended and the damn cop still gave me a ticket. $260!!! I understand that I was wrong for being in it since it was just me in the truck, but come on it was an extremely short distance before the restriction ended and there was no one in it to begin with! Is me paying nearly $1/yard really necessary??

Does anyone on here have experience with getting tickets dropped or at least reduced in Portland, OR?

[Six0~Stroker]

Dang man that sucks to hear

I'm not sure how it works in Portland, but in SPokane if you go to court for the ticket and before the judge comes out you can make a deal with the prosecutor.

Usually they drop the ticket to a Non-moving violation and drop the money a little bit...

If not then take some pictures of the HOV lane and tell them the story... maybe change the 300 yards to a picture with about 2-5 yards...

Maybe someone from the area will chime in!

[SuperCrutyPS]

Not trying to talk you out of anything - You do what you think you need to do.

Consider the economics of it. IF you go to court, how much $ do you lose not being at work, and the fuel to get there. Is it cheaper to just pay it and be done? Just asking.

I know there is the principle of the thing and sometimes you gotta stand up for what you believe. Only offering an alternative. Nothing more.

[Six0~Stroker]

Originally Posted by SuperCrutyPS

Not trying to talk you out of anything - You do what you think you need to do.

Consider the economics of it. IF you go to court, how much $ do you lose not being at work, and the fuel to get there. Is it cheaper to just pay it and be done? Just asking.

I know there is the principle of the thing and sometimes you gotta stand up for what you believe. Only offering an alternative. Nothing more.

If you only look at paying the $260 for the ticket then, no its not worth it to take time off from work... BUT, with a moving violation a person's insurance premium goes up for 3-5 years.


If we add that money then IMO it is worth it to lose one day of work to get it changed to a "non-moving violation" which will not raise insurance premiums...

Plus it is nice just to have a clean record if it is not screwed up already

[SuperCrutyPS]

That is something I hadn't considered - Thanks for letting me know that.
This does make me think though. I got a speeding ticket several years ago in my wife's TransAm. I was able to do a traffic school to keep it from DMV and hence my insurance company did find out. Would this type of ticket be eligible for something like that? Does Oregon allow for that? I don't know-I'm in CA.

[Six0~Stroker]

It depends is the ticket was changed to a non moving violation due to the traffic school that was taken...



I'm in WA and when I was younger I did my share of stupid things, But I took 99% of them to court and got them reduced to "expired tabs" tickets which are non moving violations... I still payed the tickets but my insurance did not raise my premiums!!!

Funny thing now is my record is clean and my wife has one ticket on her record AND I never let her forget she is the reason our insurance is high




(BTW the ticket she got was for window tint too dark which we went to court for and they told us it is already a non-moving violation so I didnt make them change it to a "expired tabs" WELL turns out 6 months later our insurance goes up because even though window tint is a non-moving, it still raises premiums!!!

I was soo pissed at them for raising our insurance for a window tint ticket which was a NON-moving ticket..
and more pissed at myself for not making them change it to an expired tabs ticket right away. That was a waste of a day...




It's funny to look at my record from the past showing getting expired tabs tickets every month for a couple years...
The DMV people are probably thinking, "Man can't this guy just get his new tabs!!!

[dieselmatt]

Originally Posted by SuperCrutyPS

Not trying to talk you out of anything - You do what you think you need to do.

Consider the economics of it. IF you go to court, how much $ do you lose not being at work, and the fuel to get there. Is it cheaper to just pay it and be done? Just asking.

I know there is the principle of the thing and sometimes you gotta stand up for what you believe. Only offering an alternative. Nothing more.

No, it is not cheaper to just pay for it in my case. My daily job has changed from reporting to a base everyday to reporting to a university. So, the only thing I will miss is a class or two. Both of those classes have everything I need to know posted on the course website. As for the fuel, it is only about 10 miles further to where the courthouse is compared to where I normally drive everyday anyway. So, the 20 mile round trip would use, at most, 2 gallons of fuel equaling roughly $8 in fuel.

Normally I would say yes to your statement, but I seem to be in one of the odd categories this time.

I am going to go down to the courthouse tomorrow because the ticket says I can go ON or BEFORE the court date. Hopefully I can at minimum get it reduced to a non-moving violation and a fine reduction of 75%. The law states that they are authorized to do this so we will see what happens. I would like to get it thrown out all together, but I get the feeling I'm not that lucky.

[Six0~Stroker]

Let us know man, hope it works out for you!!!

[SuperCrutyPS]

Best of luck to you!!! Got my fingers crossed.

[dieselmatt]

Well, I went down there today and boy was that a mistake. The courthouse is in the middle of downtown Portland and I couldn't find anywhere to park the truck on a Friday afternoon. So, I'll be taking the sedan down there next Thursday instead.