HOV Violation for changing lanes

[Anonymous]

I was pulled over today for a HOV violation on 66 (1 mile away from 495). The far left lane is HOV only. I know this...i was in the center lane and a car was stopped trying to get into the right lane and so I passed him on the left. By doing so, I entered into the HOV lane and the cop pulled me over for HOV violation. I was in the HOV for 10seconds maybe. This is my first offense. Should I fight it in court or not waste my time and just pay? Its a $200 fine.

[Anonymous]

Ouch! If you have the time and inclination, it doesn't hurt to go to court. They probably won't dismiss it outright, but they might take off the points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was pulled over today for a HOV violation on 66 (1 mile away from 495). The far left lane is HOV only. I know this...i was in the center lane and a car was stopped trying to get into the right lane and so I passed him on the left. By doing so, I entered into the HOV lane and the cop pulled me over for HOV violation. I was in the HOV for 10seconds maybe. This is my first offense. Should I fight it in court or not waste my time and just pay? Its a $200 fine.

"I did it, but I didn't REALLY do it that badly. I shouldn't be in trouble." Would you extend the same level of understanding to other people who only broke the law for a few seconds or minutes at a time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was pulled over today for a HOV violation on 66 (1 mile away from 495). The far left lane is HOV only. I know this...i was in the center lane and a car was stopped trying to get into the right lane and so I passed him on the left. By doing so, I entered into the HOV lane and the cop pulled me over for HOV violation. I was in the HOV for 10seconds maybe. This is my first offense. Should I fight it in court or not waste my time and just pay? Its a $200 fine.

How long was the car in front of you stopped? Was it a car accident type of situation where traffic simply wasn't moving or were you just impatient and not willing to wait for the car in front of you to merge into the exit lane?

[Anonymous]

If you can in good conscience say if i hadn't gone around the driver in front of me I may have caused an accident because I would have had to slam on the brakes and the person behind me may have hit me, then go fight it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was pulled over today for a HOV violation on 66 (1 mile away from 495). The far left lane is HOV only. I know this...i was in the center lane and a car was stopped trying to get into the right lane and so I passed him on the left. By doing so, I entered into the HOV lane and the cop pulled me over for HOV violation. I was in the HOV for 10seconds maybe. This is my first offense. Should I fight it in court or not waste my time and just pay? Its a $200 fine.

"I did it, but I didn't REALLY do it that badly. I shouldn't be in trouble." Would you extend the same level of understanding to other people who only broke the law for a few seconds or minutes at a time?

Yeah really. OP sounds like my ex husband.

[Anonymous]

I'm sure everyone else fighting HOV violations will be using the same excuse, OP.

[Anonymous]

OP?

[Anonymous]

I was with a friend who was picking up someone at a Metro station and she pulled into a handicapped spot and left engine running. A cop pulled in beside her and asked if she had a handicapped card as her tags weren't. She told him that she was just waiting for someone to come out and wasn't really parked as the car engine was running. He gave her a $250.00 ticket.

It was a HOV lane for posted hours and there wasn't a mention that these lanes were open if you had to pass another vehicle. Pay the fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was with a friend who was picking up someone at a Metro station and she pulled into a handicapped spot and left engine running. A cop pulled in beside her and asked if she had a handicapped card as her tags weren't. She told him that she was just waiting for someone to come out and wasn't really parked as the car engine was running. He gave her a $250.00 ticket.

It was a HOV lane for posted hours and there wasn't a mention that these lanes were open if you had to pass another vehicle. Pay the fine.

Your friend is still using the handicapped space...making it unavailable for those with disabilities so I am okay with her getting the ticket. This happens to us all the time at a local restaurant we like. People waiting for take-out park and wait in the handicapped spots so they are rarely open. We have a lot of equipment to unload so we need the extra space in those spots to get out of the car safely. I wish they would also put some handicapped spots farther away from the door so people wouldn't use them as the waiting zone....for us it is the size of the spot that helps not the proximity to the door as I don't mind pushing the wheelchair a bit farther.

OP I agree...I don't think what you did was really using the HOV lane, if you were swerving to get around a stopped car for a few seconds. I am surprised though the police would pull you over as they would have seen the stopped care and what you were doing and you would have been back in the center lane within seconds. Are you sure you didn't drive for awhile in that lane before heading back into the center lane?