Actually, a citation is not relevant evidence of wrongdoing in a civil suit. A conviction is, but only after a trial or a guilty plea. A conviction after a no contest plea cannot be used in a subsequent civil proceeding though. cell 608-438-9501 office 608-255-1501 fax 608-255-1504
-----Original Message----- From: Richard Schifreen <[email protected]> Sender: "Bikies" <[email protected]>Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 15:23:16 To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Bikies] Bikies Digest, Vol 80, Issue 13 I'm not a legal expert, but can comment based on some relatively minor collisions that it is much easier to deal with the other party and/or their representative or insurer if the police have cited only the other party. This makes a strong case for responsibility. The citation is a statement from a knowledgeable, trained and independent investigator that they found one party broke the law and the other did not. Having this determination immediately following the incident has value for the victim regardless of other more serious charges that may (or may not) be filed by the DA. Richard Schifreen [email protected] On Wed, Jun 10, 2015 at 12:39 PM Grant Foster <[email protected]> wrote: > Does anyone on this listserv have better insight into normal citation > practices for traffic collisions? I'm (naively) surprised that this > incident resulted in a citation for *unsafe passing of a > bicyclist--346.075* (penalty of $20-200 for the first offense). Why isn't > this *negligent operation of a vehicle causing bodily harm--346.62 (3)* > (penalty of $300-2,000 and 30-365 days in county jail)? I don't have any > details other than what was published in the article and am not saying the > driver is guilty, but it seems like the laws and penalties are designed to > address different consequences of bad actions. A ticket for $20-200 seems > appropriate if someone is caught passing with less than 3', but doesn't > cause any harm (like the proactive enforcement happening in Chattanooga > http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2015/jun/07/3-feet-or-else/308339/). > But if this negligent behavior (passing a cyclist with less than 3' of > clearance) results in the loss of property or causes harm or death, isn't > the intent to have a greater penalty? I'm not a big fan of incarceration > and would prefer penalties that restrict driving privelages and require > additional training, but $20-200 for running someone off the road (whether > on a bike or in a MV) and landing them in the hospital doesn't quite > compute. Does the same practice occur for MV vs. MV collisions? > > Grant > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
