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Officer gives ticket without explanation?

While driving on a side street by my house, I came up on a stop sign at an intersection. right before the stop line is a manhole cover that when my tire ran over it, cause my anti lock brakes to activate, which made me slide through the stop sign a bit. I brought the car to a complete stop, then proceeded to turn right onto the next street. The cop hits his lights and pulls me over. He comes up and ask did I know what I had done and I explain what happened with the Brakes. He takes my License, walks back and writes a Ticket for running a stop sign, Hands me the ticket then walks away, not mentioning a court date, nor asking me to sign the ticket at all. Is this ticket valid or do I have a adequate case in court?

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Attorney answers (1)

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A citation is used to put you on notice of the charge against you and by signing it, you're giving your written promise to appear in court as indicated. If you got the citation, you're on notice of the charges. If you were not asked to sign it, the only thing that may help you with is if you decide not to show on the court date listed. While you may be technically correct in not showing up because you did not give your promise to appear, this is not an argument I would want to make to a traffic court judge. It may be a technical victory, but won't help you much in the long run and you'll still face the original citation when you appear in court.

Better to focus on either fighting the citation, getting it off your record through traffic school or other program available to you or paying the fine.
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