OMG, I got my first traffic ticket today. It was completely uncalled for, and totally ridiculous for the cop to have written me up for such an incident.
Here's how it all came down...
background:
Today, knowing that it is Rob's (the intern) last day, I did not bring lunch, and was anticipating on eating out with the crew. At lunch, I couldn't find Rob or George, so Joe and I decided to grab In-and-Out and head back to eat in the office.
Here it goes:
So around 1pm, I drove down Wolfe. Turned right on El Camino Real. Stopped at the red light on Maria. At this point, I was in the middle lane, second lane from the central divider. I noted to Joe, that there's a cop right next to us, so I better drive extra cautiously. (I did, of course!) As the light turned green, I proceeded ahead. The traffic flow in my lane was faster than the center lane (cop's lane). Since In-and-Out is on the corner of Fair Oaks and El Camino Real, I needed to make a left/U-turn. As I drove ahead, the car in front of the officer (red) and the car in front of it opened up enough room for me to turn in and I began to signal. I was able to clearly see both headlights of the red car in my rear view mirror. The red vehicle yielded to me and slowed down to give me room to move in front of him. The red vehicle did not honk, screech, nor appear to have come to an abrupt stop. The light on El Camino Real and Fair Oaks was red so all vehicles were already slowing down. Once in the lane, I proceeded to move into the left turn lane on El Camino Real and Fair Oaks. Once the light turned green, I proceeded to make a U-turn and prepared to enter In-and-Out. Upon completing the U-turn, the office turned on his sirens and pulled my vehicle over in the In-and-Out parking lot.
He wrote me up for making an "unsafe turn!?"
In my conversation with the officer, the officer mentioned that he was allowed to issue 2 warnings a day and that he had already issued them both. Otherwise, he might have issued me a warning. Yet, he also contradicted himself (or he might just be exaggerating) saying, that my driving was the most ridiculous / reckless behavior that he has seen that day. I do not believe any part of this incident to be out of the ordinary-besides my being pulled over. Furthermore, the office mentioned that I almost caused an accident. However, I was fully aware of my surrounding, and only entered the red vehicle'’s lane only upon checking to see that the red vehicle was slowing down, and having provided me enough space to enter the lane. I would assume and make a conjecture that the officer was following the red vehicle too closely, or was not aware of the red light at the Fair Oaks/El Camino Real intersection as the reasons why he made the statement that I almost caused an accident.
Freaken waste of my time, and totally messed up my day...
This Sunnyvale Police is so incompetent!
I shall see this loser police in court!
