So you just got a traffic ticket and you think the fine is excessive. I fought my ticket and won.
I used what the court calls the "trial by declaration" form to argue my case. The trial by declaration allows you to argue to the court via written statment. Below is my written statement. I was pronounced by the court as "not guilty", it is my greatest accopmlishment ever.

FYI I got my ticket for $350 for crossing the double yellow line of the carpool lane, but I paid zero thanks to the consitution of the United Sates of Amaerica, Check it out ....see below.


Re: Citation #

Dear Madam or Sir,

I declare under penalty of perjury that this statement is true and correct.
In addition I declare under penalty of perjury the following statements are true and correct.

Now that that’s over with let me start by saying that I do not believe I exited the lanes illegally. I believe I exited the lane just before it was illegal to do so. I exited the lane safely with regard and awareness of the traffic around me. However I understand that this is just my recollection of the events, the officer saw differently and wrote me a ticket. I understand that my recollection is not the one the matters as I have a vested interest in lying and the officer has no such interest and therefore the officer’s account should be trusted more than mine. Having to make a verdict based solely on the accounts of these two individuals, I too would side with the officer.

My statement continues with three (3) more arguments. The first argument is that the fine is excessive, in the second I argue that at least the point on my driving record is excessive and not in the spirit of California law, and the third I beg for mercy from the court.

I’m sure you’re thinking oh great I’ve heard this one before, but PLEASE read on I have put a lot of thought into this and would like at least one person to read it. At the very least I think that you will find the rest of my letter interesting. You may however find the following to be an inappropriate to argue in this court, but what the heck it’s worth a try.

I believe the $350 fine to be excessive and therefore unconstitutional. See the following court cases for precedent.

1. The Eighth Amendment states: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.") United States v. Mackby, 243 F.3d 1159 (9th Cir. 2001).

2. In Wright v. Riveland, the Ninth Circuit held that "a civil sanction that cannot fairly be said solely to serve a remedial purpose, but rather can only be explained as also serving either retributive or deterrent purposes, is punishment." Id. at 1167 (quoting Wright v. Riveland, 219 F.3d 905, 915 (9th Cir. 2000))

3. A fine is unconstitutionally excessive if "(1) the payment to the government constitutes punishment for an offense, and (2) the payment is grossly disproportionate to the gravity of the defendant’s offense." Id. at 1166 (citing United States v. Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321, 327–28, 334 (1998)).


Case Number #1 is clear and requires no elaboration.

With regard to case Number #2, I can see no way that this fine serves a remedial purpose. If the Court or the State can produce evidence that the fine serves a remedial purpose I ask that the State or Court to produce the calculations to show exactly how the $350 is arrived at. Since it is safe to assume that the fine is not for remedial purposes then by default the " civil sanction ….is punishment."

Case Number #3 defines a fine as unconstitutionally excessive if "(1) the payment to the government constitutes punishment for an offense, (In the previous paragraph I defined this fine as punishment for an offense) and (2) the payment is grossly disproportionate to the gravity of the defendant’s offense." This is where it gets tricky, what exactly is “grossly disproportionate”?

I will attempt to use examples in order to characterize this $350 plus 1 point on my driving record fine as “grossly disproportionate” to my offense.

Doing research on the internet I was able to find fines for this same offense (Driving Over Double Lines of Preferential Lanes) in other states. The same fine ranged from $50 to $150. So the average fine for this offense is $100.

My fine is $350 which is 3.5 times the average. If the average 6’2” tall male weighs 200lbs, is the weight of a 700lb male of the same height “grossly disproportionate”? If the average woman is 5’6” tall, is the height of a 16’6” woman “grossly disproportionate”. I think the answer is obvious, yes the height and weight of the persons in the previous examples are “grossly disproportionate:” and so is my $350 fine.
If the average fine used in this example is deemed necessary to the outcome of the courts decision I can provide this calculation upon request.

Furthermore the fine is even more “grossly disproportionate” because it does not take into account my income or my net worth. For example a person working at Burger King making $6.50 per hour would spend nearly 7 (8 hour work days), an entire week as punishment for his crime. A lawyer making $350 per hour would spend just one hour as punishment for the same crime. Yet if these 2 people were convicted of rape than these two people would hopefully spend the same amount time in jail and thus be punished the same amount for their crimes.

I took the following excerpt from a website http://marshallbrain.com/etq-gas-tax.htm
“Why do they increase the fine in the Work Zone? The extra-large fine (and posting the size of the fine on prominent signs) is supposed to act as an extra-large deterrent to speeders. Many people would find $250 a big expense, and they would rather avoid it if they can by driving at the posted speed.

I was driving through that construction zone on I-40 the other night. I was driving the posted speed, as were the people around me. I was therefore surprised to have a Porsche blow past me at about 80 MPH.

If you think about it, however, this actually makes sense. The Porsche was worth $100,000 or so. The guy driving the Porsche clearly has plenty of money -- he's probably making $200,000 per year or more. What is $250 if you are making $200K per year? It is nothing, relatively speaking.

To someone who makes minimum wage, $250 is a big deal. A person working for minimum wage makes about $10,000 per year. $250 is more than a week's wages. $250 is 2.5% of your annual income -- it is a serious amount of money. But to someone who makes $200,000 a year, $250 is meaningless. It is only 0.125% of your annual salary. The deterrent effect is minimal -- it is 1/20th the impact of a person making minimum wage.

Whether a construction worker is killed by a rich guy speeding in his Porsche, or killed by a minimum-wage guy in his second-hand Ford Escort, the result is the same -- either way it is a tragedy for the family of the construction worker. So the goal of deterring speeding is just as important for rich and poor drivers. But how do you make the speeding fine just as "painful" for a rich person, so that it has the same deterrent effect?

The obvious way is to scale the fine based on income. So the sign does not say, "$250 fine for speeding". Instead it says, "2.5%AI fine for speeding," where 2.5%AI means "2.5 percent of annual income." If you make $200,000 per year, the fine would work out to $5,000. The financial impact of the speeding ticket would be just as strong for a rich person as it is for a poor person. That way, the deterrent effect of the fine would be the same for everyone.

In Sunday school I remember a story of a woman that gave her last two pence as tithe to the church. Many other rich men saw what this women had given and laughed at her because she had given much less money than they had given. Jesus came up to the men and scolded and explained to the men that this was her last two pence and that she had actually given more than them because she had given more than them on a percentage basis. A person paying more on as a percentage of their income is obviously giving or suffering more than the person who pays less as a percentage of their income. If I could understand this fact at seven years old why can’t the lawmakers?

If $350 is not deemed by the court to be “grossly disproportionate” certainly the court should agree that there is some amount that would be deemed such. Since the definition of “grossly disproportionate’ would depend on the income and net worth of the individual accused of the crime/infraction and since California law makes no account for the income of the individual when assessing the fine, then the court cannot define what is or is not “grossly disproportionate”. Therefore the court must dismiss this case.

Next I will argue that the assessment of the point to be added to my driving record is excessive and not in the spirit of California law. A point is added to a persons driving record when that infraction constitutes unsafe driving. Like running a stop light or speeding. Yet the reasons the double yellow lines are at the carpool lane are to prevent exiting in and out of the carpool lane in order not to encumber the speed of the carpool lane. If people were to change in and out of the lanes, the speed of traffic in the carpool lane would be slowed. Just like when people drive in the carpool lane without the appropriate number of persons in their vehicle it slows the speed of the lane. The fine for crossing the double yellow line is the same amount as driving in the carpool lane without enough occupants. Both fines are in place to deter people from slowing down the carpool lanes and rendering them useless. The department of transportations website confirms my assertion that exiting the carpool lane over the double yellow line is not a safety issue:
http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/traffops/systemops/hov/files/hov_guidelines/new_chap6.pdf

A. Safety Considerations
Past studies suggest there is no consistent correlation
between accident rates and occupancy violation rates on
any of California’s HOV facilities. However, the practice
of weaving in and out of a HOV lane creates a safety
issue for the violator as well as for other traffic.


The DOT states that weaving in and out of the HOV lane creates a safety issue. I have been accused of merely crossing over the double yellow line once. In addition the fine for crossing double yellow lines unsafely into oncoming traffic under 21750 I Overtaking and Passing Unsafely 70 70 49 7 35.00 14 245.00 2b 1. Is only $245. If my lane change was indeed unsafe I should have been cited for this infraction, but I was not because whatever I did it could not be considered unsafe and therefore no point should be added to my record. Additionally the fine should be no more that $245.

Lastly I will ask for the mercy of the court by telling a story. About a year ago I was stopped at a traffic light. There was several cars in front of me and no cars to the rear of me. I glanced in my rearview and noticed a large truck approaching fast. I thought to myself better turn my front tires to the right just in case this guy doesn’t stop. Seconds later the truck smashes into the back of mine. My truck flew at least a car length forward into the unoccupied lane to the right. I got out of the car and, the women in the car in front of me thanked me for not hitting her and her baby seated in the car seat in the back of her small car. I would have hit the woman had I not had the forthought to turn my steering wheel to the right.
Since there is no monetary gift for good driving please dismiss this case as a reward for my good driving and avoidance of injury. In addition I have no accidents and no tickets on my record for the last ten years. If you the CHP officer after reading this believe I should be givin a pass simply do nothing and the case will be dropped.

Thank you for your time.



Sincerely,

Rason X


Key Search words: Fight ticket excessive fines fines based on income fight the man Proportional

1st post just practicing