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<p>Law Office of<br>
<strong>F.ANDREKITA SILVA</strong><br>
<strong>_______________________________________________________ </strong><br>
<br>
October 31, 2022<br>
<br>
Dave,<br>
<br>
I couldn’t say for sure but I assume that there is a photo of every single car that travels on every single lane on a toll road. I say this because on a couple occasions, I haven’t had my flex pass in my car (or it fell on the floor or something and was not read). I got a letter in the mail saying, “you owe xxxx for travel… if you have a pass, call us and you will pay xxxx less.”<br>
<br>
So, my license plate# was read as I drove through. They tracked down my car, my address, and sent me a bill. <br>
I assume DOT knew which lane I was in, too.<br>
<br>
Can I assume that the officer actually pulled over your friend and you are reading off the citation the officer wrote?<br>
I'm fairly positive the camera reads only the license plate and doesn’t capture who is in the car- so you only get cited if a cop catches you as a single in the HOV lane.<br>
<br>
Whenever you get a citation, the citation must give you notice of your infraction. So, it the ticket was issued by seattle police, it must say SMC xxxx. (for Seattle Muni Code) , or if Wa.State Trooper, it must say RCW xxxx., etc.<br>
<br>
I once had a ticket thrown out in Seattle Muni court because the ticket had the number of the ordinance, but it didn’t have SMC in front of the number.<br>
Judge agreed it was insufficient notice. The prosecutor moved to amend and judge said "nah, too late." I assume some judge's may have permitted the amendment. <br>
<br>
You can request discovery and the city/ county etc. will have to give you everything in their file.<br>
<br>
It is a rare judge that will not believe a cop who testifies that they saw this person in the HOV lane before stopping them for being in the HOV lane.<br>
<br>
Maybe your friend should just write and say "mea culpa mea culpa" it was an accident- I drove this on xxx with passengers and forgot to change back.<br>
Please give me a warning."<br>
<br>
andrekita<br>
Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva<br>
1325 Fourth Avenue, Suite 2000<br>
Seattle, Washington 98101<br>
206-224-8288<br>
www.seattle-silvalaw.com<br>
<br>
----- Forwarded message from Dave Culbertson <<a href="mailto:dculbertson@culbertsonlawoffice.com">dculbertson@culbertsonlawoffice.com</a>> -----<br>
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2022 21:52:36 +0000<br>
From: Dave Culbertson <<a href="mailto:dculbertson@culbertsonlawoffice.com">dculbertson@culbertsonlawoffice.com</a>><br>
Reply-To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <<a href="mailto:wsbapt@lists.wsbarppt.com">wsbapt@lists.wsbarppt.com</a>><br>
Subject: [WSBAPT] An HOV Violation question<br>
To: <a href="mailto:solo-and-small-practice-section@list.wsba.org">solo-and-small-practice-section@list.wsba.org</a>, <a href="mailto:creditor-debtor-section@list.wsba.org">creditor-debtor-section@list.wsba.org</a>, <a href="mailto:wsbapt@lists.wsbarppt.com">wsbapt@lists.wsbarppt.com</a>, <a href="mailto:wsbarp@lists.wsbarppt.com">wsbarp@lists.wsbarppt.com</a><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in">Hi, folks.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in">Helping a friend address a traffic violation. The charge is for being in the HOV lane without additional passengers.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;text-autospace:none">Something about the officer’s description raises a question: “<span style='font-family:"MicrosoftSansSerif",sans-serif'>OBSERVED DEFENDANT VEHICLE PASS UNDER TOLL CAMERA AND WHITE LIGHT ACTIVATED INDICATING VEHICLE'S FLEX</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;text-autospace:none"><span style='font-family:"MicrosoftSansSerif",sans-serif'>PASS WAS IN HOV LANE MODE.</span>”</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;text-autospace:none">I’m not sure how the toll/radar/camera system works, wondering if anybody has developed that info? Is the meaning of the officer’s statement that the toll camera/white light reads the flex pass and determines the car is in the HOV lane, ie, that the white light is the proof that establishes he was in the lane (as opposed to the officer saying “I put my eyeballs in the direction of the car and saw that it was in the HOV lane?”)</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in">There isn’t much more information about that stop than that, other than the officer noting there was only the driver in the vehicle.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in">Best Regards,</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in">Dave Culbertson</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in"><b>The Law Office of Davisson Culbertson</b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in">PO 20403</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in">Seattle, WA 98102</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in"><i>Phone:</i> (206) 478-8134</p>
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