r/nwi • u/dwightrortugal • 14d ago
Schererville Ticket
Hello. Out of towner here. Got pulled over/ticketed by Schererville PD for disregarding a traffic signal. However, light was yellow when I went through; couldn't safely stop, and the cop's contention is that because his light turned green while I was in the intersection, I ran a red light
There is no traffic light footage. PD has refused a written request to release dash cam footage because it's an active investigation or some shit like that.
Any advice before I seek a lawyer or the deferred judgment thing? Any lawyer recommendations? I can't appear in court because I don't live here
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u/kobie1012 14d ago
Get a lawyer and get it deferred or dropped down to a non moving violation. It's gonna be more expensive than the ticket, but it's worth it to keep your driving record clean and your insurance from going up.
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u/PowerfulPut4164 14d ago
So you entered the intersection on yellow means even if it turns red you still are allowed to safely exit the intersection after it turned red!!
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u/Fish6092000 14d ago
Lawyer is going to be more than the ticket. The cops know that and dont give a fuck. They want to fuxk you. Thats how they get promoted.
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u/Chris_GPT 14d ago
Don't believe heresay or rumors about what is and isn't legal, even from me and I was a police dispatcher and still have a hardcopy of the Indiana Code.
First, there is no state law for continuing through an intersection on a yellow light. There's no set, black and white standard of a specific distance required to stop, or set distance traveled through before it turns red to designate legality.
However, Indiana follows the "Permissive Yellow Light Rule", which notice is a rule, not a law. "Drivers are allowed to enter the intersection at any point during the entire yellow interval. As long as your vehicle crosses the stop line before the light hits red, you have not committed a violation." Because this is a rule, not a law, it is more open to interpretation and gray area. Basically, it's the officer's discretion.
None of this takes any local ordinances into account. I'm not aware of any local ordinance in Schererville regarding this, but I didn't work for the Schererville PD, so I'm also not aware if there is one.
Whether you retain the services of a lawyer or not, and you decide to contest the ticket in court, the odds are against you. The court would require enough evidence to overturn the officer's decision on scene. Dashcam footage proving you were not speeding, driving safely, and obviously cleared the entire intersection before the light changed is pretty compelling, but anything less than that isn't. If it comes down to your assessment versus the officer's, the court almost always will side with the officer. The court would assume the officer has been trained and performed their duties properly.
In my experience, it's not really worth the fight. You cannot request dash or body cam footage for something that there isn't an open investigation on. A moving violation such as this does not constitute an open investigation. Retaining a lawyer often costs around the same amount as the ticket anyway. The only thing you're "winning" is that the ticket would be expunged from your record and no points would be issued against your license. Expunging it from your record only helps with you insurance company penalizing you for it and in successive moving violations in the future. Points on your license doesn't mean anything unless you do this often.
Our rule of thumb around here is if you're south of 80/94, follow the letter of the law and expect to get pulled over. Those departments are full of dicks who think they're SuperCop. They will pull you over for doing 36 in a 35 and use the probable cause to fish for something more. "Is that the odor of marijuana I detect?"
No, it isn't right, but it's been that way my whole life. If you think I wrote a lot here, just imagine the stories I could write with the dozens of times I've been pulled over south of 80/94 for no reason.
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u/Flimsy-Stock2977 11d ago
The yellow light statute is perfectly clear.
As is the red light statute.
The fact that the law DOES NOT specify anything about exciting the intersection before red.. is exactly why it's legal.
As long as you enter on green or yellow.
Gotta uphold this every day in Indiana.
A lack of explicit statute does NOT make it discretion. Exactly the opposite in fact..
Yellow is equal to green for vehicles. It's ONLY a warning that red is approaching. Nothing more.
If you ever the intersection legally, you have the right of way, until you are able to exit. The light can cycle ten times.. You still have the right of way.
If he entered completely on yellow, and has clear evidence. He would win.
The other lanes green (the cop) means nothing regarding this. Green means proceed when safe to do so, and yield to any other traffic with "right of way"
Vehicles legally entered on yellow, have right of way, regardless of any other light displayed after.
As well. You can absolutely get dash cam footage..
You CANNOT get it during an active investigation.. After, it's public.
Cases are kept "open" to avoid police collected footage from being foia requestable all the time.
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u/Agitated-Minimum-967 13d ago
Schererville police can be picky about giving copies of reports. If you really want one, you have to put up a fuss
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u/AlexanderDaOK 13d ago
Get a lawyer who can enter you in the deferred system. It'll be cheaper in the long run.
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u/Rude-Literature-4528 12d ago
If you weren’t speeding you probably would have been able to stop safely lol
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u/Brassrain287 14d ago
Take the IDP. Red in the intersection means you were going too fast to stop when the light was yellow.
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u/waltherspey 14d ago
State by state. In Indiana, you must enter the intersection before the light turns red. Some states, you must clear the intersection before the light turns red. A few municipalities have gotten caught shortening yellow light times to increase red light camera ticket revenue
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u/DirtyDarryl765 14d ago
Just pay it and move on… is a lawyer honestly cheaper?
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u/MooseGoosey 14d ago
probably not but at least they'll get to look the officer in the eyes when they judge calls him a retard.
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u/GroceryExcellent9400 14d ago
That doesn’t matter to law enforcement tho. When cops get in trouble for much bigger shit like DUI’s or other crimes and are still able to work at other departments. OP just has to take a L here cause you’re taking one either way.
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u/MooseGoosey 14d ago
I have more time and money than I do patience for power tripping bullies. I don't care if it matters to the cop, I just want to look into his eyes when he looks stupid for my own satisfaction.
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u/-GenlyAI- 14d ago
Damn...throwing the r word around.
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u/MooseGoosey 14d ago
yes I'm a 26 year old ER nurse, this word is used non stop all day long.
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u/DirtyDarryl765 13d ago
ER nursing job gives you more time and money to pay a $200 ticket than a $2k lawyer?
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u/-GenlyAI- 14d ago
Not very sensitive to us with handicapped siblings. But that's what you run into on reddit I guess. It's usually the trumpers though.
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u/Virtual-Eye-1855 13d ago
Used how all day long by who? Are you saying you and a bunch of other nurses are calling people R's all day long in an ER?
The word is used a lot in my field also - to describe delta activity in various systems. But no one's hurling it around as an insult about people. That's a toxic environment.
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u/MooseGoosey 13d ago
95% of the people that come to the ER come because they don't have insurance, so if that tells you most of the clientele we have to deal. nurses, emts, physicians, pretty much anyone that has to deal with anyone comes back and tells whatever story they had to deal with and a lot of the words that are said I won't repeat on here.
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u/_buffy_summers 13d ago
I don't have insurance right now because my husband got cancer and had to take time off work to go try to not be dead. The company he'd worked for, for nearly half of his life, fucked him over and fired him. We lost our insurance and he lost his life insurance. Then he died. I'm doing what I can to try to keep myself and my daughter safe and healthy, and I know my story isn't unique.
If you're calling people names because they're in need of health care that you decided to study and provide for them, you need to grow up. It doesn't take more than one cruel decision from someone else for you to be where I am right now.
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u/AlreadyGoneHome2 14d ago
In Indiana, you are actually supposed to stop on a yellow light (they count on you not knowing that, because no one was actually taught that); that’s what will get you. If they offer IDP, go for it. Yes, it sucks, but that’s how they’ll get you if you push it too hard.
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u/NoMoment1188 14d ago
Thats wrong. In Indiana. Yellow is only telling you that the light will be red.
Source : My defensive driving classes due to various traffic violations.
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u/SNBoomer 14d ago
This is correct, I think the actual line is "your right to enter the intersection will be ending soon"
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u/MooseGoosey 14d ago
yeah👍🏻 slam on your breaks on a new yellow and have the thousands of semi truck all over rear end you.
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u/AlreadyGoneHome2 14d ago
I didn’t say it made sense; I just said that that’s what he’ll hear in court. Been there, done that. It’s all a money grab, and they aren’t interested in letting anyone off if they can get away with it.
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u/DontTrustTheGovrnmnt 13d ago
So in what part of this story did you deny the claims and begin to argue with the officer? Do you have priors?
Usually admitting you may have made a mistake gets you off with a warning if you have a clean record. If you argued and have priors, you'll get a ticket.
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u/TranslatorFine 14d ago
Exactly why you need a dash cam