What vehicle code section does it say on the initial document you received when you signed to promise to appear?

On the yellow slip the officer handed me initially?

Yes

No way is that fine accurate.

I would take the ticket and head down to the PD to get it corrected. Aso, if you feel the ticket was not justified, do take it to court. More people are likely to do the "oh well - just pay it" No

1st you are out of money
2nd possible points against your DL
3rd possible insurance increase
4th you may be able to reduce/eliminate the fine in court

@kbenson

I don't think that this ticket should result in any DMV points or insurance increase since it was not a moving violation. The officer stated the fact that it was not a moving violation for a reason. As far as the insurance company is concerned, this will affect his insurance as much as if he had gotten a parking ticket.

Hahahahahaha"

What you should have done is continued thru the intersection, made a U-turn on the castlewood side, then turned right onto Foothill. The sign just says you can't make a left.

So I *did* go thru the stop sign and make the u-turn in Castlewood... that was the "illegal shortcut". I called the city of Pleasanton and because Castlewood is unincorporated, the citation was issued thru the sheriff's department.

I do not understand how the City and/or the PD can prohibit left turns from Castlewood westbound onto Foothill southbound. I understand there is a sign posted, but what is the logic/rationale for the prohibition. It is obviously to prevent commute traffic from using Foothill, but the same prohibition does not exist for Bernal, West Los Positas, or Stoneridge. There is no school in that area that would be affected by drivers turning onto Foothill. The rationale cannot be due to some safety issue since turns are allowed at other times of the day.

This smells of a payoff by someone living on Foothill wanting to prevent traffic coming by their house. I know the City Engineer often reads these blogs. Would they please comment on the rationale for the sign?

To the OP, I would take the citation and fight it in traffic court.

So, these signs are found in places here and there. One I know of is in Walnut Creek, preventing a right-hand turn onto Ygnacio Valley from one of the downtown streets during the evening commute time. I saw a motorcycle officer sitting in the apartment complex on that corner prepared to write citations. I did the same thing as the author of this thread to avoid the ticket, and apparently I got away with something.

Tim Hunt is not the person that got sign installed a lady farther down the street from him did!

That ticket is administrative ticket, and is issued by Sheriff's department. You You need to file a rejection and complaint. Sheriff's department issues administrative tickets so people do not fight it as it does not go on driving record but i believe they keep 50% of the ticket fine. There should be a phone number you can call on the ticket, below is main info
Those cases do not go to court and ususally are settled by arbitrator a retired officer.
Alameda County Sheriff's Department
24405 Amador St # 100
Hayward, CA 94544
ADMINISTRATION OFFICE
(510) 272-6878

I'm confused?? If the traffic sign says "no turn" then that's exactly what it means, unlike main st where everybody and their grandma runs the stop signs and make illegal u-turns even though there are stop signs and no u- turn signs all along main st !!Same rules different consequences, depending where you are, just stay away from the rich residential areas to avoid those tickets!

So why should someone be able to fight this ticket, did you come into Castlewood and make a turn to avoid the no left turn lane? Then you broke the law and should pay the fine, end of story! Typical Californian to not Accept responsibility for actions!!!

This link may be helpful with regard to administrative citations in Alameda county. Web Link

Go to traffic court and appeal. The Judge may reduce or dismiss the matter.

Otherwise, stop talking about it on this blog because you will receive lots of advice from some folks that you might consider ignoring.
Good Luck.

That is outrageous--you should definitely go to court. I could see maybe a $50. ticket, but over $2000?! Last ticket I got was for rolling through a stop sign, and that was only $250. Punishment does not fit the crime!!

The court system is robbing people of their hard earned money to fill coffers for court officials.

Check out this article at Web Link

Traffic fines are being used not just to run the court systems, but for almost anything and everything that judges get away with. In some cities fines are used for massages for judges.

It's daylight robbery.

Why was your response from the City of Fremont?

Damon,
This ticket was given to you by a properly uniformed member of law enforcement. He puts his life on the line everyday for you, so you must deserve this $2000. fine. If you question his righteousness you must be a cop hater and should be glad he did not shoot you.

Just got a ticket today !!! waiting for the ticket to come in the mail - hoping its not 2000$
any update from the original poster on the amount that it was reduced to ? or any other suggestions on how to handle this. I was told its a county ordinance violation of avoiding a traffic control device - and wont result in a point on the license. But now worried about the amount reading this post !

Hoping for some guidance

@manu -- here is your guidance. Don't violate the law and you won't get a ticket. Then you will never need to worry about how much it might have cost you.

@no user name
Thanks for your feedback. I don't go down that route - i take 680 south or fremont north to 580

It was my first time as i was headed down to castle wood to pickup something from a resident when i got a call that i should come later - so i turned around.

Instead of driving back to 680 - google told me to take foothill down which is what i did.

But thanks anyway.

The driver stated that s/he "did the loop" and not a U turn. From the map, it looks as though that's a distance of about three fourths of a mile.

Until now, I, too, was unaware that doing a detour like this could even be considered a violation. The sign bans left turns. Does it also say that one cannot go through the intersection, drive along the road and then come back and turn right? If not, then why not? it does not seem to me logical to claim that what the driver did can be classed as an "Illegal shortcut". It was scarcely a shortcut. Furthermore, unless the police officer followed, or could see the entire route taken from where he waited, how could he be certain that she was taking that route merely in order to turn, rather than for some other reason? Furthermore, if the officer sat there and waited for the driver to do the loop and come back, in order to issue a ticket, it looks rather like entrapment.

But whatever the grounds for the fine, the amount and is completely out of proportion to the alleged violation. I would check whether it was in fact a clerical or computer error, which transformed a more rational $212 fine into one of $2120.