QUESTION:
I had just moved to San Luis Obispo, and was very unfamiliar with the streets and area. I decided to take a new way home, and started diving up this giant hill, accelerating and accelerating to get my VW Beetle up the hill. By the time I got to the peak of the hill (which I could barely see over), I realized there was a stop sign nestled into the side of the hill. Right after the top of the hill, in full acceleration, ran the stop sign, and stopped in the middle of the intersection and continued down the hill since it was the middle of the night and there were no cars. Out of no where, I was pulled over. I told the officer I had just moved here, and was unfamiliar with this traffic stop, but I do admit that I did try to stop once I saw it. With these circumstances of this large hill and horrible placement of a stop sign, is it possible to fight? I’m all for the justice system but this is truly horrible placement for a sign, and would be completely invisible to someone who is unfamiliar with the area. My uber the other night even ran the stop!
ANSWER:
Was this on Price Street, just out of curiosity? I think you should fight it. Especially if it was written by a SLO PD officer because municipal police are more likely to no-show the court date than CHP, in my experience. There’s little downside to challenging the ticket other than a couple trips to court.
