Legal Driving Questions in GA?

[siuaghan]

Last month a police officer pulled me over, for the very first time and gave me three tickets; one for yielding a right turn at a red light, one for not having on my headlights even though it was broad daylight with a light drizzle (apparently that's raining conditions), and one for speeding at 40 mph even though the speed limit on that road is 45 mph... according to him during "raining conditions" the speed limit drops exactly 10 mph. I'm not exactly complaining, but I just want clarification about the law (of Georgia) on driving because I might go to court, but don't want to look stupid in front of the judge, please please please help me, I'm just a poor college student anyway

Q1: if I was driving below the POSTED speed limit, should i still have gotten a ticket? I always thought if there would be a change to the speed limit, it should be posted, right or no? and 40 IS lower than 45, that's lower than the speed limit

Q2: if it's broad daylight in a light drizzle; (it was 1.15 inch of rain for the entire day, im not sure what that exactly means, tho, weather.com said so) is it lawfully necessiary for me to have my headlights on, even though less than half of the other cars had theirs on.. as well as the change in speed limit, (the roads were dry)

Thanks so much in advance to whomever helps :)... again, i'm not exactly trying to complain, but want to clear up my confusion... I accept that i should've stopped completely in the red light instead of just yielded, i accept that, but what i don't understand is all the extra tickets the officer happily added on like a grocery list, i feel like it was unnecessary, and a bit much...

[lamarr3]

1 Your "California roll" through the red light is what set the cop off. There is no excuse for that one. Even speeders have excuses like "couldn't see the speedometer". But failing to stop before the right turn is a major screw up. This is in the Ga. drivers' handbook.
2. When your wipers are on, your lights are on. This is in the handbook. Since it was "drizzling" as you say, I hope your wipers were on.
3. "Too fast for conditions" is a common charge cops lay on when they can't prove you were speeding, but something else happened. It might or might not get tossed by the judge. Never heard of the 10 MPH under rule, but it may be something new.

[gall]

Turning right on red is reserved for more skillful drivers. It requires you to come to a complete stop, check for traffic, yield to all other traffic (including left turns and u-turns) and only then allows you to proceed if you can do so without interfering (making other cars slow down or change lanes) other traffic.

The light rain is actually more dangerous than the hard rain. Light rain will cause the oils on the highway to float reducing the coefficient of friction (making the road more slippery). A reduced coefficient of friction will greatly increase your stopping distance and reduce your vehicle's ability to hold a line during a cornering movement. You may recall from drivers education that the harder rain causes a condition where the tire floats up off the roadway in a condition called hydroplaning. You can reduce the negative impacts of hydroplaning by purchasing tires with special treads and proper tire inflation. A civillian car only has tires with 30psi in them compared with police tires which have a minimum 44psi. The higher the psi the less likely your car will spin out of control.

The law requires that you reduce your speed anytime; traffic conditions warrant, visibility is reduced or the road friction is reduced. The amount to reduce your speed is up to the officer's discretion. The maximum speedlimit only applies in ideal conditions (bright daylight, dry roads, reduced traffic and no other hazards).

In addition to the hour before sunset and after sun rise you must have your lamps on for rain, fog and even dust storms.