Okay first off, I am not looking for a response telling me to "slow down" or "balls up" and pay the fine. I’m looking for advice, not a safety lecture.

I have gotten three tickets before this one. All three of them were dismissed in court, so I have a clean record. I was driving with five friends in my car at 11:45pm. I was going EXACTLY the speed limit, not a mile an hour over it. One of my friends was reaching down to get something on the ground, so I thought it would be funny to jerk the car around, to make it difficult for him to pick up his phone. Before I performed this action, I made sure there were NO oncoming vehicles, and NO cars in front of me or behind me. I also checked the sidewalks to make sure there were no pedestrians around. After I safely checked my surroundings, I started swerving erratically in my own lane. Not once did I cross the lines into another lane. I remained in my lane for the five-ten seconds I was swerving. A few seconds after I stopped swerving I saw police car lights flashing in my mirrors. I pulled over and the police officer came up to the car. Of course she asked me if I had been drinking. I had not had any alcohol to drink, and none of my friends in the car did either. We also did not have any alcohol with us in the vehicle. She asked for the usual information and went back to her car. Twenty minutes later she came back to my car and handed me a 0 ticket for negligent driving in the second degree (RCW 46.61.525). I was shocked. For one, I had a clean driving record, and I wasn’t speeding or endangering the lives of others. She asked me if I understood why she gave me a ticket…and I told her no. I tried explaining to her that I was safe about it. I also brought up how 95% of drivers will drift over the yellow line on a road, or a white line that seperates the road and the bike/walking shoulder. I told her that I NEVER do this because I think it is reckless and downright dangerous. Mainly because they are not aware that they are drifting over the lines. Can you say an accident waiting to happen? Of course she wouldn’t even aknowledge the arguement I was trying to bring to the issue. She stood firm and said it was unsafe. I’ve had my fair shair of communicating with cops while sitting in the drivers seat, (I’ve been pulled over 13 times, only 4 of them for speeding, and 5 of them I made the cop look like an idiot because their reasoning for pulling me over was completely flawed). I got a lawyer for the three tickets that were dismissed, so I know the routine. My question is, should I get a lawyer for this ticket? And do I have a fair shot at beating this ticket? Unfortunately the city I got the ticket in, (Redmond, Washington) trains their police officers to write flawless tickets without a single mistake. No other city in my area does that. In addition, Redmond is not doing to well with all the recent budget cuts that have taken place. So their police officers will write tickets for the smallest mistakes that drivers make. This is not just my dumb opinion, I have actually spoken to police officers from Redmond, and from other surrounding cities including, Sammamish, Issaquah, and Bellevue. I hope to hear some good advice on this issue. Thank you in advance for your replies!

-Brandon

Okay first off, I am not looking for a response telling me to "slow down" or "balls up" and pay the fine. I’m looking for advice, not a safety lecture.

I have gotten three tickets before this one. All three of them were dismissed in court, so I have a clean record. I was driving with five friends in my car at 11:45pm. I was going EXACTLY the speed limit, not a mile an hour over it. One of my friends was reaching down to get something on the ground, so I thought it would be funny to jerk the car around, to make it difficult for him to pick up his phone. Before I performed this action, I made sure there were NO oncoming vehicles, and NO cars in front of me or behind me. I also checked the sidewalks to make sure there were no pedestrians around. After I safely checked my surroundings, I started swerving erratically in my own line. Not once did I cross the lines into another lane. I remained in my lane for the five-ten seconds I was swerving. A few seconds after I stopped swerving I saw police car lights flashing in my mirrors. I pulled over and the police officer came up to the car. Of course she asked me if I had been drinking. I had not had any alcohol to drink, and none of my friends in the car did either. We also did not have any alcohol with us in the vehicle. She asked for the usual information and went back to her car. Twenty minutes later she came back to my car and handed me a 0 ticket for negligent driving in the second degree (RCW 46.61.525). I was shocked. For one, I had a clean driving record, and I wasn’t speeding or endangering the lives of others. She asked me if I understood why she gave me a ticket…and I told her no. I tried explaining to her that I was safe about it. I also brought up how 95% of drivers will drift over the yellow line on a road, or a white line that seperates the road and the bike/walking shoulder. I told her that I NEVER do this because I think it is reckless and downright dangerous. Mainly because they are not aware that they are drifting over the lines. Can you say an accident waiting to happen? Of course she wouldn’t even aknowledge the arguement I was trying to bring to the issue. She stood firm and said it was unsafe. I’ve had my fair shair of communicating with cops while sitting in the drivers seat, (I’ve been pulled over 13 times, only 4 of them for speeding, and 5 of them I made the cop look like an idiot because their reasoning for pulling me over was completely flawed). I got a lawyer for the three tickets that were dismissed, so I know the routine. My question is, should I get a lawyer for this ticket? And do I have a fair shot at beating this ticket? Unfortunately the city I got the ticket in, (Redmond, Washington) trains their police officers to write flawless tickets without a single mistake. No other city in my area does that. In addition, Redmond is not doing to well with all the recent budget cuts that have taken place. So their police officers will write tickets for the smallest mistakes that drivers make. This is not just my dumb opinion, I have actually spoken to police officers from Redmond, and from other surrounding cities including, Sammamish, Issaquah, and Bellevue. I hope to hear some good advice on this issue. Thank you in advance for your replies!

-Brandon