Many motorists commit the violation of driving in a bus lane at some point in their lives. While it's often possible to get away with this move, it's also possible that you'll find yourself pulled off to the side of the road and a police officer approaching your vehicle. Driving in a bus lane can lead to a ticket and a fine, and while some officers will be lenient and give you a warning based on what you say to them, others will immediately reach for their ticket book. If you're adamant that you committed this violation unknowingly, you might wish to hire a traffic ticket attorney and build a case. Here are some defenses that could get your ticket dropped.

Lack Of Signage

A bus lane should be adequately marked so that motorists know not to use it. This is predominantly the case, but there may be a situation in which the bus lane that you used didn't have appropriate signage. For example, if you can go back and take pictures of the scene and they show that the signs are missing, you may have a case as to why you entered the bus lane. Sometimes, signs can fall down, or perhaps a road crew had removed the signs and hadn't yet put the new ones up at the time of your infraction.

Accident Avoidance

In some scenarios, it's possible that you might need to pull into the bus lane to avoid an accident or a dangerous driver. It would be unusual for a police officer to give you a ticket in this type of situation, but some officers are more tolerant than others. To claim this defense, you'll need to paint a picture of what you saw in front of you and around you, and explain how dodging into the bus lane was the safest thing you could do. Don't talk about using the bus lane to get around an accident that threatened to slow you down; your use should have been for immediate accident avoidance.

Vehicle Problem

If you encounter a problem with your vehicle while you're driving, you generally want to pull over to the right. In some cases, there may be a bus lane to your right, but you might make the decision to use it as a means to get off the road, rather than drive along until the bus lane ends and then merge to the right. If your vehicle was difficult to control or at risk of stopping in the road, using the bus lane to get out of traffic may be a justifiable move.

For more information and resources, visit a site such as https://www.trafficlawyersuffolkcounty.com/.