Ticketed after letting me make a turn

[Harry]

SCENARIO :
I was on a street in downtown San Mateo, CA during lunch time.Street has Solid Double yellow in the center. I saw a parking spot on the left side of the street. Turn on my left turn light. Cop was coming from opposite direction on motorcycle. He saw my turn light and stopped. I waited for him to go but he just stopped there. I thought , may be he was letting me make the turn so I made it and parked. He stopped behind my car and gave me a ticket.
My point is he could very well have told me not to make the turn instead of waiting for me to make it and then give the ticket.
Can I fight the cop's incompetence / trap ?

Please help.
Thanks.

 

[lawrat]

I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.

You could but the point is this: you have the responsibility as a licensed driver to know ALL the rules of driving, including when you can and cannot make safe and legal turn, u-turns, etc.

 

[Harry]

I totally agree with you. But there is also a rule which states that you are supposed to drive at 65mph on a freeway (101 in San Francisco bay area) but 99% people drive at 75mph. Similarly I have seen lot of people making turn on double yellow line.
I am not sure if it is ok to break the rule if everybody else is doing it.

 

[lawrat]

To answer your question, just because everyone else does it and never gets caught doesn't negate the law nor your error.