[ale] OT: Court tomorrow

[Christopher Fowler]

I have a date with Gwinnett county traffic court tomorrow.  I was
charged under 40-6-49(a) but should have been charged under (d).  Does 
anyone know if that will make a difference in my defense of a 
"following too closely" charge?

(d) seems to be the catchall and (a) does not even apply to the
accident.  I was never following the car I hit in the first place.
I also remember not seeing a turn signal.  After we got out of the car
she asked me if her turn signal was working.  The cop refused to even
check after I mentioned this.  Could that be grounds for her not taking
a "lawful turn" and get me out of (d)?  I haev used grep on the GA code
I downloaded and can not find a definition for a "lawful turn"  If
someone knows the code for that then I will be better prepared tomorrow
afternoon.  

Normally I would not fight this but the Solicitor pissed me off.  I
offered him to dismiss it or I would plead not-guilty and he wanted to
do a NOLO with no fine,  That sounded good but that should be saved for
something really horrible like speeding.  Not hitting someone in the
rear.  My concern is this is a bench trial.  I'm basically letting my
case be heard but someone who could be considered as "Judge Dredd"  He
is the jury too and IMO he has the interest of his employeer to look
after.  I could be paranoid in this thinking.  In a Jury trial you can
argue a case in the spirit rather than in the letter so I'm not sure if
in the spirit is the right way to go with a bench trial.

Any pointers?
Chris