On a sunny Friday morning in September I pulled up behind a slow moving vehicle as I was riding down Telegraph lane 2 on my way to work. After mirror and shoulder checks I moved over the dashed white line to pass the car and was promptly cited by an OPD Motors for changing lanes without signaling, a violation of California Vehicle Code 22107. Just my luck, I went to traffic school 10 months ago to clear a 5mph-over ticket.
Not much choice but to contest the citation, otherwise face out-of-control insurance rates for 3 years. As I learned the hard way this is a long, slow process in Oakland. The first step is called the arraignment. It starts with lining up outside the courthouse at 7am, an hour before it opens, and takes another 4 hours after that. So I skipped the gym, got to Oakland at 6:30am, dropped my stuff off at the office, grabbed coffee, and walked to the courthouse to stand in line. There were 12 people ahead of me when I arrived. When the doors finally opened at 7:45 the line was around the block.
After going through the metal detector I was shuttled into another line to talk to a clerk. After another half hour of standing I got an appointment for the first available court session at 9:30, which meant another hour and 15 minutes of waiting for the court to open. We were given a blue sheet of paper describing the arraignment and trial process.
When the doors opened about 60 of us were shuttled into the courtroom after being sternly warned about cell phones, eating, drinking, sleeping, talking, reading, leaning against the wall, and a lot of other minor things that would get us immediately kicked out. A woman sitting next to me took out her smartphone to check email and was asked to leave. She protested but was eventually removed. There were three courtroom staff sitting at desks: the judge, bailiff, and court reporter. They were almost motionless, I couldn't tell if they were doing anything. I stared at the walls, my watch, my hands, and the court room staff. Counted the people. Took note of mode of dress and apparent social status. Mostly sweatshirts and jeans, only lawyers and staff in office attire. 15 minutes, went by, then 20, 25... A Spanish translator showed up, a few more people filtered into the room.
After a half hour the session started. Groups of about a dozen names were called forward. Individually each person had to be charged, declare a plea into a microphone, then respond whether or not they were willing to waive the right to a trial in 45 days. Noted most charges were for running a red lights. Oakland is full of red light cameras, and yellow lights have been shortened to catch more people running reds. The next most frequent charge was driving without a license and/or insurance. Interestingly the judge was willing to waive driving without a license if the defendant pleaded guilty or no contest. Mine was the only turn signal violation.
Finally it was my turn at the mic. Even though I only had to say 3 words I was surprisingly nervous, which didn't bode well for the trial, I thought. The entire process seemed designed to intimidate. With a shaky voice I pleaded not guilty and did not waive the right to trial in 45 days. I was told to sit down. After another 20 or so minutes the bailiff called my name and handed me a slip of paper with a court date and time. It was 10:45, I'd been there almost 4 hours.
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