Who's super lucky? Oh yeah, that would be me.
I had my hearing yesterday for my traffic violations. I went into it hoping for, at best, no points. I knew I deserved the tickets, so I was willing to pay the fines in full. Not especially happy about it, but willing. I was early, as I generally am. I signed in and took my seat. I should mention that there is nothing on the walls to stare at and I did not bring a book in.
After a couple of minutes, I hear someone call my name. It's the cop who had pulled me over. Figures that he'd manage to show. We went into a conference room and he offered me a deal. Reduced violation on the running the red light so no points. He gave me nothing on the littering because Bensalem is zero-tolerance. Hey, I got my no points. I took the deal.
Proceeded into the courtroom and sat some more. The judge finally arrived and started calling people up. He seemed pleasant enough, but we all know that looks can be deceiving. My turn comes and I approached the bench. The judge quickly outlined the charges. I also got a fatherly "What happened there?" about the red light. Thankfully I stopped short of scuffing my toe and saying "Aw shucks, Pa. I guess I just wasn't paying attention." For once in my life, I managed to say nothing more than was absolutely necessary. Miracles do happen.
The cop outlined our deal, the judge asked me if I agreed. I said yes. Judge said that he would reduce the littering fine. Oh hell yeah! I was figuring that he'd knock it down by 50% or so. Heh, I was wrong. Maximum fine for littering is $300 - minus court costs, my littering fine was fifty dollars. That's right five-oh. I paid more in court costs than I did on that fine. The red light violation was the same fine, but did I mention the no points?
All told, I was in court for about 30 minutes and only 5 or so of those minutes were spent talking to anyone. If you gotta go to court, that's the way to do it.
Showing posts with label moving violations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moving violations. Show all posts
16 January 2009
24 November 2008
Do the Crime...
I am fucked.
Ten days ago, I got pulled over for first running a red light and then, in a move obviously designed to deliberately piss off the cop, I flicked my cigarette butt out the window. I know, I know. Littering is bad. Running red lights; also bad. I'm not here to bemoan the fact that I got caught doing two illegal things. I am here to say, that for the 1st time since I turned 18, I may be in a serious spot of doodoo.
I was all set to make a payment plan with the township to pay off the fines. $400+ is not an amount of money I generally have lying around. I should have been a good doobie and taken care of it the same day I got pulled over. However, I am a procrastinator and apparently even the threat of warrants being issued can't get me offa my lazy ass.
Since I had no intention of telling my parents that I got pulled over, I thought that I oh-so-carefully tucked those stupid pieces of yellow paper into my wallet. Easy to remember where I put them but hidden away from inquisitive eyeballs. Not that my parents are super-nosy or anything. I was just being cautious. Evidently I was cautious to the point of being magic because those fucking things have disappeared.
They are not in my wallet. They are not in my purse. They are not in the bag I take to work. They aren't under the front passenger seat of my car. They aren't in the trash bag in my car. They aren't in the random pile of shit on my table in the apartment. I do not have them, Sam I am.
Still, I wasn't at the despairing point. I figured I could call the township, get directed to the department I needed, have them find me in the system using my last name or license number, and proceed with the payment plan option. I found the number for the muni building, called during my break and was transferred by a nice lady to the department I needed. There was no answer. I tried calling the police department later that day and the friendly man who answered the phone said that I needed to speak to the court. He very helpfully said, "There's a number in the corner of your ticket-". In my head: FUCK. Out loud: "Oh damn, I don't have the ticket right in front of me. I'll call back later." The friendly man said okie-dokie.
I'm starting to panic a bit at this point. I hop on Google and try to find a breakdown of the courts in the township (oh hell, it was Bensalem) to see if I could figure out which court would be handling my situation. Google wasn't especially helpful. I went to the Bucks County site, back to the Bensalem twp and Bensalem PD sites, and some random site that wasn't helpful. Goddamn internets!
Don't think that I'm blaming Google for my troubles. I know I should have taken care of all this at the earliest opportunity, but I still have no idea how my tickets got so thoroughly lost. Even if they had fallen out of my purse at my parents' house, Mom and Dad would have left them in the usual spot. I may have gotten a lecture from Dad about littering, but lectures I can handle. Jail, however, is something else entirely.
Ten days ago, I got pulled over for first running a red light and then, in a move obviously designed to deliberately piss off the cop, I flicked my cigarette butt out the window. I know, I know. Littering is bad. Running red lights; also bad. I'm not here to bemoan the fact that I got caught doing two illegal things. I am here to say, that for the 1st time since I turned 18, I may be in a serious spot of doodoo.
I was all set to make a payment plan with the township to pay off the fines. $400+ is not an amount of money I generally have lying around. I should have been a good doobie and taken care of it the same day I got pulled over. However, I am a procrastinator and apparently even the threat of warrants being issued can't get me offa my lazy ass.
Since I had no intention of telling my parents that I got pulled over, I thought that I oh-so-carefully tucked those stupid pieces of yellow paper into my wallet. Easy to remember where I put them but hidden away from inquisitive eyeballs. Not that my parents are super-nosy or anything. I was just being cautious. Evidently I was cautious to the point of being magic because those fucking things have disappeared.
They are not in my wallet. They are not in my purse. They are not in the bag I take to work. They aren't under the front passenger seat of my car. They aren't in the trash bag in my car. They aren't in the random pile of shit on my table in the apartment. I do not have them, Sam I am.
Still, I wasn't at the despairing point. I figured I could call the township, get directed to the department I needed, have them find me in the system using my last name or license number, and proceed with the payment plan option. I found the number for the muni building, called during my break and was transferred by a nice lady to the department I needed. There was no answer. I tried calling the police department later that day and the friendly man who answered the phone said that I needed to speak to the court. He very helpfully said, "There's a number in the corner of your ticket-". In my head: FUCK. Out loud: "Oh damn, I don't have the ticket right in front of me. I'll call back later." The friendly man said okie-dokie.
I'm starting to panic a bit at this point. I hop on Google and try to find a breakdown of the courts in the township (oh hell, it was Bensalem) to see if I could figure out which court would be handling my situation. Google wasn't especially helpful. I went to the Bucks County site, back to the Bensalem twp and Bensalem PD sites, and some random site that wasn't helpful. Goddamn internets!
Don't think that I'm blaming Google for my troubles. I know I should have taken care of all this at the earliest opportunity, but I still have no idea how my tickets got so thoroughly lost. Even if they had fallen out of my purse at my parents' house, Mom and Dad would have left them in the usual spot. I may have gotten a lecture from Dad about littering, but lectures I can handle. Jail, however, is something else entirely.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)