Well, poop.
Aug. 16th, 2011 12:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityvixenDespite my efforts to avoid having to go upstate to deal with my speeding ticket, it seems I will have to take off the time and go to the court. At this point, I've done my research vis a vis fees for ticket and court expenses, so I think I can speak about those and hopefully soften the blow. I doubt they'll drop the charge by half to only ten over, but a girl can dream. I think I would rather pay more money and take fewer miles over than pay less with higher speeding fines. It's not just a points thing, it's a far-reaching consequences to my driving record thing, with which I have had some experience.
When I was in high school, I got pulled over for doing 38 in a 30 right as I was leaving the school. There are two very good reasons for that ticket, neither of which have anything to do with whatever speed I was actually going. (I was such a goody-goody that I honestly don't believe I was going even 35.) The first reason is that, some weeks prior, a house party that had been broken up by the cops, not in my neighborhood but within town limits, resulted in a cop car being trashed by drunken asshole teenagers. When I say "trashed," I mean they slashed tires and broke the windshield. I saw pictures in the paper, and it was not pretty. The cops were on a bender for writing tickets for months after the fact, especially if they could fob them off on teenagers. When I got back the next week to homeroom (I got a ticket on a Friday--happy weekend!), my homeroom teacher took an informal poll and found that five-six other people in just my homeroom had gotten tickets recently. This was a coordinated campaign by the cops to put the hurt on as many kids as possible. To be fair to the cops, I can see why they were so pissed off, but their dragnet caught people like me who were probably at home on the internet or out at the movies for most of high school and nowhere near a house party except by accident.
The other reason I got pulled over? I was driving my Dad's car, which was, at the time, a fire-engine-red Pontiac firebird. I shouldn't even have been driving it at all, that thing was such a cop magnet.
Other than making me feel like a worthless human being who deserved to be cast aside by her parents and die in the cold, cold world outside (I was a goody-two-shoes kid, so this is an accurate statement about my mental state at the time), the real problem with getting this ticket is that I was one week from being off the mandatory six-month probation for a new driver. Any moving violation that occurs in that probation period is an automatic license suspension for 90 days followed by another six months of probation. I was horrified to think that, for the difference of a week, I was going to lose my license. If getting a ticket nearly destroyed my self-esteem, being the only person in my family to lose her license, for any length of time, was enough to make me contemplate suicide.
So, I went to court. The prosecutor met me outside to say, "Hey, how about 33 in a 30?" to which I responded with "NOOOOO, MY LICENSSSSSE," and told him I wanted to ask to see if they couldn't write the ticket for a week later. I'd take 38 in a 30 one week later, no argument. We went into court and the DA said, "She said 33 in a 30 is great!" The judge asked me if that was so. No, it was not. I re-explained the situation, making it clear that I was not going to contest speeding, just that I was desperate to have the ticket moved. I was lucky, and she was merciful. Provided I'd taken defensive driving within a month, when I was scheduled to come back, the cop--who was there--would rewrite the ticket for a week later. I got a lecture, but I would keep my license. I took the course, came back, and there was no ticket. I almost asked to be allowed out of it, since I had done my part and he hadn't. I didn't want to push it because I was getting a sweet deal. I came back another month later, the ticket was written for 33 in a 30, I wasn't assessed fines on top of court fees, and that was the last ticket I ever got.
And thank fucking Christ I'd had the wherewithal, at 16, to protest this. Thank Christ the judge went along with it. Because a license suspension would have been on my driving record forever. I got the abstract of my driving record from the DMV as part of trying to plea the ticket by mail. The only things on there are the date I got a junior's license and the date I got my full license. Had I not challenged the ticket in high school, that would be on there, and, for the rest of my life, I bet I could have kissed mercy or leniency goodbye forever (to say nothing about reasonable insurance rates). I have a fighting chance, now, to get a deal that I can live with. I'm not thrilled at the idea of a 15 mph over ticket, but that will be gone from my record--as the ticket from high school is--in time. It may take 3 years and change to be removed, but it will be gone eventually. Not so a suspension. If I could go back to talk to 16-year-old me, first I'd tell her to stop being a drama queen and then I'd high-five her for saving my bacon now.
When I was in high school, I got pulled over for doing 38 in a 30 right as I was leaving the school. There are two very good reasons for that ticket, neither of which have anything to do with whatever speed I was actually going. (I was such a goody-goody that I honestly don't believe I was going even 35.) The first reason is that, some weeks prior, a house party that had been broken up by the cops, not in my neighborhood but within town limits, resulted in a cop car being trashed by drunken asshole teenagers. When I say "trashed," I mean they slashed tires and broke the windshield. I saw pictures in the paper, and it was not pretty. The cops were on a bender for writing tickets for months after the fact, especially if they could fob them off on teenagers. When I got back the next week to homeroom (I got a ticket on a Friday--happy weekend!), my homeroom teacher took an informal poll and found that five-six other people in just my homeroom had gotten tickets recently. This was a coordinated campaign by the cops to put the hurt on as many kids as possible. To be fair to the cops, I can see why they were so pissed off, but their dragnet caught people like me who were probably at home on the internet or out at the movies for most of high school and nowhere near a house party except by accident.
The other reason I got pulled over? I was driving my Dad's car, which was, at the time, a fire-engine-red Pontiac firebird. I shouldn't even have been driving it at all, that thing was such a cop magnet.
Other than making me feel like a worthless human being who deserved to be cast aside by her parents and die in the cold, cold world outside (I was a goody-two-shoes kid, so this is an accurate statement about my mental state at the time), the real problem with getting this ticket is that I was one week from being off the mandatory six-month probation for a new driver. Any moving violation that occurs in that probation period is an automatic license suspension for 90 days followed by another six months of probation. I was horrified to think that, for the difference of a week, I was going to lose my license. If getting a ticket nearly destroyed my self-esteem, being the only person in my family to lose her license, for any length of time, was enough to make me contemplate suicide.
So, I went to court. The prosecutor met me outside to say, "Hey, how about 33 in a 30?" to which I responded with "NOOOOO, MY LICENSSSSSE," and told him I wanted to ask to see if they couldn't write the ticket for a week later. I'd take 38 in a 30 one week later, no argument. We went into court and the DA said, "She said 33 in a 30 is great!" The judge asked me if that was so. No, it was not. I re-explained the situation, making it clear that I was not going to contest speeding, just that I was desperate to have the ticket moved. I was lucky, and she was merciful. Provided I'd taken defensive driving within a month, when I was scheduled to come back, the cop--who was there--would rewrite the ticket for a week later. I got a lecture, but I would keep my license. I took the course, came back, and there was no ticket. I almost asked to be allowed out of it, since I had done my part and he hadn't. I didn't want to push it because I was getting a sweet deal. I came back another month later, the ticket was written for 33 in a 30, I wasn't assessed fines on top of court fees, and that was the last ticket I ever got.
And thank fucking Christ I'd had the wherewithal, at 16, to protest this. Thank Christ the judge went along with it. Because a license suspension would have been on my driving record forever. I got the abstract of my driving record from the DMV as part of trying to plea the ticket by mail. The only things on there are the date I got a junior's license and the date I got my full license. Had I not challenged the ticket in high school, that would be on there, and, for the rest of my life, I bet I could have kissed mercy or leniency goodbye forever (to say nothing about reasonable insurance rates). I have a fighting chance, now, to get a deal that I can live with. I'm not thrilled at the idea of a 15 mph over ticket, but that will be gone from my record--as the ticket from high school is--in time. It may take 3 years and change to be removed, but it will be gone eventually. Not so a suspension. If I could go back to talk to 16-year-old me, first I'd tell her to stop being a drama queen and then I'd high-five her for saving my bacon now.
