You know, I'm not a cop-hater, but today....

[Lurker Deluxe]

107. Cold condescension

I received two tickets one afternoon a couple of years ago. One for rolling a stop sign, which I did, the other for no insurance which I had but did not have proof of. I was scheduled to leave town when the court date was set so I just stopped in a local court house to show my proof of insurance and pay the stop sign violation.

I was signed in on the docket and was told that once the scheduled business was complete the judge would see my case. I sat there in the court and listened to all sorts of crazy shit about why people had tickets ... insane ramblings. By the time the docket was complete you could just see in the judge's eyes that she was tired.

I stepped up to the court and she asked me how I plead and I responded that I had my insurance .. she looked at it and dismissed that ticket. She then asked about the stop sign and I simply responded, "yea, I ran it", she asked me if I needed to set up payments or defer the costs and I told her I was prepared to pay the fine promptly.

She then OFFERED me deferred judgment, which I responded I did not know what that meant ... basically get no other ticket for 6 months and this will not go on your record. I accepted, and that was that.

I can only imagine the stories that officers get when they pull people over to issue citations, I am sure everyone has a reason they did not do what they were supposed to. But I would bet you have a decent chance of getting that fine lowered and dismissed if you correct the problem before the ticket date and take proof of that with you to the hearing and simply asked for leniency from the court, and if not to set up payment options to help defer the cost of the ticket.

You may have had a better result had you just replied, "I know it's out of date, I'm trying to get to it today", instead of telling him that your brakes were out and that your car was indeed a danger to be on the road.