*sigh*
I had to spend 4 hours in driving safety school this week. Why- you might ask? Well, according to the policeman who pulled me over, I went through a red light (I assured him it was yellow). The comment he made was "you can either admit your guilt ($65 and goes on your insurance record), go to traffic school ($115 no black mark on your record) or go to court and plead "not guilty" (and hope the judge agrees with you...otherwise...you incur court costs....over $130.)
The police officer assured me that he would be at court and "lady, you can tell them it was yellow and I am going to tell him it was red and who do you think he will believe?"
"you, apparently", was my answer.
(For all you that know me....I REALLY don't argue with policemen since my dad was one so if you think this was out of character for me....you'd be right.)
Hence, my afternoon in traffic school.
I won't bore you with how the whole four hours went but this is how it started.....
"I know you don't want to be here" says the instructor, " I am only here because they pay me but we are going to spend 4 hours together. Think of the worst thing you have ever done while driving a vehicle and consider yourself caught and now we are going to break into groups and have a fun afternoon."
Thank heavens he had a sense of humor, huh?
So, 40 of us spent 4 hours together bonding over the driving booklet that we had to finish and yes, we did break into groups, yes, we did read out loud, yes, we did answer all the questions and no, I will not be getting a ticket again anywhere in the near future or so I hope!
1 week ago
8 comments:
I went to driving school once. I was really, really not happy about it, too, as the day that I had enrolled and paid the non-refundable $75, I read in the newspaper that the officer who had pulled me over (while I was alone in my car) had been arrested and charged with the rape of 16 young women during routine and non-routine traffic stops. When I had gone to court to fight it, telling the judge that he had hit on me, asked for my phone number, and then taken my parents # off of the registration, called their number, and asked for me, it was deemed "inadmissible" because a) I didn't have a phone record, and b) my parents weren't there in court with me.
I was really, really mad after reading the paper, because I had been stopped in the middle of the day on a rather secluded car. No second car had come as "backup", and I was cited for going over the speed limit of 55, however my cruise control was set at 53. The officer had also been charged with something regarding demanding sex for the waiving of a traffic ticket... I had no legal recourse, at that point, after the judge had treated me like crap and sent me driving school, and no way to get my $75 back.
I did get a phone call from an officer investigating his case, however. And BOY did it feel good to tell on that BAD cop.
That's a nice and soft way of handling it! Here, you would automatically lose 4 points out of 12 on your licence and have to pay the fine! Only, when you have lost your 12 points, you will have to go to the driving school - to possibly get a new licence!
I know my time is coming since I take yellow lights as an extension of green. Good to know that driving school is not horrible.
You can actually go to driving school to not have it go on your record?!? Wow!! Our country would be full of people in driving school if that was the case here!! hehe!! ;)
Thankfully, for me, if ever I do incur a speeding ticket it never affects my car insurance.
Back to school! I loved the line "lady, you can tell them it was yellow and I am going to tell him it was red and who do you think he will believe?"
Keep smiling - and watch those lights!
I guess this makes up for all those tickets you got out of over the years! Sorry about the school detail. Glad Ms. Let Me be Blunt had her mouth somewhat under control though because I can hear the thoughts in your head when he said "who do you think he is going to believe?"
This all sounds errily familiar. Mine was a he said/she said, too.AZ driving school is 8 hours and cost $125 and this was years ago.
Last ticket I got I just didn't answer the door for months; let the hubby do that, so they couldn't serve me. (We can see who's at the the door BTW.)
Bottom line, it is damn irritating. I still think police have a certain quota of tickets they have to write, and you, dear Neva, must have been on a slow ticket day.My sympathy and empathy go to you.
I was stopped for speeding once (40 in a 30 zone) and I was so terrified I had to stop myself calling the policeman 'sir'. Even though I was probably older than him and he was very nice!
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