I fought the law and the law lost

Well I had a really enjoyable day in court today. You see recently I
was ticketed for going around an asshole. The asshole was moving,
hitting his brakes, moving, braking, et cetera. Cops aren't really
smart enough to see anyone but the one car in front of them. So when
I went around the guy he pulled me over.

Amazingly I got a ticket for not using a turn signal. Go figure.

So today I got to appear in court. The judge was nicer than I would
expect. The DA was not an asshole. There were some people who got
hammered, but from what I could hear, they probably deserved it.

There were others who had cases dismissed, sometimes for no apparent
reason. I understand if you get a ticket for no license, and you can
prove you had one, they dismiss. But there were things dismissed
where the perp didn't hand anything to the judge or DA.

So I stroll up, hand them a receipt for a flasher, dated a few days
after the ticket, and the judge kindly thanks me and dismisses.

I managed to not laugh until I was back in my car.

Almost 30 years of driving, pulled over hundreds of times, probably at
least 30 to 50 tickets, not one ever on my record. Life is good.

*************************
What the heck, so will I.
Dave

DTJ wrote: <brevity snip>
> Almost 30 years of driving, pulled over hundreds of times, probably at
> least 30 to 50 tickets, not one ever on my record. Life is good.
> -----
Kinda blows another small hole in the "citations are issued only in the
spirit of revenue generation"...
-----

- gpsman

In article .com>, gpsman wrote:
> DTJ wrote: <brevity snip>
>> Almost 30 years of driving, pulled over hundreds of times, probably at
>> least 30 to 50 tickets, not one ever on my record. Life is good.
>> -----
> Kinda blows another small hole in the "citations are issued only in the
> spirit of revenue generation"...

Never one on his _record_. He lives in IL as I recall. Around here, if
you can just pay and get two speeding tickets a year without having one
appear on your record. Some towns have warning-with-a-fine (a co-worker
got one of those years back) so again, nothing on the record. There are
red light cameras in chicago, again just pay nothing on the record.

Oh, and then there is where the judge fines you but if you dont get
another ticket in X number of months it doesn't go on your record. The
judges do this to keep traffic court moving. It pays to go early and
watch a good hunk of the previous session so that you know wether a
not-guilty or just pleading guilty is the better option. The one time I
had to go to court for a speeding ticket the judge was hammering
practically everyone who plead not guilty. Pleading guilty got a much
reduced fine and ~ 2 months supervision (don't get another ticket). It
doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's going on.

He may have paid thousands in fines and not had a ticket on his record.

"gpsman" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> DTJ wrote: <brevity snip>
>> Almost 30 years of driving, pulled over hundreds of times, probably at
>> least 30 to 50 tickets, not one ever on my record. Life is good.
>> -----
> Kinda blows another small hole in the "citations are issued only in the
> spirit of revenue generation"...

Yep, yep.... but most in the group won't see that. I'm not quite sure that
the judge is the smartest guy in the world because he was fooled by the
flasher receipt, but at least we all know he wasn't after the money.

--
---
jaybird
---
I am not the cause of your problems.
My actions are the result of your actions.
Your life is not my fault.

In article >,
"jaybird" > wrote:

> "gpsman" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> > DTJ wrote: <brevity snip>
> >> Almost 30 years of driving, pulled over hundreds of times, probably at
> >> least 30 to 50 tickets, not one ever on my record. Life is good.
> >> -----
> > Kinda blows another small hole in the "citations are issued only in the
> > spirit of revenue generation"...
>
> Yep, yep.... but most in the group won't see that. I'm not quite sure that
> the judge is the smartest guy in the world because he was fooled by the
> flasher receipt, but at least we all know he wasn't after the money.

On the contrary: he was fully aware of cost-benefit analysis.

--
Alan Baker
Vancouver, British Columbia
"If you raise the ceiling 4 feet, move the fireplace from that wall
to that wall, you'll still only get the full stereophonic effect
if you sit in the bottom of that cupboard."

"Alan Baker" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "jaybird" > wrote:
>
>> "gpsman" > wrote in message
>> oups.com...
>> > DTJ wrote: <brevity snip>
>> >> Almost 30 years of driving, pulled over hundreds of times, probably at
>> >> least 30 to 50 tickets, not one ever on my record. Life is good.
>> >> -----
>> > Kinda blows another small hole in the "citations are issued only in the
>> > spirit of revenue generation"...
>>
>> Yep, yep.... but most in the group won't see that. I'm not quite sure
>> that
>> the judge is the smartest guy in the world because he was fooled by the
>> flasher receipt, but at least we all know he wasn't after the money.
>
> On the contrary: he was fully aware of cost-benefit analysis.

So enlighten us...

--
---
jaybird
---
I am not the cause of your problems.
My actions are the result of your actions.
Your life is not my fault.

In article >,
"jaybird" > wrote:

> "Alan Baker" > wrote in message
> ...
> > In article >,
> > "jaybird" > wrote:
> >
> >> "gpsman" > wrote in message
> >> oups.com...
> >> > DTJ wrote: <brevity snip>
> >> >> Almost 30 years of driving, pulled over hundreds of times, probably at
> >> >> least 30 to 50 tickets, not one ever on my record. Life is good.
> >> >> -----
> >> > Kinda blows another small hole in the "citations are issued only in the
> >> > spirit of revenue generation"...
> >>
> >> Yep, yep.... but most in the group won't see that. I'm not quite sure
> >> that
> >> the judge is the smartest guy in the world because he was fooled by the
> >> flasher receipt, but at least we all know he wasn't after the money.
> >
> > On the contrary: he was fully aware of cost-benefit analysis.
>
> So enlighten us...

Court time costs money. By accepting the defendant's explanation, he
avoids the cost of the court time.

--
Alan Baker
Vancouver, British Columbia
"If you raise the ceiling 4 feet, move the fireplace from that wall
to that wall, you'll still only get the full stereophonic effect
if you sit in the bottom of that cupboard."

In article >, jaybird wrote:
>
> "gpsman" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> DTJ wrote: <brevity snip>
>>> Almost 30 years of driving, pulled over hundreds of times, probably at
>>> least 30 to 50 tickets, not one ever on my record. Life is good.
>>> -----
>> Kinda blows another small hole in the "citations are issued only in the
>> spirit of revenue generation"...
>
> Yep, yep.... but most in the group won't see that.

See my other post. About how things work here in IL. He could have paid
many thousands of dollars in fines and not have single blemish on his
_record_.

> I'm not quite sure that
> the judge is the smartest guy in the world because he was fooled by the
> flasher receipt, but at least we all know he wasn't after the money.

Actually this is par for the course and is exactly what many of us post.
Tickets for things like signaling and equipment problems aren't
considered worth the time because of the low fines, but exceeding an
underposted speed limit on the other hand.

In article >, Alan Baker wrote:
> In article >,
> "jaybird" > wrote:
>
>> "Alan Baker" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > In article >,
>> > "jaybird" > wrote:
>> >
>> >> "gpsman" > wrote in message
>> >> oups.com...
>> >> > DTJ wrote: <brevity snip>
>> >> >> Almost 30 years of driving, pulled over hundreds of times, probably at
>> >> >> least 30 to 50 tickets, not one ever on my record. Life is good.
>> >> >> -----
>> >> > Kinda blows another small hole in the "citations are issued only in the
>> >> > spirit of revenue generation"...
>> >>
>> >> Yep, yep.... but most in the group won't see that. I'm not quite sure
>> >> that
>> >> the judge is the smartest guy in the world because he was fooled by the
>> >> flasher receipt, but at least we all know he wasn't after the money.
>> >
>> > On the contrary: he was fully aware of cost-benefit analysis.
>>
>> So enlighten us...
>
> Court time costs money. By accepting the defendant's explanation, he
> avoids the cost of the court time.

Exactly. depending on what else was on the list of cases that day it
would have been pointless to argue over this small fine ticket wether he
forgot to signal or it was a broken flasher when many a speeding fine
could be processed.

jaybird wrote:
> "gpsman" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> > DTJ wrote: <brevity snip>
> >> Almost 30 years of driving, pulled over hundreds of times, probably at
> >> least 30 to 50 tickets, not one ever on my record. Life is good.
> >> -----
> > Kinda blows another small hole in the "citations are issued only in the
> > spirit of revenue generation"...
>
> Yep, yep.... but most in the group won't see that. I'm not quite sure that
> the judge is the smartest guy in the world because he was fooled by the
> flasher receipt, but at least we all know he wasn't after the money.

Yeah, the next thing you'll try to tell us is that there aren't ticket
quotas!!

Thanks for the laugh, but I'll watch Leno instead.