A Day at the Courts
As most of you know, I got yet another ticket for speeding... As much as I would like to argue it... I know that if I had been clocked 5 seconds earlier the ticket would have been much worse than the 57 in a 40 that I did get. Now normally I would accept the ticket with good grace... after all I did deserve it... it's not like I was innocent or anything but it also occurs to me that I was already sitting at 0 points left on my license. Hmm... time to practice my math...
0 points minus 4 points equals Dennis walking 12 miles home from work at midnight 4 days a week.
Ok, I know that arguing with the officer isn't going to do any good so I decide to show up in court with the intention of getting the ticket either dropped (yeah right) or have the point offense dropped by going to traffic school.
It's funny, I have long known that people do not know how to drive in Colorado... I'm a good example... but I show up at court and everyone knows each other. Not like when you sit with someone in uncomfortable silence and someone says something to break the ice... more like a family reunion... a man would walk in the door and someone would say, "Hey look everyone, Joe's here!", kinda like they expected to see him. Then a heard of people would go over and shake hands, talk about what had transpired since last they saw him for a DUI charge a couple weeks ago. Joe would then say "Sally isn't going to make it this week, she wasn't able to get pulled over in time to make it today." I'm not kidding or exagerating (well maybe just a bit) This group of traffic offenders was like one big happy (but dysfunctional) family. I'm guessing that they all meet here at least once a month to add some excitement in their lives. Also, I'm not talking about 5 or 6 people, I'm talking about 40 people who all know each other.. well 40 people plus me who didn't know any of them... I usually just mail in the fine for my tickets so I never got to meet them.
Anyway, my dreams are realized when the DA offers to let me go to traffic school instead of losing my license, where no doubt I will meet many of my new friends who also make a hobby out of driving school. The only thing I have to do to get the traffic school is plead guilty to a lesser charge... in this case... a broken wind shield wiper... Moral dilemma... Do I plead guilty to something that I'm innocent of to avoid the punishment of something I am guilty of? What kind of logic is that? What kind of justice is that? Does this happen with other crimes such as robbery? "Well, it says here that you just stole a car... but seeing as it was only a VW bug, I think we can let you off with a ticket for not wearing your seat belt... just don't let it happen again..." Then fleeting images of sugarplums danced in my head, along with images of me walking to work for the next three months and I promptly decided that my conscience should take the day off and that it was obvious that I was pulled over for a good cause, my wind shield wiper obviously must have been malfunctioning and I could have been seriously hurt should it suddenly have started raining. I don't understand the logic of being sent to traffic school for my broken windshield wiper, but I was assured that it was a 4 point offense if I didn't go to it.
Now here's the good part... In the long standing tradition of making the punishment fit the crime, if I go to Traffic School... not only do I get to keep my license... but it is required by state law that my insurance agent lower my insurance rate. Yes, this speeding ticket is going to lower my insurance rates (God Bless America). I think I may have figured out why the people in court knew each other, they obviously stumbled on this same fact... that the more traffic tickets you get, the less you pay for insurance... With how well these people knew each other, I wouldn't be surprised if some of these people had quit their jobs and were now living comfortably off of their insurance premiums which is now paying them several thousand dollars a month for being atrocious drivers.
So if you haven't learned anything else from this, do us each a favor... speed by the nearest police car... 10 miles over the speed limit will do but if nothing else cut them off or roll through a stop sign. It could be the best decision you ever
make.