[ale] OT: Court tomorrow

[Christopher Fowler]

To me tickets is about punishment.  I'm not sure what they were
punishing me for.  Maybe for hitting someone in the ass.  I can
understand following to closely on I-85 at high speeds but going over a
hill not seeing a car then sliding into it.  How is that following too
closely?  Maybe technically I was following too closely there for a
split second.

On Mon, 2004-11-15 at 12:44, Mike Millson wrote:
> On Mon, 2004-11-15 at 08:57, Sergio Chaves wrote:
> > I can  verify that.
> > Two years ago I was on a intersection, merging to a freeway.
> > The driver in front of me and myself made a complete stop waiting for
> > traffic to clear so we could merge.
> > The car in front of me "took off" and I followed  behind it.
> > The other driver *suddenly* hit the brakes thinking she would not have 
> > enough
> > room/speed/etc. to complete the merge and I hit her.
> > 
> > ALL of that was acknowledge by the other driver and myself in court but
> > it seemed that the judge did not hear a single sentence . All the Judge 
> > kept
> > saying was that I should have (a) waited for the other driver to complete
> > the merge or (b) given more distance between the cars.
> > 
> > The hammer came down hard; my checking account got $150.00 poorer,
> > I "earned" points on my MVR and, my insurance went up a little for
> > having to pay for both car repairs. :-(
> > 
> > Sergio
> 
> This sort of thing used to bother me too. Then a lawyer friend of mine
> explained that traffic court is not about finding out whose fault
> something is or justice or anything that complex. It's a money making
> operation. And when you go down there and plead innocent and try to
> present your case to the judge and ask for a jury trial, you throw a big
> monkey wrench into their money making operation. And they get pissed off
> and you pay more for wasting their time. My advice is to just send in
> your "donation" and avoid the humiliation of going to traffic court at
> all cost. It's just a more elegant way of collecting money than, say,
> when I was in Mexico and we were pulled over for "too many people in the
> car" (4 I guess is too many) and were allowed to pay our fine on the
> spot w/ a $20 bill.
> 
> Mike
> 
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