Of course all this could have been avoided by not breaking the law. But yes, you should have gone to court and explained your situation, financial straits or no.
So, Stoid, what exactly do you want to accomplish? Do you want your license back, or not? Do you want to get your car registered and insured, or not?
If you want either or both of those things, then that’s going to cost you money, time, and aggravation to accomplish.
If you don’t want one or both of those things, there are still legal housekeeping issues to take care of (getting a state ID, selling or donating your car, et cetera) and you will still have those FTA’s hanging over your head. This will also cost you money, time and aggravation to deal with.
You really havn’t made it clear in this thread what you actually want, though. You say X amount of money will take care of this or that part of the problem, but if you had X amount of money lying around you’d spend it on something else. Do you really want this problem solved or not?
So, decide what you want, and figure out how to make it happen. Hire one of those ticket attorneys and do what he or she says. Go to court and beg the judge for forgiveness and a payment plan/community service. Or do nothing, let your car get impounded again, and let the legal consequencs of an FTA catch up with you sometime (which will not be fun). You’re an adult, so act like one.
Or you could just whine here about how hard this all is, but that won’t accomplish what needs to be done, now will it?
Or the document could be self authenticating like some official records are. It also depends if your state in particular has a public records rule.
I’m really vague on traffic rules and laws.** Really Not All That Bright**, but are you saying that traffic tickets are civil and not criminal?
Sure I did:
Since a number of people have given me exactly what I actually want, by relating their personal experiences with similar situations, it’s obvious that I succeeded in making clear in this thread what I actually want. (Actually, even the title of the thread makes it pretty clear what I actually want, in its own way…)
I haven’t made it clear what I’m ultimately going to do, because I haven’t decided - that’s why I asked people to share their experiences, to help me make a decision by giving me some idea of how other people in similar circumstances have fared.
At the time of the first ticket, I wasn’t even aware of not having registered, my life was consumed with much bigger drama. And as I’ve explained, the idea of showing up was also not something that I had any awareness of.
Pretty much all the problems of life that arise from a lack of money and time can be avoided if one has sufficient money and time. When I had sufficient money and time, I didn’t have these problems.
That’s nice. It is also irrelevant.
No one else does. The reasons the penalties are what they are in your case is because you made excuses for yourself instead of biting the bullet. Now it is much worse. This is 100% your fault.
It was written down and handed to you, but somehow the penalties for ignoring it are harsh.
And now you are being taught why that was a bad idea. If it is possible for you to learn anything, which I lack confidence is the case.
By putting it on a piece of paper and placing it in your hand, the state went out of its way to be sure that your ignorance was addressed. Reading what was right under your nose was too much of an effort for you, and now you are whining excuses about how you didn’t know.
Put it this way - you were entirely convinced you were going to win your appeal when you sued your boyfriend, and you lost just as resoundingly as every single person on the SDMB, lawyer or layman alike, said you would. You did not prevail on even one single point.
What makes you think your beliefs about the law are any different now?
Sell your car and use the money to pay off the tickets and fines and the rest of the mess you have made for yourself. Do not buy another car; you cannot afford one.
Or ignore everythi8ng that is said to you, and you will wind up in jail. You won’t learn anything from that either.
Regards,
Shodan
Not even slightly irrelevent to the matter I was pondering.
Incorrect. Many people do. But that IS irrelevant.
Incorrect. The reason the penalties are what they are is because that is the penalty for failing to appear. The reason I failed to appear is NOT because I made excuses…in order to make excuses I would have had to have known I was failing to appear and made a decision (propped up by excuses) for why I decided not to appear. That is not the case.
Absolutely, and I have blamed absolutely no one else.
As for how well I read and comprehend…judging from the rest of your “contribution” to this thread, it’s generally considered unwise to fling stones from behind the glass walls of your own house.
Regards,
Stoid
No, it is entirely irrelevant. You don’t get to decide whether or not to abide by the traffic laws.
Nope, no one thinks that. The state put the explanation on how you should have acted right into your hand, and you didn’t even bother to read it.
No, it is quite correct.
Yes, it is the case. You said, and I quote -
This is making excuses for yourself instead of acting.
I don’t have any outstanding tickets, my registration is current, and both my cars are paid for. And on the occasions when I got tickets, I paid for them.
You blew them off, and are now paying the consequences - which are much more severe than they would be if you had taken the trouble to read what was right in front of you.
What I would not recommend is going to court and telling the judge that you didn’t know you needed registration and insurance on your car, and that you blew off your tickets because you didn’t read them, and that you are only interested in getting back on the road.
Because the judge is going to react in pretty much the same way the judge did in your last trial, and during your last appeal.
You don’t have a leg to stand on. Your only chance is to do now what you should have done then, and accept that it is going to suck about nine times worse now than it had to.
Practice saying the following about twenty times a day, morning and night -
“I’m sorry, your honor. I messed up badly. I have no excuses. I am prepared to do whatever I can to make this right. I apologize for my mistakes - please help me work out a way to set this right.”
Regards.
Shodan
Nor was I pondering the question of whether I should or not. Slow down, read carefully, and you will see this.
Since I know you haven’t checked with everyone, I know this isn’t true. However, I also know that it IS still irrelevant, so it doesn’t matter.
Exactly. Since you know this, you know that your continued assertions about what I chose are incorrect. Because I have said it since the OP:
Because I didn’t read it, and instead made assumptions based on prior experience, I failed to know and understand that it was my duty to make an appearance. All foolish, all my fault, and still not a conscious choice to not appear when I knew I should.
The quote you pulled was a statement of my fiscal reality, and has nothing to do with whether I knew and understood what my options were and still made the decision to not appear, I didn’t. Because of an earlier decision not to read the ticket. And saying that I “decided” not to read the ticket it giving it too much credit, since it never crossed my mind to read it in the first place, I simply added it to the stack of bills I couldn’t pay to be dealt with later. Oops.
Very true. And I was fully aware of that: hence this thread.
Since saying that would involve lying, there’s no danger of that happening.
No need to memorize anything, since that’s pretty close to what I would say naturally.
Again, carefully reading and comprehending what I’ve actually said would have spared you the effort.