Goddamn Ticket! Even if I DID earn it!

The BBQ Pit
1

I got a citation this weekend, for driving too fast for conditions. This was after crumpling the crap out of my fender (and breaking the taillight of another car) when I hit cars that were already in an accident caused by the unexpectedly slick roads. The officer said that if I was driving too fast to stop, I was driving too fast. End of story.

Okay. Agreed. This is true. I was going too fast (although under the speed limit). I did not know I was going too fast to be able to stop until I saw the little pileup, and tried to stop, and couldn’t. I didn’t argue at the time. I took my little citation and was suitably chastened.

But may I now whine? The officer told me that there were accidents all over town. The tow trucks were booked, every officer on duty was at road-condition-related traffic accident. And I got into an accident in part because a condition-related accident had happened moments before. Might it not be the case that the roads were a little tricky? That in certain spots, almost no speed was safe? But that it wasn’t that no one should be driving, because in other spots you could easily go five MPH OVER the speed limit (as the officer groused people were doing in the next lane, whizzing by as she wrote the accident reports)? I mean, we’ve got loads of evidence that it was safe to drive, just unpredictably unsafe in certain spots. And I wasn’t speeding.

I might also note that even without a ticket, I am going to be amply punished. I have to pay for my deductible, suffer the inconvenience of my car in the shop for repairs, take my son to the doctor (he was unhurt but the officer insisted I take him in next week to check him out), and buy a new carseat (although insurance may pay for that, knock wood). I’ll bet my insurance company might make me feel a little pain, too, when it comes time to renew my policy.

So couldn’t she CUT ME A BREAK on this citation? I admit that the charge was factually inaccurate, but damn. Have a heart!

I don’t generally agree with the whole “Haven’t I suffered enough” excuse, but combined with the fact that dozens of motorists were as tricked as I was. . . . I’m moping over this ticket. I think it’s gonna cost me $150. Money I might have sent to starving orphans, you just never know.

To turn this into a thread ,instead me just whimpering, why not mope about your own traffic violation woes here. Tell about how the cruel police officer stole your orphan-bound donation. Or berate me for being a whiner. Something.

I’ll be here in the corner pouting.

2

I recall another evening when many drivers got suckered in by black ice and there were loads of accidents. The police officer at my accident ticked the other driver, saying “I would have been willing to write this off to bad road conditions, except for the amount of damage you did to her car” (it was totaled - not an easy thing to do when struck from behind).

you are, of course, allowed to protest the ticket in court ya know.

3

Yeah, if you can afford the time, it might be worth it to go into court and tell your story. There’s a good chance the judge will at least reduce the fine.

I’ve never tried it, but from what I hear, just showing up for court (and not being a complete moron) is enough to get the fine chopped in half.

4

Oooh, oooh can I complain too? Thanks!

I hate my school’s parking office! I pay almost two hundred bucks to park in an open lot a 20-minute walk away from my dorm. I came back to school Monday night after the snow was done, and of course, NOTHING WAS PLOWED. The parking lot where I was supposed to park was approximately 2 feet deep in snow. I was told by a security officer to park in a school-owned garage which I technically am not supposed to be in, but I needed to park somewhere so that I don’t violate the city’s ‘no parking midnight to 7 am when snow’ rule so they can plow.

So being the good little kid I am, I do what I am told and then go home. Next morning, the roads are still total slush and snow and I realize that I am going to need a lot of time to get into my own lot. So I have to wait until classes and work is over–4:30 pm Tuesday.
And I hike over to the garage, and of course, I’ve got a ticket. I mean, the state keeps cutting the school’s funds, they have to get money somewhere, right?

Nevermind the fact that I proceeded to pull my car out,
go to my assigned lot,
get STUCK in the snow,
run to the store to get a snow shovel to get into the parking lot,
have to buy a lawn and garden shovel because there are no snow shovels to be found in this town,
cruise around the better-plowed lot to find a spot,
then dig a spot out just so I can get my car in.
Total time spent getting into the lot: 2.5 hours.

I mean seriously, where exactly was my car supposed to be parked when I can’t get it into the lot?

Oh, yeah, and to top it off, I went in to the parking office and asked very nicely if I could get the ticket waived (on account of their shitty plowing job, although of course I didn’t say it like that), and the head bitch in there had the gall to look at me and say “All the lots were completely accessible this morning.” Excuse me, only for the TRUCKS! The only vehicles getting in and out were trucks and other high-profile vehicles. My little car doesn’t have much clearance and doesn’t deal with 1.5 feet of snow too well.

I’m gonna contest it this week, although I have to pay the ticket in order to contest it, so I expect this to be an exercise in futility. Fucking state school.

5

Car pulls in front of me on bicycle. Driver leaves before ambulance arrives. Policeman follows ambulance (with me in it) to hospital. At hospital policeman gives me a ticket because as he explained it, “I have to give somebody a ticket and you’re the only one here.”

6

Last thursday I was on a country road which was completely clear of snow, only thing bad was the fog. I was driving around a curve and as soon as I cleared it my car did a 180 and slid right into a ditch. While sliding sideways the car lifted up and I was on two tires. Damn thing nearly flipped (I was driving my moms old geo tracker after having had my car catch on fire last month). I was very very stuck. All four tires were spinning like mad but I wasn’t moving. I got out of the car and on the other side of the road was a brand new Chevy Tahoe (wrecked) and an F-250 truck (very wrecked) and an econobox (totaled). FOUR CARS TRICKED BY FUCKING BLACK ICE GRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I had to pay 40 dollars to have the tow truck pull me out. No damage though.

I just hope we can get reimbursed for the tow w/o going through hell.

The parking garage at my school has a top floor which never gets plowed. So no one knows where the lines are, including their “campus police.” They gave me a ticket for blocking the roadway when I was legally parked. The idiot didn’t even bother to see if I was actually parked ok. I appealed and won. Before appealing I actually went to their building and questioned the cop about it. He was a total jerk, nothing like the REAL police in the area.

7

God, that would have made steam come out of my ears.

8

I raise the BS flag on the cop saying that to you, Kid. The most likely scenario is that the cop gave you a ticket for driving your vehicle (the bicycycle) in an unsafe manner, such as biking on the wrong side of the road, running a posted stop sign, or the like.

9

Just because a lot of people are behaving like idiots doesn’t mean it’s ok for people with the ability to think to behave that way too. When conditions are bad, smart drivers slow down and drive more cautiously. You didn’t drive cautiously enough to avoid an accident.

That said, I am sorry that you got your fender crunched and that you got a ticket. I’ve heard the same thing Ferrous mentioned, that just showing up in court can go pretty far sometimes. Good luck with that.

10

Most people whom I saw on the roads–and there was normal traffic–were going at the speed limit, or (like me) under it in respect for winter conditions. This was not idiocy; it was perfectly appropriate on 90% of the road surfaces. Myself and the other three cars involved in this particular fuckup hit the 10%. We might have been idiots for not realizing we were onto a patch of bad road, but even I think that’s an unfair term. I’ve got the ability to think, and I had my son in the car which for me is double incentive to drive carefully.

I didn’t drive cautiously enough, this is true. I certainly regret that. But it’s not like I looked out the window, saw bad roads but said “Fuck it! Other people are driving, so will I! And at whatever speed I want!”

11

Or I could just be the worlds biggest fucking whiner ever. It’s probably B. I apologize for my defensiveness in the above post.

12

Oh, I didn’t mean you are an idiot, CrankyAsAnOldMan. And I know you’ve got the ability to think – that’s what I was trying to say, actually.

I wasn’t trying to cast aspersions on your character or judgement, either. I was… um… I don’t know. I think you’re keen. Never mind.

13

No, no, I apologize!

14

I feel like I’m in an episode of Chip and Dale!

“After YOU!”

“No no, after YOU!”

:smiley:

Would that all pit threads would end this politely.

15

I wish I had any excuses as good as yours for my recent citation, Cranky. Unfortunately, going 78 mph in a 55 zone is pretty much wrong any way you slice it. :frowning: