My Two Hundred And Eighteen Dollar Traffic Ticket

[damnedifIknow]

218 smackers...

[CFLDem]

1. Ouch

How much over?

[damnedifIknow]

3. 15 over

I was on the interstate and ran into a speed trap in NC. Smokie on the bridge clocked me. I then got a lecture on the proper way to wear my seat belt and even a quiz. `I was asked what was behind my rib cage and I answered correctly when I said heart. Didn't even get a bonus for the right answer.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

6. NC State Patrol is the WORST...

i never speed in that state... they have no mercy...

sP

[Warpy]

27. They don't in Texas, either

which is where I got the only speeding ticket of my life. They did apologize for giving me the ticket but said they had no choice since the dash cams had been installed.

I was guilty as hell, but I was trying to keep all the monster trucks from driving up my tailpipe.

[Takket]

14. sounds oppressive to me!

maybe the militia will come to court with you to fight this government oppression!

[oldhippie]

15. You weren't wearing your seat belt properly?

Had the upper chest part behind your back, possibly? If it was up to me the fine would be much higher and probably jail time.

I'm authoritarian about some things.

[damnedifIknow]

18. I had it on

I have to wear my belt or an alarm goes off that's really annoying. I have to admit that if not for the alarm I would probably skip the click. I'm just so tired of all this safety crap all the time. Life is risky if you get a chance to actually live it.

[RebelOne]

20. I always wear my seat belt, but a policeman would

not consider it worn properly. I cannot stand it across my chest, so I put it under my right arm. Otherwise, I feel like it is choking me.

[tandot]

29. Have you considered getting a seat belt strap adjuster?

I have the same problem and it made driving very uncomfortable. I now use a seat belt adjuster/clip similar to this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Seat-Belt-Strap-Adjuster-Set/dp/B007X6I3QM/ref=sr_1_11?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1397857557&sr=1-11&keywords=seatbelt+clip

They sell different models, some plastic, some metal.

It makes a big difference ... no more belt choking me

[RebelOne]

34. Thanks. I'll check it out. n/t

[etherealtruth]

40. The discount stores have a little velccro on ....

.... lambs wool kind of thing. (It makes a "tube" around a portion of the seat belt.

Seat belts don't actually bother me ... but my belt did weird things to my clothing and this thing really helped. I hate it when I am not in my own car and don't have one.

[blueamy66]

43. Jail time?

For the speeding? For wearing the seatbelt incorrectly?

Did you forget the sarcasm thingy?

[pipi_k]

16. I'm waiting for one of those myself...

the seatbelt lecture, I mean.

Mr Pipi occasionally goes too fast and gets pulled over.

I wear my seatbelt all the time, but my problem is that even though I'm relatively tall, it's all in my legs. From the waist up I'm pretty short, so when I have my seatbelt on, it ends up across my neck, very close to my chin.

Maybe a child booster seat would help...

[tandot]

32. I just responded to RebelOne who has the same problem:

The belt was always choking me and I bought one similar to one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Seat-Belt-Strap-Adjuster-Set/dp/B007X6I3QM/ref=sr_1_11?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1397857557&sr=1-11&keywords=seatbelt+clip

They sell different models, some plastic, some metal.

I bought mine at Walmart but I am sure they have a good selection at any auto parts store like AutoZone etc.

[RebelOne]

35. Wow, I have a Walmart about 2 miles from my house,

and there is an AutoZone within a mile, almost around the corner. I think I will check out AutoZone's website and see if there is one at my local store.

[Yo_Mama]

37. You should get the gizmo - if the seat belt is across your neck you could die

from the safety measure.

In a crash it can break your neck or cause severe neck injuries, such as a crushed carotid.

[Ghost in the Machine]

25. NC Troopers are the WORST!! I got a ticket for doing 52mph in a 50mph zone coming through the

Research Triangle Area back in 1997. I was doing a big roofing job in Rocky Mount at the time. It was a Friday afternoon and we had finished up the job that day. I was in a rental van, because the company van had broken down the night before, with my crew of 9 people, headed back to Atlanta. Due to Rental Agreement, the van had no hitch, and I couldn't tow my trailer mounted welder, which also had our gang box with all of our tools and our ladder on it. I had to get my crew home, jump in MY personal truck, haul ass back to Rocky Mount, get the trailer and be back in Atlanta and ready to leave out to Orlando, Florida Sunday night!

Trooper asks me "where ya' going in such a hurry, Harley Man?" (I was wearing a Sturgis '96 hat & shirt). I told him the above story and he says "well, it don't sound like you're gonna be slowing down any then, huh Harley man?" I said "probably not, but that's the game we play. I drive fast, and you try to catch me. Looks like you won this time, but are you *REALLY* gonna give me a ticket for 2 miles an hour over the speed limit??" He said "we got a zero tolerance for speeding in North Carolina, Mr. Harley man". I asked "how much is the ticket?" he says "it'll be $100.00". I pulled a wad of money out, peeled off a $100 bill and said "can I just pay it now?" He says "oh no,no, NO! I can't take money! You can come back and fight it in court, or just mail it in". I said "well, I'll have a money order in the mail Monday morning then." He just smiled and said "ok Mr. Harley man, but watch your speed and be safe. Good luck on your way back and making it back to Atlanta again by Sunday". I took the ticket, said "thank you, sir... and hope I don't see you early in the morning!"

He followed me for a good 10 miles, then turned off an off ramp. When he did, I dropped the hammer and said "fuck it! If they're gonna get me for speeding, it might as well be worth it!" I dropped my crew off in Atlanta about 9PM, drove to my house in Douglasville, went in and got my keys to my truck, filled up my tea glass and hauled ass back to Rocky Mount and got my trailer. I was back home by Saturday evening with enough time to take my folks and kids out to dinner, then went home and slept for about 12 hours... 9pm til 9am... spent the day with my kids, picked up my crew that evening, and was sitting at the job in Orlando at 6:30 Monday morning!

Ok, that was a long story just to say FUCK NC STATE TROOPERS!!! $100 for 2 miles over the speed limit! ASSHOLES!! /rant

Ghost

[lostincalifornia]

33. In california you would have to be going at least 5 mph over. 2 miles over could be contested

Last edited Fri Apr 18, 2014, 11:56 PM - Edit history (1)

[Ghost in the Machine]

44. In Georgia and Tennessee, they will give you 10 mph over. you can do 80 in a 70, but not 81! n/t

[Sarah Ibarruri]

26. I suppose they had nothing better to do than collect funds. CLEARLY they have no criminals to catch

Maybe they have too many employees and need to let some of them go, if they have all that time and manpower that they can waste some on this crap.

[nomorenomore08]

31. +1

[laundry_queen]

45. That excuse here is used for photo radar.

"We need photo radar so we have more manpower to concentrate on crime."

Around here they don't make a pretense of 'making roads safe' by catching speeders. It's all currently contracted out to photo radar. They are even allowed to hide the cameras now (so you don't clue in when you see the black truck parked on the side of the road).
My ex's company truck is equipped with a GPS that also had a speed indicator on it that throws off an alarm if he goes more than a certain amount over the speed limit (very low, like 2 or 3 mph). I said, why don't they just cut out the middle man, and just equip every car with a GPS and speed indicator and every time someone squeaks over the speed limit, they can just mail them a bill. That's where we are headed now. Nanny state anyone?

For disclosure, I've never had a speeding ticket in my life (22+ yrs of driving), not even photo radar. I do speed, but I'm careful about it (have a lot of cop friends and relatives that gave me tips and tricks).

[theHandpuppet]

49. I got a ticket in Cincy for going 38 in a 35 zone at 6 am

This was many moons ago when I was a dirt poor student and that ticket meant another week of nothing but pickle loaf on the menu. What's always irked me about tickets is that those with money think of it as just inconvenience but to folks who are poor it means they might not be able to eat, pay rent et al.

[LibDemAlways]

53. You've got that right. There is a speed

trap near my daughter's college where the speed inexplicably goes from 45 to 25 for two blocks, and the 25 sign is obscured by a bush. Her roommate got stuck with a 433.00 fine because she didn't see the sign. No way can college students afford that. It's a racket.

[brewens]

54. If you're really only 15 over in my state, Idaho, they will always write it up as 13 maybe

and give you a break. That of course if there is nothing else going on that pisses them off. I got that break on my last two tickets, three and five years ago. I was I think 15 and 19 over on those. The 19 over I showed the guy I was on my way to donate blood platelets and was a little late. I think that helped.

[MineralMan]

2. Consider it a learning experience.

What was the ticket for?

[TreasonousBastard]

4. I had one of those...

80 bucks for running a stop sign (I did stop, just not in front of it) 50 surcharge, another 75 no one actually understood, but there was a prosecutor there who asked me if I hit anyone or anything (no) and then knocked it down to a hundred bucks.

Legislators like to see traffic fines as a proper alternative to raising taxes.

[safeinOhio]

9. I knew an 18 year old that got 3 days in jail

for rolling thru a stop sign. Cussed out the judge.

[NutmegYankee]

22. The jail time was for contempt of court.

You leave their kingdom first, then you can insult their competence and partiality.

[Logical]

48. Seems like a freedom of speech issue to me. But judges love the power. nt

[NutmegYankee]

50. There is no freedom of speech within a courtroom.

The First Amendment stops the Legislative branch from making laws against freedom of speech (and since there is no law, the executive which carries them out also cannot violate it). The Judicial branch however...

If one wants to see life in a dictatorship, visit a courtroom.

[villager]

30. exactly right - its a tax, to avoid imposing other actual taxes

Has zero to do with "safety"

[Freddie]

5. Will there be points too?

So your insurance goes up as well? You're usually double-f*cked with traffic tickets. I haven't had one in over 30 years, but DH got one recently for doing over 30 on a 25 mph town street. Grrrr.

[tularetom]

7. I got a $270 one for going 64 in a 55 zone

But that's chump change compared to the $400 ticket my granddaughter got for - wait for it - failing to stop before making a right turn.

Traffic enforcement has nothing to do with safety anymore. It's all about revenue.

[damnedifIknow]

8. I thought 218 was bad

That's just nuts.

[Jesus Malverde]

10. does that include administrative and court fees.

in California, the fees outside the actual cost of the ticket are off the hook.

[Agschmid]

11. My biggest was $618...

I was going a bit too fast, I learned my lesson. We all feel a bit indestructible in our youth...

[hunter]

12. In some nations the fine is proportional to your income.

That way everyone, wealthy or poor, supposedly feels the same sting.

It would surely distort trafic "enforcement" in the U.S.A. where speed traps, DWBs, and other forms of harassment are common.

Wouldn't it be amusing to see the wealthy getting shaken down for a change?

Who would the traffic cops aim for, the working class guy who will pay a $50 fine, or the guy who will pay the $10,000 fine?

It's too bad the very wealthy own the U.S.A.. They get away with stuff that lands non-wealthy people in jail or prison. What's $218 to someone who regularly buys $200 meals and stays in $1200 hotel suites without thinking twice about it?

[penultimate]

39. I'm pretty sure Germany is like that, right?

[HipChick]

13. DU men are going to hate me...but

I was stopped doing 85, in a 65 zone..I honestly did not know I was going that fast...and I had left my DL at home....He let me go, with a warning, and wrote his number down on the bottom on the warning ticket thingy he gave me...

[pipi_k]

17. WHAT????

Oh boy...never mind the guys, I'm pissed!


I got an actual ticket for accidentally going through a stop sign that I honestly did not see.

And this was when I was younger and way cuter than I am now.

And no phone number on the ticket, either!!!




PS...seriously, though, as I wrote up above, Mr Pipi has this habit of driving a bit too fast. He blames the vehicle..."you can't tell how fast, blah blah blah". Yeah, OK.

As long as I've known him he's never gotten a ticket, which I don't think is fair. He's retired police Sergeant, so the cop sees the police sticker on the car.

I really do wish he'd get a ticket one of these times. Then maybe it would teach him a lesson...first, the fine, then the surcharge on auto insurance for a moving violation (which I think is for at least 2 years but not more than 5).

I keep joking that if he ever gets dragged off to the pokey, I'm not going to bail him out. Well, only half joking.

[HipChick]

19. I drove the wrong way down a highway for about 3 miles..

I did wonder what kinda backwards horse town I was in that all the signs were backwards, and why people kept flashing their lights at me....damn rude I thought...

Then this cruiser saw me and whipped around and pulled me over...I explained that I had just got off this 16hr flight and was trying to find my hotel and was badly jet lagged..not only did they give me a warning, but they also escorted me to the hotel...

[Skittles]

21. I paid more than that, for 91 in a 65

in my defense, it was a highway and there were no other cars on the road, well, except for the cop

hey, it made me slow down so the cop did his job

[NutmegYankee]

23. I'm surprised to didn't get a summons for that!

Usually that becomes reckless driving.

[aikoaiko]

24. I was luckier. I called, explained the situation, and my fine was waived with a warning.

[Politicalboi]

28. My last ticket was a bogus ticket

Now I have been driving since 1977 and speed is all I do for the most part, but these days I'm more cautious. But a few years back I was on Highway 14 going to Lancaster Ca. There was hardly any traffic, and I was alone driving in a car pool lane which was allowed during different times of the day.

Anyway there's this truck in front of me with 2 males, and we were both speeding along. All of a sudden the truck puts his breaks on because there was a motorcycle cop on the side of the road, "OFF" his bike. By that time, we both were going 65 MPH. That asshole cop got on his bike and got behind me even though there was a car in front of me and pulled me over. Told me I was doing 81 and he says he can prove it after I asked him. He comes back with his radar gun that says 81. That read could have been his last ticket. I told him it proves nothing.

I was going to fight it, but I moved too far away to chance driving all that way, spending money on the gas, and possibly get another bogus or deserved ticket. $500.00 out the window for a bogus ticket. How could I be going 81 while another vehicle in front of me knows there's a cop behind us.

[REP]

36. Don't drive faster than you can afford

Me, I just outrun the trooper.

Seriously, I know where the traps are. When I don't - go with the flow.

[penultimate]

38. Those always suck... It's like burning money or flushing it down the toilet

You get nothing for it except for higher insurance rates. I got my first ticket a couple months ago for accidentally going through a stop sign in the middle of the night. I didn't even see it until I was right up on it because of some trees. At least think it was because the trees were blocking it. I was lost and trying to find someone who was stranded. Sucked having to fork out $240 and not get anything for it.

How badly does that $218 hurt you or set you back? It's one thing to have to pay that out when things are going good, but it really sucks when that money had a set place it was supposed to go.

[Exposethefrauds]

41. Wait it just may get better

A month after I paid my NC speeding ticket, 75 in a 55 $125 mail in fine in 1982, I got a letter from the state telling me my driving privileges were suspended for 1 year or pay an additional $125 fine. OK F them I will take the suspension WTF did I care I lived in another state.

Fast forward 7 years later went to get new drivers license, nope NC suspended my license some how, anyway long story short fuckers got their money in the end.

Hope it does not happen to you too

[etherealtruth]

42. Well, that really sucks n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

46. You must not live in Cali. red light traffic ticket = $500

but I heard the system is going away because government figured out they weren't making any money on it. The contract firm made all the money.

[DiverDave]

47. Ohio!

The Governors daughter was killed by an 18 wheeler and they were out for blood (sorry poor pun)
I saw a ticket for 56 in a 55.

[Historic NY]

51. Its Speed Week here.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/state-cops-speed-week-to-target-aggressive-drivers-1.7725880

[Paulie]

52. Only speeding ticket I got was 400 for doing 95 in a 45 back in 2003

Though this was in Poland, just south of Warsaw, and the money was in Zloty and the speed in kph. Cop that pulled me over had a semiautomatic rifle on his shoulder. Paid the fine on the spot in USD (a Benjamin) and he went after a garbage truck that was spilling trash down the road.

First and only time it got a speeder. Parking is another dozen stories.

[sabbat hunter]

55. in 1995

that benjamin may have been a week's pay for that cop in Poland outside of Warsaw.