"I'm getting sick and tired of all these traffic tickets! I'm going to have to try something new. Like obeying the law."My most recent transgression was sent to me through the mail, which seems particularly cruel. Not only is it impossible to remember why I might or might not have committed a particular violation THREE WEEKS AGO, but all drama is removed.
I'm just innocently going through the mail when suddenly I'm attacked by a photo of my license plate.
Gone is the wondering, "Is that ME getting pulled over?!"
Gone is the panic, "What was I doing wrong? Can I find my insurance card? Is my registration up to date? What about my inspection?"
Gone is the chance to talk your way out of a ticket. I hardly ever manage, but I usually at least make the effort. I got out of one when I was 19 or 20 via this conversation:
Officer: Do you know why I pulled you over?And I WAS more careful next time. WAY more careful! And for lots and lots of next times after that. I just have trouble remembering to drive more slowly ALL the time.
Me: Was I going too fast?
Him: You were speeding.
Me: But I saw a deer! It came right in front of my car! It was so close!
Him: Let me get this straight. There was a deer in the road so you drove faster?!?
Me: I wanted to get home to tell my goddaughter. She's going to be so excited! I just really wanted to tell her.
Him: Well just remember this is a neighborhood. And be more careful next time.
And apparently I have trouble now and again remembering to stop at the yellow and red lights too. Because when I got my ticket in the mail, it showed a website where I could watch myself sailing through an intersection, not a care in the world, luckily not crushed to death by oncoming traffic, and definitely unable to talk my way out of a ticket.
In other news, it is EIGHTEEN stinking degrees here in Texas this morning. EIGHTEEN!
I'd like to know where to register my complaint.
Because we already have hurricanes and fire ants and cockroaches for crying out loud. What we do NOT have around these parts is proper insulation and air tight houses. So yes, our pipes are frozen, thank you very much.
Here are some upside down signs at that very same intersection where I got the ticket. They look like they're doing gymnastics, or at least headstands. They've been that way all week. I hope that their backs have gotten a good stretch and that they're ready to go back to work next week:
I hope everyone had a good first week in 2010!
10 comments:
I got one of those in the mail, fortunately it was when they were new and there was a week's grace period before the tickets were "real". It was pretty surprising though, I made a left on a red at a very busy intersection although nobody was coming at the time so it wasn't dangerous. Weird to see yourself do something like that and have no recall of doing it. Totally catches you off guard getting it in the mail like that!
I am happy to hear you didn't try to drive upside down seeing those signs? Or. Did you?
Sorry about your pipes. I am also equally sorry that this vision of frozen pipes kinda ruins my fantasy of a Texas where it is warmer than here. It's about 20, here. But at least we have insulation.
Guess I need to visualize farther south.
Beth - Yeah, I was off guard all right. I had to get out last month's calendar just to figure out why I was even AT that intersection, much less coming from that direction. :-0
SJ - I think that's why I got the ticket!
Christine - It totally ruined my fantasy of Texas too! Here I thought I lived in the land of snakes and hurricanes and cocroaches and heat waves!
Speed cameras do take all the sport out of speeding. Bastards.
ACK! You didn't even get the chance to cry to the nice officer. I've done that. Only worked once. :-(
Yeah I hate those red light cameras. Every time I approach one, I am thinking "Will it turn? Can I stop? Should I speed up? AAAAAAH!"
I purposely map out my drives to avoid as many as I can.
A Free Man - Yeah!
Janet - I don't think I've cried, but I sure have felt like it. I probably should try it.
Maureen - I wish I could avoid them. They seem to be all over the place here!
Having got down to 3 points on my licence (out of 12) I finally figured out that speeding was NOT worth it. Hate it when they ping you in an area you THOUGHT was 60km/hr, doing 68km/hr, and it was really a 50km/hr zone.......
Also hate it when you go through a red light camera at night and the flash almost BLINDS you!
the weather? WTF! at least it's getting back to normal now.
rose and i got one of those tickets about a year ago, but neither of us remembered making the turn. we argued about which of us it was, as though it matters when you pay the fine from a joint checking account.
i managed to get my irises in before the freeze here, but my palm tree is too big to drag it in, so it suffered. my friends (originally from nebraska, now living in austin) were expressing their disbelief at all the stuff we have to do to keep our pipes from freezing. they said they never had to do any of that when they lived somewhere that freezes frequently. i didn't realize that. i thought yankees had to wrap their exterior pipes up all winter long and it was just part of the suffering.
learn something new every day.
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