Ticketed!

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by sderenzi, Oct 29, 2006.

?

I Think

Poll closed Nov 18, 2006.
  1. You deserved the ticket

    76.9%
  2. You should not have gotten a ticket

    23.1%
  1. sderenzi Banned Banned

    Messages:
    901
    So here's the simple question,

    I was leaving work and very tired, thus I didn't notice my headlights weren't on. I was just concerned with getting home when a cop pulled me over for it. Now I wasn't feeling all that well for most of the week as I'd had a bad cold (sore throat, aches, etc.) The cop explained "I've pulled over 4 other people today for the same thing, normally I'd let it go with a warning but because of that I've gotta give ya a ticket". It's 75 bucks here in Illinois, also they take your Drivers License until you pay.

    So let me ask you all your opinions, it makes me feel like throwing up that he took my Drivers License for something so stupid. Also he called it "An equipment violation". Thus begs the question, is it really an equipment violation if the lights actually work? How could it be, something like that would seem to me to indicate it can't work an thus is a violation. All he had to do was alert me to them being off then bam, on they went.

    Now the other thing is, this really didn't offer much in the way of detering others, I mean I've got no friends to tell, I have no life, so what the hell is the point of him giving me a ticket then?

    Thoughts?
     
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  3. tablariddim forexU2 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,795
    Driving without lights is a dangerous hazard to you and to other road users, paying a fine might just help you to pay more attention to road safety in the future... it might save lives.
     
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  5. phonetic stroking my banjo Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,157
    It's an easy mistake to make when there's lot of streetlights round about.

    If it's the law, it's the law.. Not much you can do about it. You did the right thing not arguing with the guy though.

    Recently I've had 3 parking tickets. One of them especially pissed me off, because I was less than 10 minutes late getting back to the car. I did manage to scare the shit out of a traffic warden as revenge though. He was crossing the road, so I accelerated, dipped the clutch and gave it about 5000rpm, missing him by a couple of foot.
     
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  7. sderenzi Banned Banned

    Messages:
    901
    I realize it's the law, but then again it doesn't make a whole lotta sense either. How can they give me a ticket when they're probably breaking the law at one point themselves while off duty? It's wrong. Everyone should be treated equally, yet I see people speeding all over, and they're ignored. I also see this as a waste of time, how can you ticket someone for a thing they can actually correct?

    It's all stupid in my opinion, I think it's sick an this country really is going downhill when instead of helping someone to realize they didn't turn on their headlights on they're given a ticket and made a fool out of. 75 dollars? come on for crying out loud people, this isnt' a dictatorship!

    I should be allowed to forget something simple like that grr.

    I feel sorry for that guy, he really seemed like he didn't wanna give me the ticket but had no choice, that's because his bosses make sure he's their slave working for money and if they find him disobeying he'll get fired or the like.

    Guess what the tickets fine print said? It said if they can't reach me with the first notice in the mail about a court date (I don't need one, but if I had) then other notices will be charged to me!!

    What a freakin joke to see that, they insult my honor giving me a ticket, and if I had needed a court appearance an for some reason the notice didn't get to me then they would charge me for their notices being sent, pretty disgusting.

    I feel like throwing up now

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  8. phonetic stroking my banjo Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,157
    There's an equally shitty thing on the fine print of speeding tickets here. You can pay within 14 days for £30 for example. Paying admits guilt. If you choose to plead not guilty, or pay after 14 days, you'll be charged £60. Or the court fees if it comes to it.

    They shaft you whichever way possible. And nobody's above the law, right?

    The cop you mentioned probably does have a quota. Wouldn't surprise me at all.

    Another thing that I found out that severely pissed me off is - when the gov catch foreign (illegal) cigarettes coming into the country, they use them as fuel in power stations. Why the hell they couldn't sell them for 3/4 the price and use the money for something decent or do something useful with them, I have no idea. Arseholes

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  9. sderenzi Banned Banned

    Messages:
    901
    That sucks I thought it was only in the USA. God these countries are like trash collectors, they just have all the wasteful ideas don't they?

    It's so stupid, that's exactly what my ticket says, the same thing about 14 days bla bla. What the heck, they instigate it, they ticket you, then they wanna charge you for it all, it's a sick thing.
     
  10. Absane Rocket Surgeon Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,989
    Pay the fine. It should be HABIT to turn your lights on. It's the same thing with me an seat belts... I don't even think about it.. my seat belt always gets put on.
     
  11. outlandish smoki'n....... Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,033
    want to talk about it?
     
  12. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    72,825

    I don't drive myself but a friend and I were actually on the road for more than 5 minutes without headlights on a main street at night. Not only that we were so busy talking we did not even notice the cop following us until he was forced to turn on his siren. Luckily for us, he was looking for drunk drivers and we were (also luckily) very sober, so he let us off with some choice remarks.

    I don't think they usually write tickets for forgetting to turn the lights on. So you were just out of luck.
     
  13. Absane Rocket Surgeon Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,989
    I sense another Cool Skill in the making.

    Look, it doesn't matter if the police officer breaks the laws he enforces. Does that change the fact that you broke the law?

    Plus, not every person can be pulled over for speeding. Down here in Atlanta, almost every week I pass an officer with a radar gun on a stretch of I-75/85 that is 55 mph. Everyone is doing 65. You cannot pull everyone over, so what they are probably doing is looking for the guy going 70/75 mph and slap him with a huge ass fine. If it shocks him enough, he won't speed again. The price of a ticket is just not worth it under GA law for someone going 10 mph over. Hell, there IS NO fine for someone doing 5 mph over the limit. If they pull over everyone going this low, they will either make no money or even lose money. So they raise taxes on everyone to make up the difference. That's not fair to people like me that do not speed.

    Sure, there are better solutions out there, but I think that is why they pull over super-speeders and not the average speeder.

    Plus, the average police office is too lazy. Once they are their way to make their quotas, they do not do much else. Back a year or so ago I used to tailgate police officers (while speeding) to see what they would do. Not a damn thing happened to me. However, I do not recommend anyone try this!!!
     
  14. phonetic stroking my banjo Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,157
    Luckily I've never been had for speeding.

    What worries me most is unmarked police cars. There's a long downhill bit on the motorway coming home and it's easy to creep up to 100. Any more than 100 and it's an instant ban, unless you have a damned good reason.

    I think the motorway speed limit should be 80mph in the UK instead of 70. The technology in cars has improved greatly since they decided on 70mph being safe.

    It's ridiculous when there's a police car on the motorway and there's a huge block of cars doing 65 beside it.
     
  15. outlandish smoki'n....... Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,033
    women. what did you do, bat your eyelids?

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  16. Baron Max Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    23,053
    He did!

    Baron Max
     
  17. vslayer Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,969
    how did you drive at night without noticing your lights werent on?
     
  18. Absane Rocket Surgeon Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,989
    The lights on my truck suck. I can drive without them on and the road still looks dark

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  19. vslayer Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,969
    perhaps you should replace the reflective lining behind them. but even if its dim either way, the dash still lights up and stuff.
     
  20. Absane Rocket Surgeon Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,989
    Yea I might need to do something about it before I get a lawsuit for hitting a black man wearing black clothes... I've almost hit one because he darted across the road one time in the middle of the night wearing black clothes. I can't see that shit.

    But, I can see my dash board lights

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  21. Baron Max Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    23,053
    I would hazard a guess that you, sir, are a fuckin' menace on the highway, and if you don't know it/realize it, then you're going to kill someone one day. Please ....quit driving!

    Baron Max
     
  22. lightgigantic Banned Banned

    Messages:
    16,330
    Check out this site
    http://www.upmart.info/index.html
    UPMART on Road Laws


    What this guy has been able to get away with is amazing - he relies on the australian constitution (a short document that expands into an 1800 page book with clarifications of the terms used in its writing) which over-rides any state given laws - thus he is able to get away with not having his car registered (it is perpetually registered), not having a drivers license (he has his own which is valid for 100 years), not paying for road tolls, minor traffic infringements etc etc - of course it s tricky business negotiating the law, and a few have been unsucceessful and received jail sentences (usually for responding with violence to police), but if a person has their wits about them and a fundamental understanding of the australian constituitional laws (and a bit of patience at being dragged to the police station from time to time) one can get away with this - apparently he's on a first name basis with many police and council infringement collectors - many don't even bother to stop him because they know their hands are tied.

    It is a response to the push by gov't's to use the police force as a means of excessive revenue collection - the police have recently considered or are in the process of changing their allegience to the queen (an operation under old constituitional laws of australia) by adopting an abn (australian business number) - the implications, according to Andrew Moyle, is that they have an even more greatly reduced power by constitutional law.
     
  23. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    72,825
    Of course not!

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