As an American, justice is drilled into our heads as a right we all have. Traffic court is not about justice. It's about getting the maximum amount of dollars as possible.
So, on Feb 11th I dropped my son off at swim practice like I normally would. It was 7am on a Saturday morning. His swim team practices at one of the local high schools. As I was leaving the parking lot, I yielded slightly before moving out into the street. There wasn't a soul to be found except the cop on the other side of the street. As soon as I pulled out, he turned around to follow me and pulled me over. He then proceeded to tell me the infraction I committed was "failure to yield the right of way leaving a private drive". I was confused. I was adement that I did yield and he disagreed and laid a guilt trip on me saying "You really should be more careful when driving at a school."
Ummm...it was 7am...on a Saturday...it was COMPLETELY dead. The only other person around was the cop and he wasn't in my right of way.
I accepted my ticket and began to cry at the $124 dollar charge. I felt frustrated because I hadn't committed the infraction he charged me with.
Feb 27th: Court date #1: See that #1 in front of court date? I expected there to only be one court appearance for traffic court. I showed up and the judge called me forward. She asked me if I wanted to plea guilty or not guilty. I told her not guilty because I yielded and didn't commit the infraction I was charged with. She says, ok if you want a trial you have to come back. My only other experience in traffic court was dealt with the day of your first appearance. This had already become more complicated. They gave me a trail date, the 28th of March to appear at 10am.
I had several issues with my ticket: A: he wrote the wrong time down. B: he got my court date messed up. C: ummm I didn't do it.
Court date #2: I show up at 9:45am for my 10am court time. I wait. At 10:06 the prosecutor called me up and says, "oh, by the way, just to let you know, we've amended the charges against you. You are no longer being charged with failure to yield. You are now being charged with failure to stop."
Say WHAT? You can change the charges against me without giving me advanced notice to prepare my defense??? Really??? And seeing as how I'm not a lawyer and no one with a somewhat normal income would get a lawyer for TRAFFIC court, I didn't know what to do.
Feeling overwhelmed, I listened as she continued to talk, "Now, you can plea to a lesser charge- a non moving violation. It will never leave this courtroom. It won't go on your driving record, it won't be reported to your insurance, HOWEVER, your fine will double to $251. WHAT. I looked at her and said, "That feels like bribery...it just feels...wrong". She informed me that this is quite common. I felt like I was talked to Satan and he was brokering a deal.
I sat down, stunned and overwhelmed. As I thought through it, I realized I didn't have much of a choice given my resources and was pretty sure the court system and government was fully aware of that. So what did I do?
I made the deal with the devil and paid the extra fee so keep it off my insurance record. In the long run that will save me much more than the extra money I paid. I could help leaving the courthouse feeling I had been extorted or used. It all just felt so wrong and completely unjust.
Please feel free to share your experiences...maybe in not alone.
