Some Days You Eat The Bear…

Some days, the bear eats you.

Today, the bear lost.

Over a week ago I got a speeding ticket. It was about 9:30pm. I was on a toll road approaching my exit, the final exit of the toll road. Almost home. BAM! Laser hit me. My Valentine 1 detector went nuts, but being the knowledgeable guy I am - I knew it was all over. I slowed immediately without looking at my speedometer. As the cop pulled down the on ramp of the previous exit with his lights going, I pulled to the shoulder.

82mph in a 60. I think I was going 75 because earlier I had indeed been going about 80. I wasn’t going as fast as I had been miles up the road (thankfully). No matter. I was guilty of speeding. My first ticket in a long, long time.

Within days I got on the Internet to look up the pricing of tickets from the city that issued my ticket. $180 for 10 miles over the limit PLUS $10 for every mile thereafter. My ticket was 22 miles over the limit. Grand total = $300! Ouch!

I wasn’t able to pay the ticket online because I wanted deferred adjudication - which means I get a 90 probation period to not get another ticket in that city, then they purge the ticket from my record. You still pay the fine, but after 90 days of clean driving it all goes away. You have to handle that in person at the courthouse. Another nice inconvenience.

I put off going for days. You’ve got 21 days to handle things. This morning I made plans to stop by the courthouse on the way to work.

I approach the window, hand the lady my ticket and tell her I want to pay this and apply for deferred adjudication. She enters the ticket number into her computer and says, “It’s your lucky day. The judge dismissed the ticket because the officer wrote the wrong date on the ticket.”

Excellent.

But I began to wonder how an officer (the bear) could get the wrong date on a day that was winding down. It was 9:30pm. I don’t know what shift this guy was on, but he’d had all day to know the correct date. And I’m rather certain in traffic ticket writing class the instructor emphasizes getting the person’s name, address and the date all correct. It made me wonder if I really beat the bear or did the bear just make it inconvenient on me to teach me a lesson without costing me tons of money? Was it his way of showing me mercy? Do his bosses measure the tickets he issues with mistakes?

I don’t know the answers, but I’m glad that I still have $300 in my account - and not the city that gave me the ticket. I need my money worse than they do.

I don’t gamble, but I told the courthouse clerk that perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket today. Feeling quite good, I drove on to work. Two miles from the office my check engine light came on. So much for luck.