Well, I went to traffic court today regarding the ticket I got last month.
Last month, while driving up to Berkeley to attend the engineering graduation, I was going fast and got a ticket. 90 in a 65 zone. I wasn't driving particularly recklessly, just fast because the road was totally empty and I was getting bored and wanted to get to Berkeley already. It's interesting. I mean I totally deserved the ticket. I was going way over the speed limit and I had it coming, but it's interesting how random it is.
I mean if I just didn't happen to be on the road at the same time as this police officer, I would not have gotten the ticket. Of course, I deserved it and I had it coming, but it's just random. I had been driving for about 50 miles at about 90 mph with the gas light on. I needed to get gas. I kept saying I'd get gas at the next station, but I'd come up to the next station and I'd just keep going, to see how far I could stretch this tank of gas.
Well, all this time, I was coming up behind a police car, though it was past sunset and so I could not see the police car. Well, he was sneaky and exited the freeway right before I would have passed him. Well, the exit he got off was an exit that I SHOULD have gotten off to get gas if I wasn't being so foolish trying to stretch my tank of gas. Anyway, he got back on the freeway behind me, trailed me for 5 minutes and then pulled me over. He got me.
Driving fast increases the odds of getting a ticket, but it's really luck that determines if you get a ticket at any given time. I'm sure there were many times in the past where I had good luck, where there just happened to be someone else driving slightly faster than me who got the cops attention, but this time it was my turn.
Anyway, the policy is that if the ticket is more than 20 mph over the speed limit, then you cannot go to traffic school to wipe the ticket off your record. But, I was told, you could go and ask the judge to let you go to traffic school anyway. Deep down inside, I don't really have a problem with this policy. I mean it's not really a big deal, but I was advised to go and ask the judge anyway. So, I had to drive 180 miles to King City out in the middle of nowhere, or really the middle of Monterey County, cuz that's near where I got the ticket.
What a waste of a day! Where shall I start? Well, I was told I had to get to King City in Monterey County by 12:30 pm to reserve a spot in the 1:30 pm court session. I figured it would take about 2.5 hours to get there. I planned on leaving at 9:15. This would allow 45 extra minutes. I ended up leaving at 9:30. I had to stop and get gas and this took some time, so I ended up arriving in King City around 12:10 or 12:15 or something. The only problem was finding the courthouse.
I had the address and even 2 maps, neither of which happened to show the street that the courthouse was on. But I didn't concern myself with this when I left. I figured that it was a small town and that I'd get off the freeway and there would be a sign or something. Well, I drove around for 10 minutes and didn't find the courthouse. I started to panic. I hoped that they would still let me into the 1:30 pm sesssion if I didn't get there by exactly 12:30. Well, at something like 12:23, I pulled into a gas station and asked for direction and they gave them to me.
I wasn't far away, they said, but I didn't know my way around, so I was in a big rush. Well, what do you know, I got stuck behind a little truck that didn't seem to want to go faster than 20 mph. Argh! And he was making all the same turns that I was. Well, I was on the street that the courthouse was on and I had no idea if the court house was right there or another mile down and it was like 12:30 and I wanted to get there. There was a center lane and at one point, I could see far enough that no cars were coming so I went to pass him there. Well, just as I was finishing passing him and pulling in front of him, I saw the sign for the courthouse. I sharply turned in there, with a little unintentional tire screeching, right in front of him.
The next thing I know, he is turning into the same parking lot as me. He was kind of a big guy too. I was slightly frighttened as he walked by my car. I said "Sorry about that". He didn't say much, but didn't seem like a mean guy. I asked him if this was the traffic court and he said yes. We both went in. He went up the counter and I dunno what he said to the person there. Then he left. I was worried that he was gonna be reporting that I was driving bad or something, but it would make more sense to go to the police station to do that. I guess he probably had his own traffic problems he was taking care of.
Anyway, I made it in time to get into the 1:30 session. I have a feeling they were not to strict about the time, but I didn't know this when I was trying to find the place.
Anyway, I had an hour to eat lunch. I found a Round Table Pizza place and ate there. I came back to the court building and waited.
There must have been about 40 people for the 1:30 session. One girl had a lawyer representing her. A few other people were wearing suits and ties, but most people were dressed like crap. Anyway, it wasn't just a traffic court. The people before me had various offenses: minor in possesion of alcohol, driving without a lisense, driving without a child seat with a kid, etc. Many people had to have a translater for the court.
One woman told the judge that she got a speeding ticket, but that she was having bladder problems and was just trying to get to a bathroom and he dismissed the ticket "in the interest of justice" or something. That was nice of him, but you know what... What if I got a speeding ticket cuz I was driving home to see my friend who was sick and I wanted to get there before he/she went to sleep and so I was driving fast. Should I be exempt? No! The reason we have traffic laws is because someone decided that it's too dangerous to go faster than a certain speed. If she can drive fast cuz she has to go to the bathroom, then maybe I can drive fast for whatever other reason. On the other hand, I do see her point I guess it was nice of the judge to dismiss her case.
Anyway, one of the people before me, who was dressed nicely in a suit and tie, went up and he also had a speeding ticket. I have a feeling it was for going extremely fast, maybe 115 or something, but this is only a guess based on the fine he had. Anyway, his fine was far bigger than mine. Well, he went up there and politely pled guilty and asked if he could go to traffic school. The judge denied this request before he could say anything else. But the guy told the judge that he was told that he could come and request traffic school, and the judge denied it and the guy tried to request it again and the judge said the he was denying the request. This was a precurser (is that the right word?) of what was to come with me.
Well, soon, I was called up and I pled guilty and asked for traffic school, hoping that the judge would grant this for people who went 90, but not 115 or whatever the other guy was going. Well, he also quickly denied my request before I thought to say something that might convince him otherwise. I don't think he was gonna be convinced. And you know what, I don't think I would be if I were in his possision either. I mean the law is the law. Who is he to change it. His job is not to change it to his liking, but to enforce it. If I was him, I would deny all requests also.
Thus, it made little sense for me to even ask, except that it was an interesting experience.
I mean deep down, I don't feel that I deserve any special treatment in this case. The law is fair and I broke it (by driving fast) and I deserve the punishment, which is really not that bad. I have to pay $163 and it goes on my record and maybe my insurance rates go up. I mean it's not like the punishment was 10 years in jail or something unneccesary like that that would screw up my whole life. If that were the case, then I'd have some good reason to try and persuade the judge to lighten the sentence. Fortunately, this was not the case.
So, I was kinda pissed off driving home. But when I thought about it logically, there was no reason at all to be pissed off. It's not like I was screwed over. I really have no complaints. If anything, I wish that I didn't even have the option of asking the judge in this case, because it didn't seem like there was much chance of him changing anything anyway.
On the way back, I really felt like speeding, but could not, lest I get another ticket. Why did I feel like speeding. I just did....like I had this adrenaline rush cuz I was pissed off. Same thing that made me turn up my car stereo full blast with obnoxious music on.