Got a ticket Friday...

I was turning right on a red. Car was coming in the distance, so I took off
quickly to get up to speed before he got close. Corner was dry where I could
see but right around the corner near the curb was a puddle of water. So as I
accelerated out of the turn I was first on dry pavement and accelerating
quickly (not real hard, just quick with moderate throttle). Then as I passed
over the puddle my right tire spun real quick and then caught again ont eh
dry pavement, chirping. Car was straight as an arrow the whole time, no
smoke, and not accelerating real hard.

As that was happening a cop was slowing to stop at the light on the
intersecting road, which had changed while I was turning. Looking in my
mirror I saw him turning around and pulled over in a parking lot, figuring
he was going to stop me.

He pulled in and asked for my papers. I reached for the glove box, couldn't
reach, so removed my seatbelt and then got my papers and handed them to him.
He went back to his car, and came back to give me my papers and a ticket.

He told me he could have wrote me a ticket for careless driving, but did not
because that carried points. Instead he gave me a seatbelt ticket. I asked
hif he realized that I had not spun my tire on purpose, and as I was
accelerating hit a puddle, thus the tire chirped as the pavement was once
again dry before I let off the gas. He said how is he supposed to know that,
in such a tone as to convey that he doesn't believe me. I went on to tell
him that if I wanted to spin my tires, there would have been a lot of noise
and smoke, not a little chirp as I am driving normally and hit a puddle. He
again said how is he supposed to know that, and to take the seatbelt ticket.
I told him I was wearing my seatbelt. He said he didn't see it. I responded
that regardless of whether or not he saw my seatbelt, it is breaking no law
to sit in a parked car without a seatbelt. He then asked if I would rather
have the careless driving ticket with points, so I told him sure, if I was
driving carelessly then that is the ticket I should get, not a seatbelt
ticket when I was wearing my seatbelt as I always do. He then told me to
deal with it in court and it wasn't his job to argue with me. I said okay,
and asked where the courthouse was and waht the date was. He told me and
left.

I then looked at the ticket and say he noted the conditions as dry, I was
gonna go take pictures of the intersection where it happened in case they
try to give me a careless driving ticket or argue anything like that when I
go to court, assuming this cop even shows. As I was driving around the block
I saw the cop, so I stopped and asked him why he wrote dry as teh conditions
where it had rained earlier in the day and parts of the road were wet, such
as around the corner I turned. He told me to leave. I told him I wanted it
in writing that conditions were wet that day if he did in fact try to change
the ticket to careless driving or bring that up when I went to court for the
ticket. He said he didn't see any water on the ground and it looked dry to
him (hmm... just like a took my seatbelt off right in front of him and he
didn't notice), but he would go check and make a note of it. I asked why he
would not give me a copy of such a note. He then asked how old I was and
told me to leave, belittling me and disregarding me because of my age (19,
will be 20 in a few days). So I left and took pictures on the intersection.

I'm not sure if I should go file a complaint against the officer or what. He
disregarded me, belittled me, didn't believe me and was rude to me simply
because I'm 19. I felt very insulted and frustrated. I never spin my tires
on the street, much less in rush hour while turning onto a major street.
Hell, that big car with a little 302 can't even spin the tires on dry
pavement since I got my new BFGoodrich Radial T/As, and even when it's
raining they grip very nicely and it takes some doing to spin the tires.
Regardless, I'm a safe and courteous driver. I don't screw around on the
street. Hell, lately on anything but interstate type of highways I do the
speed limit or less to be sure I don't have to deal with cops (who do double
the limit in residential zones around here and run red lights, when not on
call).

In any case, if all this is gonna be is a seatbelt ticket then so be it. My
girlfriend was with me and knows I wear my seatbelt every time I get in the
car. She also saw me take my seatbelt off right in front of the cop while I
was reaching for my papers. I'm half expecting them to disregard her as a
witness though, and believe that lying scumbag of a cop. I suppose I'll find
out when I go to court.

Bottom line is I'm not paying for a ticket that is for something I'm not
guilty of. If I was driving carelessly and endangering anyone with my
actions when so be it, give me that ticket and if I don't feel I was driving
carelessly I'll go to court. If I know I was doing something I shouldn't
have been, so be it, I know that and am man enough to accept getting caught
doing something I shouldn't have been. The cop knows that chirping my tire
on a small puddle I didn't know was there and keeping the car straight as an
arrow is not careless or unsafe, nor was it endangering anyone, so he gives
me a seatbelt ticket and belittles me, trying to pressure me into accepting
it and believe I got off with a good deal so I pay it without protest. Yeah,
right. I'm not that much of a pushover. In the past I've gotten a break like
that when I actually was driving unsafely. I took the break and paid the
ticket, and that was the end of messing around on the street for me. That
was a couple years ago.

Anyhow, it just ****es me off that cops do crap like that. I mean honestly,
if I was doing anything careless or unsafe give me the points. That's what
points are for, to add up and get bad drivers off the road. I'd rather not
have a corrupt system and if I actually do something I shouldn't, take some
points and so be it. Not this BS like we have where even if you get a points
ticket you just go to court and they don't even wanna hear or know what
happened, you get in a line and tell them whether or not you will take their
deal of a different fine and no points. It's nothing but revenue collection,
hence the seatbelt ticket I got. He knows a careless driving ticket is BS,
so he gives a seatbelt ticket thinking it makes him look good and that I'll
pay it instead of missing work (cops need a certain number of tickets to be
put up for promotions, if they don't write enough tickets it's frowned upon
and assumed that they are not doing their job). By missing work yeah I'll
lose some more money by not working than I would if I were to pay it, but
not all that much more being as how I work part time for my college. My work
that I actually make money on, computer work and consulting, I schedule for
whenever is convenient for me.

Well, I just had to vent a bit, as this is frustrating. Me and the
girlfriend ended up missing the movie we were going to and went to the next
show. The end result was I ended up leaving for CT an hour and some change
later than I wanted to, which kinda stunk.

Cory

Cory Dunkle wrote:

> Bottom line is I'm not paying for a ticket that is for something I'm not
> guilty of.

That's fine if you're acquitted, but if you're found guilty, then try
appealing. You'll still have to pay the ticket in the meantime. Under
no circumstances should you just blow off a citation. The trouble that
brings is far worse than what's happened so far.

Cory Dunkle wrote:

> Bottom line is I'm not paying for a ticket that is for something I'm not
> guilty of.

That's fine if you're acquitted, but if you're found guilty, then try
appealing. You'll still have to pay the ticket in the meantime. Under
no circumstances should you just blow off a citation. The trouble that
brings is far worse than what's happened so far.

In article >, Cory Dunkle wrote:

> He told me he could have wrote me a ticket for careless driving, but did not
> because that carried points. Instead he gave me a seatbelt ticket. I asked
> hif he realized that I had not spun my tire on purpose, and as I was
> accelerating hit a puddle, thus the tire chirped as the pavement was once
> again dry before I let off the gas. He said how is he supposed to know that,
> in such a tone as to convey that he doesn't believe me.

Hmm... interesting. I wonder if this is some sort of new cop thing.
When the torqueless wonder got smashed, the cop wrote me a ticket for no
seat belt. I told him I was wearing it, so he changed it to
failure-to-reduce-speed-to-avoid-an-accident. I'm sorry, but the only way
I could have reduced speed to avoid this was with interita dampeners or
something.

In article >, Cory Dunkle wrote:

> He told me he could have wrote me a ticket for careless driving, but did not
> because that carried points. Instead he gave me a seatbelt ticket. I asked
> hif he realized that I had not spun my tire on purpose, and as I was
> accelerating hit a puddle, thus the tire chirped as the pavement was once
> again dry before I let off the gas. He said how is he supposed to know that,
> in such a tone as to convey that he doesn't believe me.

Hmm... interesting. I wonder if this is some sort of new cop thing.
When the torqueless wonder got smashed, the cop wrote me a ticket for no
seat belt. I told him I was wearing it, so he changed it to
failure-to-reduce-speed-to-avoid-an-accident. I'm sorry, but the only way
I could have reduced speed to avoid this was with interita dampeners or
something.

I didn't know there were laws against excessive acceleration. It was
the chirping that got you. Spinning tires can throw stones into the
cars behind you. My advice is - don't break the law.

I didn't know there were laws against excessive acceleration. It was
the chirping that got you. Spinning tires can throw stones into the
cars behind you. My advice is - don't break the law.

Cory Dunkle wrote:


> He told me he could have wrote me a ticket for careless driving, but did not
> because that carried points. Instead he gave me a seatbelt ticket. I asked
> hif he realized that I had not spun my tire on purpose, and as I was
> accelerating hit a puddle, thus the tire chirped as the pavement was once
> again dry before I let off the gas. He said how is he supposed to know that,
> in such a tone as to convey that he doesn't believe me. I went on to tell
> him that if I wanted to spin my tires, there would have been a lot of noise
> and smoke, not a little chirp as I am driving normally and hit a puddle. He
> again said how is he supposed to know that, and to take the seatbelt ticket.
> I told him I was wearing my seatbelt. He said he didn't see it. I responded
> that regardless of whether or not he saw my seatbelt, it is breaking no law
> to sit in a parked car without a seatbelt. He then asked if I would rather
> have the careless driving ticket with points, so I told him sure, if I was
> driving carelessly then that is the ticket I should get, not a seatbelt
> ticket when I was wearing my seatbelt as I always do. He then told me to
> deal with it in court and it wasn't his job to argue with me. I said okay,
> and asked where the courthouse was and waht the date was. He told me and
> left.


Such crap. There is true careless driving going on everywhere, every
day... I am guessing, however, that the cop didn't even see you make
the turn, he just heard the chirp and pulled you over.

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

Cory Dunkle wrote:


> He told me he could have wrote me a ticket for careless driving, but did not
> because that carried points. Instead he gave me a seatbelt ticket. I asked
> hif he realized that I had not spun my tire on purpose, and as I was
> accelerating hit a puddle, thus the tire chirped as the pavement was once
> again dry before I let off the gas. He said how is he supposed to know that,
> in such a tone as to convey that he doesn't believe me. I went on to tell
> him that if I wanted to spin my tires, there would have been a lot of noise
> and smoke, not a little chirp as I am driving normally and hit a puddle. He
> again said how is he supposed to know that, and to take the seatbelt ticket.
> I told him I was wearing my seatbelt. He said he didn't see it. I responded
> that regardless of whether or not he saw my seatbelt, it is breaking no law
> to sit in a parked car without a seatbelt. He then asked if I would rather
> have the careless driving ticket with points, so I told him sure, if I was
> driving carelessly then that is the ticket I should get, not a seatbelt
> ticket when I was wearing my seatbelt as I always do. He then told me to
> deal with it in court and it wasn't his job to argue with me. I said okay,
> and asked where the courthouse was and waht the date was. He told me and
> left.


Such crap. There is true careless driving going on everywhere, every
day... I am guessing, however, that the cop didn't even see you make
the turn, he just heard the chirp and pulled you over.

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

Laura Bush murdered her boy friend wrote:

> I didn't know there were laws against excessive acceleration. It was
> the chirping that got you. Spinning tires can throw stones into the
> cars behind you. My advice is - don't break the law.
>

This from the clueless freak that recommends carrying caltrops. Yeah,
follow your own advice why don't you?

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel