Traffic Court

I went to traffic court today.

Yes, I got a ticket.  I'm a horible, horible person.  Thing is, I wasn't even speeding.

I hired a lawyer.  Local boy, not a national guy -- wanted that local vibe.

I wrote an 11-page letter to my lawyer citing how there was no way I was speeding, complete with pictures, scans of receipts of how I was where and when.  I couldn't convince him, I figure I couldn't convince a judge.  Thing is, at this point, nobody cares if you were speeding.

The lawyer cut a deal with the State Trooper: Faulty Equipment (non-moving violation) plus a Defensive Driving Class.

The judge didn't accept the deal.  My lawyer had little explanation:  apparently another lawyere rubbed him the wrong way earlier that morning.

The Judge made me a deal.  Instead of a 6 point Reckless Driving, I could take either a 3 Point speeding or 3 Point Failure to obey a traffic sign, both with the Defensive Driving class.  I took the failure to obey a traffic sign --for insurance, that could mean anything: turtle crossing, falling rocks, etc.

I was with my lawyer for the whole thing, I feel hid did his job.  He even presenting my charts and graphs to the officer and insisted I wasn't speeding.  But at that point, whether I was speeding or not was not the concern --It's what kind of deal can you make.  It was somewhat disheartening to know this.