Went to court today for a speeding ticket I got back in September--that's right folks, Floyd County courts are so backed up it takes 7 months for your case to get to trial. Anyway, I planned on fighting the ticket, so I pled "not guilty" back in September when I went to court for the initial hearing. I was expecting that today I'd meet with the prosecutor & he'd offer me diversion (which also was offered at the initial hearing), I'd refuse, & they'd set up either another pre-trial meeting or an actual trial. This is how it worked the last time I got a speeding ticket--I had 2 pre-trial meetings, then on the date of the actual trial the cop didn't show, so they dismissed the charges (no cop=no witness for the State).

Well anyway, things were a bit different this time. The judge came in, told everyone there (about 20 people) that we'd meet with the prosecutor, he'd tell us our options, then if we decided to go to trial, he'd call the officers in, and trial would be TODAY! I wasn't expecting this, as I figured this was just a pre-trial to meet with the prosecutor. Needless to say, I was not as prepared as I would've liked to be. So they call us one at a time to talk to the prosecutor--most people opted for diversion (if eligible) or paid the fine. He told me my driving record was clean & I was eligible for diversion. I asked about the cost of diversion and the cost of the ticket if I just pled guilty. Turns out diversion is about $110 & the ticket was about $90! Talk about a scam! For those of you who think traffic citiations are issued to help protect the public, pull your head out of your ass! The primary purpose is for generating revenue! Same goes for all those drug & alcohol government programs. If all of a sudden everyone stopped speeding, driving recklessly, driving under the influence, etc, local governments would be fucked. They'd have to raise taxes or find some other way to rob us in order to maintain their level of spending.

So I and about 6 other people decide to go to trial. After my talk with the prosecutor I leave the courtroom & sneak a quick peek into the judge's office. I see several people, including a few cops, but nowhere do I see the one who wrote my ticket. So I go back into the courtroom & start preparing some questions in case the cop does show up. I did have one piece of evidence with me--a copy of a letter I sent to the chief of police asking for details on the radar gun, including the FCC license (all radar guns are supposed to be registered with the FCC). Never heard back from the police, but I did have the return receipt proving they'd received my letter. The cop refused to show me the radar when I asked him to let me see it. I suspect he didn't bother to lock the reading, since few people bother asking. So here I am, preparing on the fly, when the judge comes out & tells everyone it's our lucky day, because none of our respective officers have shown! Case dismissed! As I'm leaving, we're all waiting on the elevator when this woman told me she followed my lead when she overheard that I had a clean driving record. I then told everyone that it's rather common practice for the cops not to show, as they often have better shit to do, plus how there's a lot of info out there on how to beat speeding tickets. All-in-all, it's been a pretty good day.

Here's a few links:
National Motorists Association
How to Beat a Speeding Ticket
PayNoFine
Speedingticket.net/
BeatMySpeedingTicket.com
Beat Your Ticket
Fight the 55
Beat a Speeding Ticket to Kepp Your Rates Down
Beat That Evil Speeding Ticket
How to Beat a Speeding Ticket
CopOuts.com
Kevin's Personal Usenet Driving Archives
The Speedtrap Bible
Fight Your Speeding Tickets

Some of these sites sell books filled with tips to beat your ticket. Since you can never be sure about what you're getting, I recommend checking out your local library before buying--you can even do inter-library loan if your library doesn't have the book. If it turns out to be a valuable resource, please ask your library to add it to their collection.

Burn in Hell
posted by El Bastardo at 5:04 PM

Yesterday was pretty good--I spent a lot of time preparing for my presentation in film class. I think it went pretty well--only one of the pair who were supposed to watch The Ugly American actually saw it. Luckily, I watched it Monday afternoon and was able to take up a lot of the slack.

Mondays & Wednesdays seem to be the worst days of the week for me--mostly because I have to be at school early for the SI class & then don't have anything else really going on til German at 7:30. In between, I try to study or do homework, but I lose a lot of my motivation. I think I'm gonna have to start getting more sleep. It'd be a lot easier I think if my classes were closer together, but no such luck. It was really nice out today & I didn't wanna be inside doing homework. On the up side, I think I'm nearly through with this cold--gonna have to remember to take my vitamin C.

Burn in Hell
posted by El Bastardo at 10:16 PM

Man, I'm fuckin' wiped. Got up early, made it to the SI class, but no one came to my SI session. Fuckers. Took my friend Chene to lunch, came back, worked for a bit, then homework, then German class. I think maybe I should start taking a nap on Mondays since I'm usually in no mood to do anything else at the end of the day. The only reason I'm even posting is so you ungrateful fucks will have something to read! I have a headache right now & I've been fighting a cold as well, so I really don't feel like saying much. just be happy I posted, spunk-puppets!

Burn in Hell
posted by El Bastardo at 9:47 PM

Motherfucker. I'm at school right now, just got off work a little while ago. Met some people from my film class about this presentation we're doing Tuesday. We're covering Red Sorghum, Flying Tigers, & The Ugly American. We were supposed to see the last one on our own, but none of us have, including the pair that are discussing it (there's six of us, so we're covering each film in pairs). Apparantly few video stores in the area have it, but there is a copy in the university library we can watch (but it's a closed reserve, meaning it can't leave the library, so we have to watch it there). This one girl in my group does nothing but bitch about how little free time she has & how she's "not gonna sit in the library for 2 hours watching it." Well, excuse the fuck outta me! It's not my goddamn fault you signed up for this class, you lazy cunt! And then the bitch tells us about her & her husband's obsession with Everquest. Well, pull your fuckin' head outta your goddamn fantasy character's ass & maybe you'll have some free time! Unfortunately, we can't kick her out. I hate working in groups because I usually end up pulling far more than my share.

Last night was rather lame. I left the bar early & went to bed about 2:00. Strangely enough, I woke up aound 6:30 this morning & was unable to get back to sleep, so I was able to get an early start. Hopefully I'll be able to get to bed early tonight so I can make it to the class I SI at 9:30 Monday.

Well, guess that'll do it for now.

Burn in Hell
posted by El Bastardo at 7:24 PM