Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Speeding ticket

In April when my parents were still here we decided to go to the beach. Before we left I called hubby to let him know what we were doing and he told me that he got a $15 parking ticket. Of course I gave him a hard time about it. And in hindsight, I should have kept my big mouth shut.

On the way there I was pulled over for speeding!!! Apparently I was going 70 in a 55mph zone and received a $151 ticket. OOPS!!! But I really think that it is not my fault - here's why...

1. the road I was pulled over on was a divided highway. Who has ever heard of 55mph on a divided highway. To me that is just silly!

2. I was only on the particular road for about 6 miles, and when I went back to the beach with Mel we noticed that there was not one single speed limit sign! So how was I supposed to know that it was only 55! Well besides the fact that since this happened I did see a sign that states that NC speeds are 55 unless otherwise posted. To me that is just silly!!

3. My van was bought in California - it is built for LA freeways and posted speed limits of 70-75!!! So therefore my van didn't think it was speeding! HAHAHA not my fault!!!

Ok so maybe the judge will not be sympathetic to these points of brilliant wisdom. But I am going to appear anyways and here is why...

1. because the cop (pardon me - I must correct myself so my hubby doesn't), I mean the state trooper told me that I could appear in court and likely have it reduced. HUH -I had no idea what that meant at the time.

2. several people at my bible study told me I should go to court to have it reduced. HUH - I still have no idea what this meant but now I was thinking I should check into it.

3. I received several advertisements in the mail from lawyer offices advertising their services so that the effect on my insurance could be reduced. Oh boy, this is starting to sound serious!

4. I call my insurance to find out how much one speeding ticket could affect my insurance. She told me that because I was more than 10mph over the speed limit my drivers license will receive at least 2 points. Because of those two points she estimated that my insurance would go up about $350 a year for 3 years. WHAT!!! For one speeding ticket!!! That is insane!!

Okay, so now I have some facts and need to make a decision. Obviously I need to go to court and try to have it reduced to below 10mph over the speed limit, which apparently is quite a common thing to happen. This would only put 1 point on my license and have no effect on my insurance. Of course that is assuming I have my lead foot amputated and don't get into any more trouble! Lesson definately learned!!!

The other option is quite a fascinating one. North Carolina has something called "Prayer for Judgement Continued" where basically you plead guilty to the charge but the actual judgement is not entered into the system and would not go on the driving record. Quite bizarre if you ask me.

It will be an interesting morning and hopefully one that will result in a ticket that does not increase my insurance! I will let you know what happens once the computer is up and running after our move.

Oh yeah, and when hubby brought home another $15 parking ticket a couple weeks ago, I never said a word. I simply smiled sweetly and wrote the check!

1 comment:

Penny said...

Good luck getting it reduced. I paid about $600 for a stupid ticket out of state -- and turned out two of the three tickets the officer wrote were ILLEGAL!! I couldn't fight it, though, because I was giving a final that day, and, oh, the police chief NEVER called me back. Grrr...I'm still furious about all of that. Oh, and when they asked us to fax our insurance stuff and my husband did, it showed that we were insured from April to October...and the lady in the police dept. said, "Well, it doesn't say ANYTHING about SEPTEMBER." ARE YOU SERIOUS??!!!