No Justice, No Problem
Local blogger Flash (from Centrisity) emailed me with some commiseration on my recent encounter with a speed trap on St. Clair Ave. He also tipped me off to the one the SPPD has frequently set up on Concordia Ave, between Hamline and Lexington:
The speed limit there is only 30, but it is so FN easy to kiss that long skinny pedal just a little too much, then it is down hill to Lex. The Cop sits on the side street by Dunlap field with his Radar gun and BANG, You're it!
I’ve often heard the urban legend that if you chose to show up and contest a speeding ticket, the judicial system will buckle like an alternative country hipster's shoes. You can get the ticket dismissed or at least reduced to a non-record besmirching offense. Flash passes along a real life story that shows it might be true:
I wasn't convinced that I was speeding, so I checked in at the 'window' at the court house (I think it was someplace on Lex) and asked to speak with a court officer, as I was considering pleading innocent. Within a few moments, I was called into this typical bureaucrats office. You know what I am talking about. Cluttered desk, dirty coffee cup, a look in his face that was clearly indicating he would rather be somewhere else. Anyway, I told him I wasn’t all the convinced that 'I' was the one the officer captured on Radar, that he must have gotten something in the periphery by mistake.
The pencil pusher went on to share that all the officers are trained and certified on the Laser. The laser is infallible, if you want to fight it, go ahead, but you'll lose. BUT, here is what we can do. Since you have a clean record, we can have you "plea to dismissal" (or some other fancy term that he used." if you agree to pay court costs and not have another moving violation within 12 months. You have to sign a form accepting guilt, pay on the spot, and they rubber stamp it. The violation sits in some kind of 'perjury' and as long as you don’t get nailed again, it goes away like it never happened. If you DO get nailed again, then BANG, you have two now on your record.
So, I sucked it up, and placed my principled belief aside (easier for us liberals to do, you know, then the morally correct Right *grin*) that I did not speed for the sure thing of not having it show up on my record. I had no problem surviving the 12 months, my Insurance still doesn't know, and my rates are as low as they can be.
And regarding the minor detail that I am probably guilty of the violation I’m charged with ...
As far as your possible guilt, I never got the impression it mattered if one thought they were guilty or not, it was more to keep the clean man clean. So if you have no priors currently on your record, it is worth a shot to keep it off your record.
It is worth a shot. But first I need to establish if getting busted shouting “yagada yagada yagada yagada” at waitresses on Grand Avenue is considered a “prior.” Developing hot, as they say.
