Sunday, May 31, 2009

Excuses, Excuses Excuses!

A man was driving down the highway in his brand new Jaguar. He was rather proud of it, and perhaps showed his pride with a heavy foot. Suddenly there is a policeman pulling off the side of the road, following behind him. A couple seconds later, and there are lights and sirens coming at him from the rear. Ignoring his common sense, he decided to test the powers of his Jag. He floored it, glancing in his rearview mirror the entire time. He was shocked, horrified and just plain scared to discover that the police car was keeping up the chase. Finally, the man realized he was beat. With a heavy heart, he pulled over to the side of the road, and waited for his moment of jedgement. 
The police came to his car, and gave him a look. The man's terror increased a bit, if possible. The policeman began, "Listen Buddy. It's the end of my shift. I have had a long and monotonous day. You give me an excuse for the stupidity you have just desplayed that I have never heard before, and I will let you off, scott free." 
The man looked squarely at the cop and said "Well sir, twenty years ago, my wife ran off with a police officer. I was afraid you were bringing her back."
The policeman smiled. "Have a good day!"

I said this joke over to my family, and got a laugh out of everyone, including my father, who never laughs at jokes. After I was made to repeat it for the third time, I realized that, as with all great humor, there must be some truth to it. When I saw this list of speeding ticket jokes, I concluded that I had to write about it.

You see, human nature is all about making excuses. Does anybody ever get pulled over and say "I am sorry officer. I was being stupid"? Not that I know of. Either they are late to pick somebody up from the airport, the store is closing in five minutes. Sometimes it's a funeral they are late for, other times it is a wedding. Sometimes their son is gushing blood at home and other times they simply need the bathroom.  
There are also more ridiculous excuses, such as "Well of course I was on my cell phone! People kept calling me!" Or, "That was a stop sign?!" Or, "Isn't the speed limit 75 over here?" 
Either way, human nature has it that we make these excuses. We sound dumb, but we do it anyway. It isn't our fault! It can't be! Anyone else's fault, but surely not I.
So I am headed to traffic court tomorrow. I could try to explain away my ticket, but the truth is...I don't see why I should. It was my fault. I was speeding. 


That being said, any advice on traffic courts? 

11 comments:

Floating Reflections said...

Luckily we don't have courts here unless there is a dispute - we are just handed a ticket with a fine and have to send our licence in to have 3 points put on (if he wwarden is in a bad mood!)

But hey - thanks for the free plug :)

chanie said...

Kind of like why I'm not going to fight the 100 shekel fine I got for crossing on a red light? I mean...I didn't pay it, because they forgot and I forgot...but I'm not going to bother fighting it, either.

Inspired said...

A school bus got away with their speeding ticket with the excuse that they had a jar of jelly beans on the bus and it didn't spill...

Ezzie said...

I've gotten out of tickets with honesty: "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying close attention to the speedometer, I was simply driving at what felt comfortable."

On the one occasion where I went to traffic court, the cop lobbied on my behalf in that he thought it was an honest mistake, and the judge cut the fine in half.

Something Different said...

FR- we don't have to go to court. We have an option to send in the ticket by mail with a guilty plea and get convicted of the charges automatically or we can send in a non-guilty plea...but I was. So instead I am going to court, in the hopes that I will be offered a plea bargain, because my father will kill me if I get points on my license. My last ones just came off....

Chanie- it's not the fine I'm worries about. I'll pay it and my dad won't know but the points will increase his insurance rates...

Insp- LOL. Why don't I believe that?

Ezzie- yeah, being that I had no good excuse, I was kicking myself that I didn't just apologize. But in truth I doubt anything would have gotten me off. It was a speed trap on a road where the police were asked to try and slow motorists down, as the residents were upset that people were going to fast. Honestly, I was glad he only clocked me at 47. I'm sure I've driven down that road much faster....
And this cop surely won't be lobbying for me. He was *so* nasty.

Inspired said...

It happens to be true, my father was in court then.

Mikeinmidwood said...

Push the court date off six times, hopefully the cop wont come.

harry-er than them all said...

i was going to suggest pleaing for leniency (i.e. i have a good driving record, first time, blah blah)if this was a first ticket, but being as you said your last ones just came off, i don't see that being possible.

if you were driving with traffic you may be able to get off, as radar is not exact. it could have been another car traveling with you. but then again, you have to know that they caught you on radar and not laser.

Anonymous said...

Just pray the cop won't show up. It happens sometimes.

Inspired said...

As for advice for traffic court, my father is an expert on that. Try pushing it off as much as possible. This way by the time you have your hearing the officer might not have his records... it's worked a few times for us;-)

Something Different said...

Insp- ;-) Thanks for your advice! You saved me.

MIM- The cop only has to come if you go to trial. And I don't intend to go to trial, I plan to plea bargain. I was speeding, nothing else to discuss.

HTTA- It was only my third speeding ticket! Can't I put in a plea for a pretty good record? :-p

Anon- As I said to MIM, it won't get to that.

And just an FYI, I was cursing out this cold, but i can barely even talk at the moment, so when I called up the court today to say I can't make it, I sounded awful and the guy told me it's no problem. Then he said "Refuah sheleima".
LOL