“hey, it's zoner. hey, it's just after 9:00. i started my monday off right, and my entire week off right, with a speeding ticket, my first one in probably 15 years or so. i basically was up very early and decided to get breakfast on the way in to work, so I thought IHOP! I haven't gone there in a long time! i'll swing by the IHOP in white city on the way to the office.
so i took the back way, the long way around, to work (actually I'm still out in the IHOP parking lot right now), coasted down this long curving hill, uhhhhmmmmm, let's see, what street is that? Clark Street, in Worcester, which has apparently, I didn't realize this, a 30 mile an hour speed limit, and just coasting down that long hill I hit 47. And that was with braking. So they got me on lidar, they were doing a bit of a sting, they had a whole line of cars pulled over and were continuously pulling things over. there were two officers there. so, uh, they got me pretty much fair and square. I've already looked at the state's web site from my treo and called my insurance company to find out what the penalty will be. they've changed the whole point system in massachusetts, so I'm not going to have any points added to my license, because you don't get any points for your first minor civil infraction which speeding counts ass, within any 5 or 6 year period, and like I said this is the first in 15, but I will lose my "excellent driver discount," which you get for six years of
so I won't get any points, I won't get penalized, but I will...
[transcriber's note: Somebody else can finish this. Basically: Zoner now gets penalized on his insurance for the next several years. It's an expensive morning, but he's not very phased by it, and figures, eh, it's a fair cop. Not going to contest it. Going to pay the ticket, suck it up, go on with life, get breakfast, admits he is rambling, etc etc.]”
what a great way to start your week! last time I was pulled over in a "sting" like that, I got off with just a verbal warning... which was good enough to make me never speed down that street anymore!
FWIW, most people who go in to see the magistrate with any kind of excuse, still get some level of ticket reduction. Then again, how much money would you lose not being at work that part of the day? Its probably not worth it.
Sounds like some discount on insurance times six years. Plus the whole system of lowering speed limits for the sole purpose of increasing revenue only works if most people plead guilty.
I wish there was some way to award tickets for actual dangerous behavior on the road, as opposed to just some MPH number. How often have we all been driving along at 75, which is exactly the speed of prevailing traffic, and gotten a ticket for keeping up with traffic? If we drove 55 while everyone else was driving 75, we'd be more of a hazard and far more deserving of a ticket. I just wish we could get past the "speed = bad" mentality. It's *speed differentials* that are dangerous, not MPH by itself.
I make no promises that this journal will be timely and/or interesting - it is just what spills out of my brain. If you're someone you think I should 'friend', tell me who you are. Sometimes I can't tell by checking LJs of people who friend me. :-)