Adventure of Traffic Court
I received notice to appear in
traffic court fora parking ticket last week. Parking downtown
is a hassle. The parking lot is a block away, so Carl drives
in front of the court bldg. The street has parking meters on
both sides of the street. Carl pulls in a spot and he goes into
the building while I put the money in the meter. Well theirs
not a meter for each space, instead their is a central meter.
First it won't take my dollar bills then, I see it takes debit
card so I finally get my receipt and head into the building.
Once I'm upstairs in the court room I forgot to put the receipt
in the car window. So we come out and yep I got a parking
ticket. Now I have to go back in the building to the cashiers
window and I explain, show her my receipt and she says I
have to go to court.
This time Carl drops me off and I go inside. Court starts at 3pm.
You register with the clerk and take a seat. Theirs like a 130 people
and the judge keeps saying to the clerks and solicitor "we have
a full schedule, give me groups in alphabetical order." I'm sitting
in the front row waiting to hear my name called. While the judge
is dismissing allot of charges for the policeman is no longer
with the police department. 4pm passes, 5pm passes, 5:45
my name is called. I'm prepared I have my receipt to show I
paid for a spot, the time is their I'm looking forward to explaining
my side. Well, the judge says is the policeman here and the solicitor
states he has left already. The judge asked why was this name
not called earlier, the solicitor gives the judge no answer.
So the judge continues with saying, since the policeman is not
here and I've been so patience waiting for my turn my case is
dismissed with no record on my licenses. So
I make my way to the pay phone to call Carl to pick me up.
While I'm waiting ten minutes for pickup. With no cars parked
on the street I'm noticing their are no parking meters. They have
been removed. So much for new electronic parking meters. Here
today gone tomorrow, our tax dollars at work.
In August Carl had gotten a ticket for supposeable not stopping
at a stop sign before turning right. The police man was on a
motorcycle and seem to come for nowhere. We did stop but
the policeman said our wheels never stopped moving. In the
end it gets dismissed.
I did learn a few things:have a camera with you at all times, you
never now when you will need to prove your side like their
where no no parking signs, the meter had time left on it. If you
don't have camera, getting back to the area of the incident occurred
as soon as possible. Because if it is months after cities change
signs and the judge won't accept months later pictures. When parking
on a street with parking meters, your meter is the one at the front
of your car. If a meter is not accepting money it's not a free parking
space, the universal sign:a circle with a P and a / going threw the P .
Their is a number to call and report its broken. Move
on to another space. Judge does not accept you did not know you
could not park their.
I'm so glad that adventure is over.
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