Got a speeding ticket

[Sazabi]

Rotten B*!"£$£s 

If they really need to raise money I'm sure that with just a little effort they could have found someone who was genuinely doing something dangerous to prosecute.

Yeah, like one of the twenty people that were passing me at the time I was "speeding?"

I can't believe you got the suspension on top of the fine.

Talk about a bad ending.

The original ticket included a suspension too.

Amusing story- a friend of mine who works in the police booking office came with me, and knew most of the cops hanging out in the courthouse.  While talking to them, they all offered advice and condolences because no one ever wins against the Commissionaires since they have their own legal rep, dedicated to prosecuting tickets.  On the way out I happened to mention out loud that if they ever try pulling me over again, I'm not going to bother to slow down.  There was a cop standing 5 feet away from me, and I told him not to worry, and that he didn't hear what I said.  He said "I'm the same way, I hate those _____________."  We then agreed that it was ok to run the smurfs over, and I went off to the bar with my wife and a few friends to drown my anger in beer and hot wings.

But, you get an idea of how popular these guys are, when half a dozen cops are trying to help me beat these guys, and none of them have a clue who I am.  I just ordered one of these:

(Image removed from quote.)

But, I doubt the Commissionaires would know what it means anyway.   

Def

So... umm, I'm curious:  what does it mean?  Death to the Commissionaries or something?

[Grant Lamontagne]

Thin Blue Line

Def

[EM745]

Yeah, the whole concept of "raising funds" thru traffic law "enforcement" reeks big time. Always has, always will. I mean, how is the whole ticketing process supposed to be fair when the ticketing cop and everyone/thing above him stand to make a profit off the person he's arresting? I.e. "We need new gear? Simple, we'll just raise our quotas and double up on those 'traps' for the next few weeks. We need to replace a couple squad cars? No probs, let's shorten the timing on those yellows that have the 'redlight' cams. The mayor's mansion needs re-roofing?..." (You get the idea.)

Back in 2004, the province of New Brunswick announced that most traffic fines would be doubling. There was an article about it in the Telegraph Journal (a St-John daily), and in it the Finance Minister was quoted as saying that the move was to help "boost revenues" for the province (AT LEAST HE ADMITTED IT!). In the very same article, the Justice Minister denied that the move was a "tax grab," and that drivers who obeyed the law wouldn't have to worry about the hikes. (I LOL'd loudly when I read that.) When two top ministers can't get their stories straight on the same issue, you know the whole system is screwy. 

If it were up to me, local/regional governments wouldn't touch one red cent of those fines. It'd ALL go to charities. Maybe THEN traffic law enforcement would actually be about SAFETY, instead of revenue generation.

And despite Def's relative "failure" in this case, he did the right thing by taking it to court. Anyone who can afford the time should take advantage of the court system whenever they get ticketed (even if you know you're "guilty"). At best, the arresting cop forgets who you are and can't ID you in court (I had a ticket dismissed that way  ). At worst, you'll get the satisfaction that "The Man" won't have made a profit off of you (court costs).

http://www.ibiblio.org/rdu/secrets.html

/climbs off soapbox.

Thin Blue Line

Def

Hmmm... My mother has a couple cousins in the local PD...   

[EM745]

Incidentally Def, it's a shame you weren't driving a Toyota at the time. You could've just blamed the car (i.e. the "Toyota defense"). 

[yud]

Incidentally Def, it's a shame you weren't driving a Toyota at the time. You could've just blamed the car (i.e. the "Toyota defense"). 

dam that Toledo quality