The driving safety class (The Right Choice, by the Crash Prevention Network) I had to go to Tuesday evening wasn't as boring as I thought it would be and wasn't at all what I expected.
I
thought there would be some instruction (based on the driver's manual
or whatever), but there wasn't. A couple people got up and talked about
how their kids were killed in accidents (the father of a 15 year old boy
and an 11 year old boy killed by a truck driver who was texting; the
mother of a 24 year old girl who's friend was drunk). Another guy talked
about students he's taught who've been killed in accidents and how he's
the head of SADD. A guy who's a member of MADD. (He's an old, blind
white guy named Michael Jackson. lol) And Tolly Carr (used to be a news
anchor for channel 12) talked about when he got drunk and hit and killed a pedestrian a few years ago. He said he was in jail for 2 years.
I
was surprised by how many people were there. Dozens. At one point, one of the
speakers asked how many were there for seat belt violations and half or
nearly half raised their hands. (Shocking to me.) The funny thing was,
the blind guy is the one who asked and he said something about them
raising their hands for a blind guy. lol
The class was all about drinking and driving, texting and driving, and wearing
your seatbelt. Make smart choices when driving. Nothing that has
anything to do with why I was there. But that's where I was told to go. :-/
I was given a paper/certificate for when I go back to court on August 26th so that I can get my ticket dismissed.
Other
little things about Tuesday night:
When
I was first arriving and approaching the parking garage (on a one-way
street), some guy looked like he was backing up
perpendicular to the road, maybe from the parking garage, and then he
pulled forward and turned a bit towards me. I thought maybe he was going
to parallel park, though he'd be facing the wrong way come time to
leave, but instead he started driving towards me in my lane. By then I
had stopped and was waiting for him to pass me. Instead of passing to my
right (I was in the left turning lane so I could turn in to the parking
garage), he squeezed between my car and the sidewalk, running over the
curb in the process. smh. After parking my car, I saw him as I was
walking into the courthouse and then saw him again in the courtroom for
the class. Here we were next to the courthouse and around the corner
from the police station and no cop in sight to pull him over and give
him a ticket and hopefully take his license. I hope he won't end up
causing a bad wreck someday.
It was freezing cold in that courtroom!
Any colder and you could hang meat in there. It wasn't cold when I went
on Monday, so I figured it would be fine and left my jacket
in the car. (I keep a jacket in
my car for when we go out to eat. Most restaurants are cold.) Also, the
wooden bench was very uncomfortable, I was tired, and started getting a
headache. But other than that, it wasn't bad. lol
While
the speakers told their stories, there were pictures on a screen.
Pictures of their kids, pictures of the wrecked cars, pictures of the
dead boys in their coffins, etc. :-/
When
I was walking back to my car, a woman stopped me and said that her grandma had just died, that she was homeless
and pregnant with twins, and that she needed money for food. She had bad
teeth and didn't seem genuine. Normally I would do anything I could to
help someone who really needed it, but I didn't feel right about her. I
figured she'd probably snatch my wallet and run. So, I told her I was sorry and that I would pray for her.
Which I did on the way to my car.
I got
pulled over by a cop one night last month. (The 6th, I believe.) When I saw the lights come on behind me, I
had no idea why he was pulling me over. I had just made a right turn
and hadn't even gotten up to the speed limit yet. He came up to my
window and said, "You kinda rolled through that red light." Huh? How do
you "kinda" roll through a red light? Either I did or I didn't. (I
didn't.)
I stopped, saw that the light for traffic coming from my left was red,
checked to make sure they weren't going to run that red light (no cars
were coming, so not a problem), checked to make sure no one was running
the red light across from me (nope), made sure no one was making a U-turn, checked the lights and traffic (none coming) again, and then I made my turn. There were
only a few cars near the intersection; all stopped.
It only
took 2-3 seconds to see all this (and it being around 9:30 PM, there was
hardly any traffic; he even marked on the ticket "L" under traffic for
"light traffic"), but how much longer did I have to sit there to be
sure? 5 seconds? 10? 20? :-/
I
thought for sure he was only going to give me a warning since he said I
"kinda" rolled through it and since I've never gotten a ticket before
in my life.
I've always been kind of proud of myself for never getting a ticket for anything. Well, so much for that. lol Thanks, cop. :-/
Well, my
court date was yesterday and it was ridiculous. My first ticket ever and did I get a
dismissal? Nope. It would've been better if I had been pulled over for
speeding. People who were there for speeding were told, "Dismissed. You
can go."
I told them this was my first ticket and they said it didn't matter. I asked (with zero attitude, btw) if it mattered that the cop got some of the information wrong on my ticket (my age and license plate number) and they said, "Nope". So, I said, "Well, I had to try." lol
Criminal cases can get dismissed on technicalities, but not "kind of
rolling through a red light". Okay. Cops are not perfect. They can make
mistakes just like the rest of us. I stopped at that light, I didn't
roll through it. But I wasn't given the opportunity to tell my side (the
truth). If the cop writes it on the ticket, well then it must be right,
right? :-/
I
have to go back to the courthouse tonight for some kind of class from
6:30-8:00. Then go back to court again on August 26th. The class is
right across the hall from the courtroom. Why can't they just walk
across the hall that night or the next morning and tell them that I (and
others) attended the class? It doesn't make sense for me to have to go
back to prove I went to the class so I can get a dismissal. But then I guess
they couldn't get the cost of court fee that they want from me if I didn't go back a
3rd time. How hard is it for them to walk across the hall with a list of those who attended the class? smh. The stupidity of it all boggles the mind.
The
class is $20. Not much at all and certainly better than $213 and points
on my license. So, I'm grateful for that. It will end up costing me
just $45 instead of $213 (for something I didn't do), but if they had
any sense and would just walk across the hall with a list of names of
those who attended the class, I would only have to pay $20.
I don't do hashtags, but if I did - #stupidity #unfaircop #wasteoftime .
