Sunday, May 08, 2005

It was yellow a minute ago, I swear...

1:30 a.m.- On my way home from the Blueberry Library after working a DRUNKASS WEDDING...Listening to Husker Du and speaking in aggressive tones at other drivers...Okay, aggressive tones is a bit of an understatement, I was swearing as if I was a citizen of "Deadwood"...Really good swears, too...Let's just say there were a lot of c#*%sucking idiots on the road this evening...Then, the Jayhawks come on...And suddenly my ride is a little more serene, I don't even have any mean words for the fella who was weaving back and forth between his lane and mine...I simply gently suggest that he pick a lane...Then, Johnny Cash came on....And I drove to Reno and shot a man just to watch him die...I never realized how affected I am by the music I am driving to...Anyhoo, I had olanned to end this little blog with the Johnny Cash line, but my evening got more interesting after I exited Lake Shore Drive...You see, I was coming up on the light at Ridge and Granville, and it was yellow, so I drove through it...Well, apparently the cop car that was waiting at the light disagreed with my assessment of the traffic lights color...And suddenly red or yellow didn't matter...Just a whole lotta blue...To quote the great Ice-T..."Fuckin' blue lights,read 'em their rights...Drama..."...Anyhoo, a female officer of the Chicago PD came up to the car and informed me that I had failed to stop at a red light, and was there a reason for this...What answer could I give ? I guess maybe it was a stupid test...I suppose I might have blurted out that the meth makes me color blind, or that I was trying to get the body home before rigor kicked in...but I don't know what valid reason I might have.. I said that I thought it would stay yellow...She asked me for my license and insurance, and it was about this time that I figured I was not going to find myself in the middle of a Penthouse Forum porno scenario( I never thought these letters were real, but one night on my way home from work,...Cue the bass)...I went to get the insurance card out of the glove compartment(no gloves in there, by the way)...And that is when I saw her partner on the other side of my car with his hand on his gun...That freaked me a little, but I held it together and handed her my information...She then said that for my safety and theirs I should stay in the car...So I did...She came back a few minutes later with the ticket...And WITHOUT my license,,,Apparently they keep my license as a bond on the ticket...I didn't know that...Am I the only one who didn't know that ?..I asked about it, and she said to keep my copy of the ticket to serve as my license, and that after I dealt with the ticket, I would get my license back...That's nutty...

Now, here's my question...I have three choices: 1.plead guilty, pay 75 bucks, and a conviction goes on my record. 2. Plead guilty, pay 105 bucks and go to traffic school, no conviction. 3. Plead not guilty request a court hearing.

I pretty much will skip 3...But the question is, what does the conviction mean ? Is it worth $ 30 bucks and 4 hours of my time to avoid it ? Can anyone help me on this ?

By the way, on the CD when I got pulled over...Road To Nowhere- Talking Heads

3 comments:

Feral Mom said...

Go to traffic school. The money you save on your insurance is worth the more expensive ticket. Plus, traffic school (or "bitch school" as I like to call it) is online now, so you can take it drunk or high or in the buff and no one ever has to know...

Paticus said...

got it. Now this thing saysb I MAY be eligible to take the internet course, is there anyway to find out ? Or is it just the luck of the draw ?

Feral Mom said...

Hmmm. Not sure about this. I suspect it has something to do with prior tickets (or not). When I got my speeding ticket on LSD a few years back, it was my first moving violation in many years. It also might simply be a matter of do you have the right technology, etc. Call and find out.
I hope you can take the internet version of bitch school! Just remember, after all that beer or whatever you're drinking, there WILL be a final exam...