Legal Advice

I went to Draper City Court today to contest my speeding ticket. I got there during lunch, and the lady there took my citation, made a copy, then said, "OK, you have until October 30 to pay..." I told her "Actually, I'd like to plead 'not guilty'." "I was just about to suggest that... the fine is pretty steep because of the construction zone."

Now, far be it from me to judge such things, but is it OK for someone who works at the courthouse to suggest pleading not guilty? I figure that kind of thing might be frowned upon.

Anxious

I'm having a strange issue here. I've decided to fight my speeding ticket, and the way I see it, there are three possible outcomes:
1) The cop doesn't show up and I'm off the hook.
2) The cop does show up, my arguments make sense, and I get a reduced fine.
3) The cop shows up, but nobody listens to me, and I pay the full fine.

I've already started adjusting my budget to deal with the worst-case scenario, but I'm feeling super-anxious about it. I don't know why. It's there in the back of my head all the time, and my over-active guilt reflex is going crazy. I've got my plan in place, so why can't I quit thinking about it?

Road Rage

So, how many times has this happened to you? You're driving on the freeway, and there's someone in front of you you'd like to pass. You signal a lane change, and he happens to do it at the same time. You both dart back to your original position.

Now you're back where you started. You change lanes again, and this time do it quickly to avoid the confusion, and you pass.

Well, I got pulled over this morning for exactly that. I had to speed up to pass the guy, and as soon as I was past, I slowed back down to the limit.

All the cop said he saw was me swerving in and out of the lane I was in. Then, because the first "lane change" (us both moving) happened while we were passing the "end construction zone" sign, he decided the whole thing counted as being in a construction zone, and cited me for 76 in a 55. (76 is how fast I sped up to pass the guy... seeing as how traffic was flowing at 73 or so, I don't think I was out of line)

I was very polite and didn't talk back, I explained why the multiple lane changes (he didn't see the other guy signal), but I think the part where I screwed up was where he asked if I thought that was safe. I hesitated, then said, "Well, there was nobody in the other lane, I checked that nobody else was around.." then he asked for my license and registration. I can't help but feel that he would have given me a warning if I had said something like "No. It was stupid."

I'm thinking I'll fight it. I looked up Draper City ordinance, they don't offer traffic school, and it's going to be about a $600 ticket because of the "construction zone" that we weren't in.

sigh...

The day after my last post, my mom sent one of those emails to everyone in her address book...

Gossip is as gossip does

I, as we all have, often receive emails with some wild accusation attached:

"DO NOT VISIT SOMESUPERSECRETWEBSITE.COM, IT WILL DESTROY YOUR ENTIRE HARD DRIVE, MAKE YOUR SPOUSE LEAVE YOU AND SEND HATE MAIL TO YOUR GRANDPARENTS!"

This is part of the internet. We have to deal with the conspiracy theorists, the people out there who just like chaos, and the people too ignorant/paranoid about technology to know better.

I do, however, expect people to think before they act, and by act, I mean hit the "Forward" button on their email.

Why is it that people who would shun gossip think it's ok if it's on the internet? If I walked up to you and told you "Don't drive your car on I-15 today, cars have been exploding due to the new asphalt they put in", you'd probably laugh at me.

Ok, yes. There are attack sites out there. There are viruses, identity theives, and killer robots that can make your cyber life painful. But when I hear a rumor about the latest batch of Ford cars that have a faulty part that make the car dismantle itself when you drive over 50MPH, I tend to try to find out at all if it is real before I frantically call all my neighbors, friends, and family with "OMG, don't drive more than 50 or you'll all die!"

Google is your friend. Look some of this crap up before you hit "Forward". Try this site. They research urban myths and emails and such. Be part of the solution to this spam, not part of the problem.

(To those who received my angry replies to some of these, I apologize, but it's because I know you're smarter than that)