The Judicial Assembly Line

Sorry for being missing in action for the past few weeks. My wife and I have been preparing for arraignment for the traffic ticket that we received. Today was arraignment day and we woke up bright and early (can someone say 4am?) to drive out to Barstow (from Los Angeles).

We get to Barstow in plenty of time and parked in the parking lot of the Superior Court of Barstow on West Mountain View. There were already a few cars parked and I see some people waiting in line as the court was not yet open. My wife and I stay in the car as it was cold outside (around 50 degrees). As we waited we watched the parking lot fill up. I can't say that all these people were there for traffic court, but even if it was only half going to traffic court, it shows that the city/state has been busy enforcing traffic laws!

After about 30 minutes of waiting, the court doors open up and we line up to enter. We go through the metal detectors and were instructed to sign in. After signing in, we are assigned a courtroom and told to wait. We waited for another 30 minutes when we are called into the courtroom by the bailiff.

The bailiff proceeds to tell us (my paraphrasing):

You will all be called up to appear before the judge. During this time, the judge will state the charge against you and you will be required to enter a plea of either guilty or not guilty. The judge will NOT hear any stories/explanations. If you have anything to say as your defense, save it for trial by pleading not guilty. Traffic school is available to you, but not if you were charged with driving over 100MPH or if you have a commercial drivers license. The judge moves quickly so when you hear your name, please stand up and line up in this area.

If your penalty is a fine, you will be required to make payment. If you need a payment plan, that is available for an additional fee. After you have entered your plea and either get your penalty or agree to your assigned trial date, please step outside the courtroom and wait for your paperwork.

At this point, we were screwed. Our plan was to plead "no contest" and ask the judge for leniency as this was my wife's first citation (ever) in 10+ years of driving. We huddled up and started to discuss what we wanted to do. As we discussed it, people were being called and lined up to appear before the judge. Would it surprise you (just based on what the bailiff had told everyone) that the judge would be an absolute hard ass?

Well, neither did we, as we proceeded to hear the judge deliver the first set of penalties - a $1000 fine for one defendant going over 100MPH, a $861 fine for another person going over 100MPH, $225 fine for going 26MPH above the speed limit. You get the picture. Since the judge was not giving anyone a break, we decided to plead not guilty and take our chances at trial...a slim chance is better than no chance at all. However, we did attempt one thing - when called up, my wife asked if traffic school would be an option. Any guesses as to the judge's answer? Yup, she replied "NO".

Anyways, we now have a trial date for early April and will be making the early morning trip back to Barstow. We'll definitely have a lawyer with us for trial, so if anyone has any recommendations (or any words of advice), please let us know.

It took the judge about 45 minutes to clear the courtroom (with about 50 people appearing). I figure that the average fine was about $300-$350. In less than an hour, the city/state just raked in about $15,000. A good way to increase revenue if you ask me. Now if only the authorities would also enforce the ban on talking on your cell phone while driving! I see a minimum of 10 of these infractions a day...how much revenue would that bring into the city/state coffers?

With all this said, here's my public service announcement for the day:

Watch your speed folks. The city/county/state is broke and they want your money! Saving those few minutes on your drive isn't worth it...and can be dangerous as well.

PS - Too bad these weren't our judges at traffic court!

I Can't Drive 55...Citation 22348B

Actually, it's my wife who can't drive 55. LOL!

Here's the story...my wife and I take a quickie road trip to Vegas. We start off in the morning and she's at the wheel. During the drive to Vegas, I remind my wife several times to watch her speed as I had seen a lot more people being pulled over. I have a feeling that with the state of CA and the city of Los Angeles being in massive debt, the police and CHP will be more strict in enforcing traffic laws as a way to bring revenue into the coffers.

I fall asleep in the passenger's seat right after we hit Barstow...and the next thing to happen is that the car starts shaking as my wife is slowing the car down. At this point, I thought we had made it to Primm, but as my eyes begin to focus, I see some red lights in the side view mirror. Yup, we had just been pulled over and that shaking I felt was my wife pulling the car over to the side of the road.

The CHP officer approaches and asks for our license and registration. He explains that he clocked us going 101 MPH, especially as we passed a gray Mercedes Benz. It also didn't help that we were nearly to Primm and had been going downhill. He takes my wife's license and registration and returns with a citation. He didn't cut us any slack as he actually listed our speed at 101 MPH (in a 70 MPH zone).

This totally sucks because it was this time last year that I got pulled over in Nevada (while returning from a Vegas trip). I too was doing 100 MPH, but the officer only cited me for 75 MPH in a 70 MPH zone. He cut me a break as he saw that I had never been pulled over in 18+ years of driving. I ended up paying a $95 fine for the ticket...but the good news is that it didn't go on my record as speeding. The State of Nevada has a unique law whereby a 'light' speeding ticket (5 MPH or less over the maximum speed), they'll consider it a parking misdemeanor with no points going on my record.

Unfortunately, we don't have the same in CA and we're going to have to appear in Court in the City of Barstow. Citation 22348B is going in excess of 100 MPH and has harsh ramifications in terms of the potential fine and the impact to our insurance rates. As of right now, I'm going to see if we can get a lawyer to represent us and get us out of this. I don't expect that we'll get the ticket dismissed, but I do hope that we can get the charge/citation reduced to something less harmful - such as exceeding the maximum speed limit (not both exceeding the speed limit AND driving over 100 MPH).

If anyone has any advice to offer or can suggest a good attorney, please post it in the comments. We'd be more than grateful for the help!

PS - For those too young to remember, before Sammy Hagar was a part of Van Halen, Sammy had a successful solo career. One of his hits was "I Can't Drive 55" (hence the post title) and here's his video:



PPS - California Highway Patrol SUCKS!!! That's our sentiment and the sentiment of my local police department officer friend.