the story
as some of you (but not MANY) know, i had got myself pulled over for reckless driving back in oct. This was the second time i had been pulled over for reckless. the first being when i was 16 and about a month after i got my license. boy was THAT a fun time.
So this time, it was just a stupid thing. i was driving back late one night from delivering a late birthday present to uebereinhorn. i was tired, had a headache and just wanted to get home. wasn't paying attention, got off the highway to take a shortcut between highways, and stupidly hadn't been paying attention to my speed. got me at 25 over (70/45). i saw the cop, and knew it was a done deal before i even passed her. i was good and polite, apologized for not paying attention and everything, but it was still shitty. and you HAVE to go to court.
for those that don't know, Reckless is a pretty big deal. in VA it carries the same weight as a DUI, and in addition to the court fees, and ticket fines, you can lose your license, and also have up to 2 years of jail time. PLUS virgina passed some stupid laws this summer that add additional fines for certain violations. so in addition to everything previously mentioned, you've got a shiny $1050 fine you have to pay va. FOR VA RESIDENTS ONLY. this law is damn unconstitutional, but thats a gripe for a different time.
SO over the last month, i had to find myself a lawyer, get my speedometer calibrated, get a copy of my driving record, and generally just stress about the whole deally.
The things i had going for me were, that i was polite and cooperative to the cop (i learned that the first time around), and my record was perfect. the last time i had gotten a speeding ticket was jan of 2000. so my record was +5 points, which is like as good as it gets. lawyer had told me it was 50/50 whether i even needed a lawyer, but i figured it was better to have representation and hopefully might smooth things over with the judge. Plus he said there were two judges that he wouldn't even try the case in front of, so we'd file a continuance if necessary.
This morning i got all dolled up in my black suit, put on my fancy new over coat (ive got a lot of fancy occasions this winter, and it ruins the effect if you wear a suit, and then put on a columbia jacket), and headed off to find the court. which i knew the area of, but not WHERE to actually go. Found the place, but started to stress because i was supposed to be there at 9:30 and i hit every light on the way. got here about AT 9:30, had to drive around a bunch finding a space to park in. then found out where the building was. went in, and started talking to the guard there, who saw my cell phone, and told me it had to stay in my car. SO i had to RUN all the way back to the car, drop the thing off (this ended up being a blessing, since it was here at the car i realized my fly was open, WHOOPS i'm sure THAT would have impressed the judge), and then run all the way back.
went through the gates, and theres really no instructions on what you're supposed to do or where to go. i didn't know what was happening since i was late, or where to meet my lawyer or anything. saw a docket upstairs but my name wasn't on it. then i finally found all the general district rooms with dockets out side each one, and finally found it on the 3rd try. (there were only 4)
inside the courtroom, i found a seat, and tried to figure out where we were. the name the called up was just closely after mine alphabetically, so i figured i missed the thing. i went over to an officer/bailiff in the room who looked an awful lot like Roz from Night court and asked her what the situation was. she went and said they were about to call me, and sure enough they did.
went up stood next to the lawyer, the lady cop was there as well. they went through the whole deal. asked how i pleaded, "guilty". she showed the judge my clean driving record, my lawyer told the judge it was just an unfortunate incident, i took responsibility for the speed and even had apologized to the cop. The Judge asked her if she had any issues with me going to traffic school, which she did not. so the judge assigned me to traffic school, and if i complete that, he'll dismiss the whole ticket. which was really more than i was even hoping for. my expected outcome was to just have the reckless part downgraded to a speeding ticket, and i'd still pay that.
SO i'm pretty happy with the whole deal overall. not happy that it happened and all, but at least i save some money, and i just have to go take a class and pay the court fees. and then i should be done with the whole deal.
talking to the lawyer on the way out though, it turns out that the judge was one of the normally strict ones, but has been getting nicer recently. if my record wasn't perfect they'd have filed for the continuance to a different judge. the only real point he was worried about was how much over the limit i was, but luckily it all turned out well and good. now i have to go register for a driving class.
on a possibly related note, my blood pressure has been high these last couple months, so the cardiologist has put me on medication for that. apparently it's also just a good idea even if my BP was fairly good, since otherwise i'm liable to blow out my mitral valve, and then i'll probably die again, so it's okay, but i didn't want more meds. i bought a home BP monitor, and it was totally fine when i took it at home. i've always had the white coat syndrome when it comes to my BP, plus they take it just after they run you back to the place. give a fella a couple minutes to relax hows about?
So this time, it was just a stupid thing. i was driving back late one night from delivering a late birthday present to uebereinhorn. i was tired, had a headache and just wanted to get home. wasn't paying attention, got off the highway to take a shortcut between highways, and stupidly hadn't been paying attention to my speed. got me at 25 over (70/45). i saw the cop, and knew it was a done deal before i even passed her. i was good and polite, apologized for not paying attention and everything, but it was still shitty. and you HAVE to go to court.
for those that don't know, Reckless is a pretty big deal. in VA it carries the same weight as a DUI, and in addition to the court fees, and ticket fines, you can lose your license, and also have up to 2 years of jail time. PLUS virgina passed some stupid laws this summer that add additional fines for certain violations. so in addition to everything previously mentioned, you've got a shiny $1050 fine you have to pay va. FOR VA RESIDENTS ONLY. this law is damn unconstitutional, but thats a gripe for a different time.
SO over the last month, i had to find myself a lawyer, get my speedometer calibrated, get a copy of my driving record, and generally just stress about the whole deally.
The things i had going for me were, that i was polite and cooperative to the cop (i learned that the first time around), and my record was perfect. the last time i had gotten a speeding ticket was jan of 2000. so my record was +5 points, which is like as good as it gets. lawyer had told me it was 50/50 whether i even needed a lawyer, but i figured it was better to have representation and hopefully might smooth things over with the judge. Plus he said there were two judges that he wouldn't even try the case in front of, so we'd file a continuance if necessary.
This morning i got all dolled up in my black suit, put on my fancy new over coat (ive got a lot of fancy occasions this winter, and it ruins the effect if you wear a suit, and then put on a columbia jacket), and headed off to find the court. which i knew the area of, but not WHERE to actually go. Found the place, but started to stress because i was supposed to be there at 9:30 and i hit every light on the way. got here about AT 9:30, had to drive around a bunch finding a space to park in. then found out where the building was. went in, and started talking to the guard there, who saw my cell phone, and told me it had to stay in my car. SO i had to RUN all the way back to the car, drop the thing off (this ended up being a blessing, since it was here at the car i realized my fly was open, WHOOPS i'm sure THAT would have impressed the judge), and then run all the way back.
went through the gates, and theres really no instructions on what you're supposed to do or where to go. i didn't know what was happening since i was late, or where to meet my lawyer or anything. saw a docket upstairs but my name wasn't on it. then i finally found all the general district rooms with dockets out side each one, and finally found it on the 3rd try. (there were only 4)
inside the courtroom, i found a seat, and tried to figure out where we were. the name the called up was just closely after mine alphabetically, so i figured i missed the thing. i went over to an officer/bailiff in the room who looked an awful lot like Roz from Night court and asked her what the situation was. she went and said they were about to call me, and sure enough they did.
went up stood next to the lawyer, the lady cop was there as well. they went through the whole deal. asked how i pleaded, "guilty". she showed the judge my clean driving record, my lawyer told the judge it was just an unfortunate incident, i took responsibility for the speed and even had apologized to the cop. The Judge asked her if she had any issues with me going to traffic school, which she did not. so the judge assigned me to traffic school, and if i complete that, he'll dismiss the whole ticket. which was really more than i was even hoping for. my expected outcome was to just have the reckless part downgraded to a speeding ticket, and i'd still pay that.
SO i'm pretty happy with the whole deal overall. not happy that it happened and all, but at least i save some money, and i just have to go take a class and pay the court fees. and then i should be done with the whole deal.
talking to the lawyer on the way out though, it turns out that the judge was one of the normally strict ones, but has been getting nicer recently. if my record wasn't perfect they'd have filed for the continuance to a different judge. the only real point he was worried about was how much over the limit i was, but luckily it all turned out well and good. now i have to go register for a driving class.
on a possibly related note, my blood pressure has been high these last couple months, so the cardiologist has put me on medication for that. apparently it's also just a good idea even if my BP was fairly good, since otherwise i'm liable to blow out my mitral valve, and then i'll probably die again, so it's okay, but i didn't want more meds. i bought a home BP monitor, and it was totally fine when i took it at home. i've always had the white coat syndrome when it comes to my BP, plus they take it just after they run you back to the place. give a fella a couple minutes to relax hows about?