logic of a brakelight ticket

Originally Posted by Flint

I fixed the light myself, the next day, and took it to the courthouse. Instead of letting it go at that point (like the cop said they would do) they set me a court date. Why? I have no idea. Now, my car is in the shop, as in: I can't drive it to court to show them I fixed the light, like I could have done two months ago.

That is odd... usually they will just send a clerk out to look at it and pass it. Were you "unpleasant" at any point?

(Every couple of months my wife and I check our lights, brights included... we are dorks &, yes, being raised on a ranch/Scouts messed me up)

[dar512]

Originally Posted by Elspode

I am rapidly becoming cynical enough to be expecting a goddamn breathing tax anytime now.

You didn't get the notice?

[tw]

Originally Posted by Flint

I was wondering the same thing, except in my case the brakelight is something I can't even check

Of course you can check the brake light. When a car pulls up behind, you can see each brake light reflect off that car. Or when you back up to a wall, fence, etc, it is obvious when a brake light does not work. Of course Honda Accords have always had a dashboard indicator; immediately reports a brake light failure. And yet some drivers ignore the red dash board light; not fix the brake light.

I have even pulled up alongside a car, told the driver he has one or two brake lights out, and on rare occasions have that driver be mad at me. Two brake lights out? Yes, some drivers cannot be bothered to even fix the first bulb failure - when those bulbs are sold even in every drug store. Clearly the threat of a ticket is not great enough. They get mad at me rather than thank me for saving them from a ticket or a deadly crash. You know how common drug stores are today. They cannot be bothered to stop right there and replace a bulb. They have that little consideration for human safety.

Another problem that has become common - something like one in every 25 or 40 cars - headlights out of alignment. Recently told a girl that her headlights were grossly out. She pulled her car up to the convenience store trash gate. One bulb was pointed only 10 feet in front of the car. Other was so high as to be a high beam. She said she was driving this car for three years. Friends would ask if her headlights had burned out. And yet she could not be bothered to even pull up to a wall - see how bad her lights were. Again, another reason why traffic tickets are necessary. She could not even be bothered when one headlight was blinding oncoming drivers.

Service stations attendants used to tell people of these problems...

[Elspode]

But that *costs* money. We don't do things that cost money unless it can be demonstrated that they return more profit than they cost.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

Were you "unpleasant" at any point?

Nope. No reason for it. According to the cop, all I had to do was go on down and show them it was fixed, and it would be dismissed on the spot.

I was glad he told me it was out. I fixed it the next day. (Made a nice excuse to get a u-joint for my socket set...)

Slight glitch though, they didn't dismiss it on the spot, they wanted me to come back in 2 months. Okay, no problem. I'll come back in 2 months.

However, my court date is coming up soon, and my car isn't drivable anymore. I suppose I could have it towed to the courthouse . . . ???

[xoxoxoBruce]

I have even pulled up alongside a car, told the driver he has one or two brake lights out, and on rare occasions have that driver be mad at me.

That made me laugh, I know exactly what you mean. It's funny, you can tell immediately if they all ready knew it was out. Sometimes, out of embarrassment I presume, they try to fake it, but you can tell they knew it.

I had one car that had the brake lights tied to the same fuse as the interior dome light. I thought that was a good idea. If you open the door and the dome light doesn't go on, you might not have brake lights. Bulbs usually don't all go out at the same time, but the fuse kills everything.

Flint, that's a strange system you have down there.
I wonder if some clerk was having a bad day and decided to give you a court date rather than do what they were supposed to?
Be that as it may, for whatever reason it didn't go down as the cop said it should, now it's become your problem. You can be justifiably pissed about it but you still have to deal with it before get gets worse.
I'd write the Judge a letter, in advance of your court date if possible, and lay the whole thing out for him. At least if he reads it before you get there, he might be predisposed to let you skate.
Good luck.

[capnhowdy]

Did you hassle the cop in some way?

Who?.......Flint?

Nah.

[xoxoxoBruce]

OK, just for arguments sake lets say Flint did everything short of spitting on the cop. Fine, so in retaliation the cop pushes to the full extent of the law and throws the book at him. The cop can do that, he's been given a certain amount of leeway to use his discretion.

But the cop lying to Flint, as to the procedure he must follow in his path of "rehabilitation" to upstanding citizen, is a big no-no. Completely unacceptable!

I still think it's a courthouse screw-up.

[Flint]

I think: the courthouse has changed their policy, and the cop doesn't know the knew program (an honest mistake).

[lookout123]

you are operating under the mistaken assumption that the police are something other than revenue generators. they are just counting on lazy people to pay the ticket rather than deal with it.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Elspode

I am rapidly becoming cynical enough to be expecting a goddamn breathing tax anytime now.

Actually, they lie in wait and hit you with it as soon as you stop breathing.

It's called the "Inheritance Tax."

[tw]

Originally Posted by wolf

Actually, they lie in wait and hit you with it as soon as you stop breathing.

It's called the "Inheritance Tax."

That's it. When I die, I must make sure I am carrying no ID. What are they going to do; arrest me for obstructing justice? Can they tax John Doe?

[Tonchi]

Originally Posted by Flint

I was wondering the same thing, except in my case the brakelight is something I can't even check (except as described above by xoxoxoBruce).

YES! You CAN easily see if your brake lights are working even though you are sitting in the car. This valuable tip comes to you from the Dumb White Chicks Who Don't Know Shit About Mechanics Club

Sometime in the evening, when your car lights are turned on anyway, back up slowly toward whatever wall is convenient in a place with no traffic. You can even do this by backing into your garage or carport. Stop car, apply brakes while looking in the rear mirror. The red of the brake lights will be clearly visible as a reflection on the wall. The glass floor-to-ceiling windows of a strip mall or office building work even better. I used to check my brake lights every night when I was leaving work, I had a 1969 Cutlass which lost the connection to the lamps every once in a while and this way I could be sure I was not entering the street without knowing that everything was in order.

[fargon]

I have fixed tail and brake lights while the Cop was wrighting the ticket. I thanked the young Officer after he signed off on the ticket, while his partner laffed his a$$ off.