Ryan Goes to Traffic Court

For the first time in my life I received a traffic ticket. I’ve gotten a warning before, but never a ticket (hard to imagine with a Ford Mustang). Needless to say, this ticket wasn’t even for speeding. I failed to make a complete stop at a stop sign. Who the hell stops at a stop sign! Certainly no one in Boston, but apparently it’s a big deal down here. Ticket price – $290 and 2 points on my license. Crappity.

The ticket happened not 50 meters from my apartment. I leave for work every morning around 6am. Just down the street from my apartment complex is a T intersection where I turn right. This intersection has a stop sign. At 6am there aren’t a whole lot of people on the side roads of Simpsonville, SC. I can also see 200 meters in either direction at the intersection. Put those two together combined with my laziness at having to downshift into first gear means that I will often make a “California stop” at this stop sign – or, at least used to.

I have no idea where the cop was hiding – probably in plain sight since I’m still not fully awake at 6am. I ended up pulling into the Walgreen’s parking lot so I could stare at the great milk specials they were having while he wrote me a ticket. I could either pay the fine or go to traffic court in 2 weeks time. I opted for court.

Traffic court time finally came. My time was scheduled for 9am. I had no idea what to expect since I had never been to traffic court. I showed up at about 8:59am. It’s a good thing too, because they started at 9am sharp. I entered the courtroom and there were about 100 people in there. It was standing room only. I guess they do everyone at the same time. Very time efficient – for them anyway. At 9am they started roll-call. Probably 60% of the people were there. It’s a good thing too because no one else would have fit in that room.

After roll call we all rise and the judge comes in. He first asks if anyone wants a trial jury. No one did. Then he starts calling off names. There are two podiums in front of the judges bench. The officer who wrote the ticket stands at one and you stand at the other. Basically everyone pleads guilty and the judge reduces everyone’s fines. I came in with a good list of reasons I should get my fine reduced (my first ticket, holiday season, etc.) but no one got the chance to interdict. The judge, 1) read the charge, 2) asked if you plead guilty or not guilty, 3) affirmed that you weren’t under the influence or on drugs when you said your plea – one girl accidentally said yes and the judge had to pull a “Let me ask you again … and listen closely ..” before she realized her mistake, 4) the judge then tells you what your new reduced fine is going to be and tells you to pay at the clerk – who happens to be sitting right next to the judge. As you walk up to pay the judge moves on to the next defendant. I was happy to hear the judge decided to reduce my sentence to $100 and no points.

Now, I did a bit a research before going and found that in Laurens County the clerk only takes cash or credit card – no checks. I always carry a credit card so I figured no problem. Well, Simpsonville doesn’t roll that way. I get up to the clerk and find out that I can only pay with cash or check. Crappity. I pull out my wallet and I only have $95 (and only had that because I went to the ATM the day before). What happens now? Do I go to jail? Do I get to run to an ATM and come back? The clerk, probably seeing the fear on my face, leaned over and asked the judge if he could reduce the ticket to $95 since that was all I had. He agreed. So I got another 5% discount upon checkout. I got my receipt and was happy to be out of there.

I now come to a complete stop every morning at that stop sign.

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