No Contest

Yep, I was pulled over. This is the first time in years. Years! I was a little stunned. I really was following the flow of traffic on a pretty busy road. How he picked me out of everybody is a mystery. Maybe it was my hot red mini van that attracted that motor cycle cop.

And when he handed me my 168.00 ticket I felt a little sick to my stomach. He politely explained to me that since this was a first offense I could take my ticket to the courthouse and register for a driving class. If I completed this 4 hour class and passed the test at the end then my ticket would be dismissed. He said I could go at anytime.

So about an hour later I took Eli on a mommy/son date to the courthouse. And do you know what I was told? I was informed that it wasn't even on the records yet and wouldn't be until late that night, if not the next night. No, she could not register me for the class because according to the computer system I really didn't have a ticket. Annoying. I asked for more clarification on the class. She said I would have to pay the class fee of 125.00 and then either a 45.00 fee to take it at the courthouse or a 40.00 fee to take the class on-line. What? A fee for the class? I explained to her that the officer had made it sound like my ticket would be dismissed...as in I wouldn't owe anything if I took this 4 hour class. She told me she had had that complaint a lot. Lame! So lame. I then asked her if she was aware that the class fees were only 3.00 less than my ticket...if I took the class on-line. How is that worth it? She explained that the ticket would not go on my record. Hmmmmm...

So, I called Matt and told him my scenario. And he wasn't even mad at me. He's that neat. He even called our insurance to ask them how our insurance would be affected if I just paid the ticket and got on with life. Good news. Because we have a clean driving record this ticket wouldn't affect our insurance at all. Decision made! I don't have time to sit in a class for 4 hours with my new school schedule and homework load. Thank goodness.

But then I went to Eli's parent teacher conference later that evening and besides talking about how  awesome Eli is we discussed the ticket. That dang ticket. She told me that her son in law recently had a similar situation  and decided to plead "no contest". With this option you write a letter stating your side of the story. You mail it in to the courthouse with your ticket fee and a judge reviews it and compares it to a statement by the cop. You never have to go to the court and if the judge doesn't like your letter then they already have your money and no harm is done. Anyways, so the judge ruled in his favor and he actually received about half of his ticket fee back.  I felt like in my situation this would be a smart move.

We'll see.

What do you think of my letter? Will the judge rule in my favor?

I'm crossing my fingers. And my toes.