Thinking back to my first traffic violation, I was 15 years old (Yes, you read that correctly. Ten years ago, Idaho residents could get their driver's license at 15). I was driving to school for the very first time and approached a stop light; wanting to turn left. There were no cars so I leisurely turned right at the light. I still needed to merge over a lane to my left and enter the turn lane to turn left into school parking. I checked both mirrors and saw a blue car distantly behind me in the left lane, I felt it was far enough back, allowing me to merge lanes. I quickly glanced over my left shoulder and still felt safe about switching lanes. As I merged, the blue car snuck up immediately at my side and our two cars made contact, barely scratching the paint off each car. The lady exited her car scream profanities and back pain. When the police officer arrived, I was expecting a citation and he said that he was going to cite me if the lady had insurance. Since she didn't he told us both to have a good day.
I've had many other encounters with police officers for violating traffic laws ranging from broken tail lights, to speeding in my Yamaha R1 going 110 mph in a 75 mph zone, to riding a 50cc scooter through BYU campus chasing a deer. The heftiest fine came from the scooter incident as I was cited for "wreckless driving" and ordered to pay $300.
Interested in traffic fines and how they very from state to state, I found this article in the L.A. Times saying that drivers who are caught running red lights in California pay $446 and making a rolling right turn at a stoplight costs $381. California is installing more red-light cameras to catch traffic violators. Also, cities are trying to "boot" cars and decrease the minimum outstanding parking tickets from 5 tickets to 3 tickets to do so. Cities could raise an estimated $60 million in overdue tickets.
No matter where you are, learn your state's traffic laws and pay attention to potential fines you might have to pay if you are caught violating those laws, or, you could be like me and befriend the police officers that work out at the local gym if you ever need one of them to write off a "fix-it" ticket.
I've had many other encounters with police officers for violating traffic laws ranging from broken tail lights, to speeding in my Yamaha R1 going 110 mph in a 75 mph zone, to riding a 50cc scooter through BYU campus chasing a deer. The heftiest fine came from the scooter incident as I was cited for "wreckless driving" and ordered to pay $300.
Interested in traffic fines and how they very from state to state, I found this article in the L.A. Times saying that drivers who are caught running red lights in California pay $446 and making a rolling right turn at a stoplight costs $381. California is installing more red-light cameras to catch traffic violators. Also, cities are trying to "boot" cars and decrease the minimum outstanding parking tickets from 5 tickets to 3 tickets to do so. Cities could raise an estimated $60 million in overdue tickets.
No matter where you are, learn your state's traffic laws and pay attention to potential fines you might have to pay if you are caught violating those laws, or, you could be like me and befriend the police officers that work out at the local gym if you ever need one of them to write off a "fix-it" ticket.
an event from my mission in LA, i was escaping a yellow light, a car suddenly turned into my lane from the other side of the road causing me to slow down instantly while the light turned red, then i got snapped with the flashes of the traffic cameras. i thought i'd get a ticket, but i never got it.
ReplyDeletethey do know when to give the ticket or not to.
but i love it when i see the flashes... you know that person will have to miss few parties and such to pay for the fines.
I've managed to stay off of police radar since I started to drive. I feel pretty lucky... knock on wood!
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