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Old 08-20-2014, 07:32 AM
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ilbegone ilbegone is offline
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but if you get cited, you'll have to go in each time with your proof, and sit through countless idiots trying to plead stupidity, ignorance, pauperdom, or denial before they get to your case, and still with no certainty that the commissioner won't just uphold it simply because they have also sat through the previously mentioned other cases, and are just tired of people trying to escape the system's grasp.
What the real issue concerning "infraction" traffic tickets is that the court system is financed by those fines and associated "fees". Only something like 3% of those receiving tickets fight their cases, if everyone fought traffic tickets the court system would collapse.

There is no appeal, except for procedural issues, and the judge, who is is also the prosecutor and jury, has a vested interest in finding the defendant guilty - it's ultimately how his system is financed. He's probably not going to hear cases in a roped off section of the park downtown on a reduced salary.

And the bit about having to wait all day is by design to punish the unwashed rabble, which is unprepared and unrepresented, and to convenience and reward fellow attorneys, the cases with representation are first to be heard. It's a racket with one hand washing the other.

Furthermore, to win, the defendant's case must be really good or the officer forfeits his case by not showing up. There is also prehearing negotiation with the officer to reduce the infraction to a non point offense while paying the full fine, but it seems many jurisdictions are now disallowing that option. I'll hire an inevitably over priced attorney and hope the officer doesn't show, try for the non point option is available if he does, and if I do get the full conviction and whole fine (as well as being fleeced by the traffic attorney) I take comfort in the fact that I have cost both the issuing agency and the court in terms of time and money for the following reasons:

Part of unequal protection under the law is that non commercial drivers get 1 point per conviction, whereas a CDL license holder is slammed 1.5 points for non commercial driving convictions. 2 tickets and a CDL holder is virtually unemployable - unless he's an owner operator and can afford the insurance hike. Plus there is a defacto ticket quota. If an officer doesn't consistently write so many tickets per month, he won't be promoted, might not get raises, and may even lose his job. Plus, the fine is often a fraction of the monetary penalty. If you look at it, there's lots of other stuff tacked onto the fine.

Besides, I'm not a "real" truck driver, I don't want to be, nor do I want the liability for all those endorsements, and I may never drive another truck ever again. But, I have to have a CDL license to get the job and I have to eat all that DMV BS just because I need the frickin license. They couldn't pay me enough to haul genuinely hazardous material, and there is more than enough grief available for an inconsequential, minor mishap with material no more hazardous than an otherwise normal, everyday urban environment but is classified as "hazardous" by unelected bureaucrats operating more from ideology rather than factual consideration.

Another thing that gets me is that the money machine in Sacramento has classified everything with a cab and a bed as a commercial vehicle. So, the owner of a tiny family mini pickup is slammed for higher fees than if the vehicle is a family car, but no one in that legislative three ring circus in Sacramento has yet made the equally preposterous argument that a CDL is required to drive the vehicle. However, I have no doubt that some day one of those elected village idiots will do so and the reasoning will probably have something to do with "climate change".
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Last edited by ilbegone; 08-20-2014 at 08:24 AM.
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