But your honor, you can't arrest my husband for having a dingbat for a wife ( or something like that

[HeatherLynn]

GAH, we have to go to court tomorrow and I am sweating it tonight. My husband, whose head is on the line, is sleeping. Not a care in the world I swear. You wanna know why, because he is sure I will get it all fixed. Yep easy peasy.

So we were driving our clunker van, which we rarely use because it breaks down so often. ( seriously twice in a month) Anyway we had to use it that day because we needed to bring all the kids with us. Well we got pulled over because I unbuckled to take a plastic sword away from my daughter who was smacking her brother with it. The officer looked majorly ticked off ( fight with the wife maybe?) . I saw his face and told my husband don't argue or explain just hand him the license and accept the ticket. Then the glove box jammed. Husband had to take a screw driver and break open the glove box because the officer said if we did not we would face charges. Kids are terrified at this point cause this guy was really in a mood. The baby waved and he just glared. She decided to scream the rest of the time. Loverly. Anywho busted open the stupid glove box and pulled out the paperwork. It had our proof of insurance ofr our last term and the term before that but not the current one. Can we get it faxed to you, call them? Nope, he wanted to see us in court. Great! I updated the paperwork in the other cars but forgot to in the crappy one and we just had to drive it that day.

So now I have a stack of things to show we have, had and probably plan to keep having insurance. I have 18 months of regular automatic payments to show. Verification for the day of the ticket and several other random days. Our documents page which shows we have insurance and we get a nice discount for having continuos insurance. I also have a document that shows that not only has it been continuos but its has been for at least 4 years and we have been with the same insurance for the last 11. I also am bringing along all my registration papers for the last 3 years.

Not enjoying this at all. I just feel like going in front of the judge, showing him my papers and then pleading." but your honor, you can't arrest my husband for having a dingbat for a wife."

 

[dewey]

It's a hassle to go in and have to wait, but since the vehicle was insured there's no worries, it'll be just fine. Traffic court see that all day every day. Hope you got some sleep.

 

[EweSheep]

You will be just fine! Insurance is all updated and its a good thing to hve it auto pay to your insurance so there would be NO lapse.

Yes they do this all the time but wished the cop would be a bit kinder about his attitude.

 

[ECBW]

Before the Judge sees your case, the traffic court prosecutor would offer you a plea deal on a lesser charge. If you do not take it, they will drag you back repeatedly until you scream uncle.

Bottom line, it is a moneymaker for the municipality. Truth, justice and common sense do not necessarily matter.

Why am I so bitter? I was ticketed for being blinded by sun glare and crashed. The officer mailed me a ticket 2 weeks later. So watch out, if you are in an accident because a deer jumping in your way or high beam from oncoming car, be prepared for a ticket when you call for help.

 

[dewey]

Before the Judge sees your case, the traffic court prosecutor would offer you a plea deal on a lesser charge. If you do not take it, they will drag you back repeatedly until you scream uncle.

Bottom line, it is a moneymaker for the municipality. Truth, justice and common sense do not necessarily matter.

I've never heard of that for a proof of insurance issue. Here, you just go to court, show your insurance proof, and it's dismissed...or sometimes they give a small fine just for not having the paperwork in the car, but other than that, it's automatically dismissed. Last I knew of, anyway.

 

[OldGuy43]

Quote: Same here, with the exception of the fine. We don't have to carry the paperwork, just be insured. I have no idea what the law is "north of eternity".

 

[dewey]

Same here, with the exception of the fine. We don't have to carry the paperwork, just be insured. I have no idea what the law is "north of eternity".

Oh that's ok, no worries.

 

[HeatherLynn]

Well it only took 3 hours but once the lady looked at the paperwork we were told it would be dismissed we just had to wait for a judge. Problem is our judge was rushed to the ER right before court was to start, then the back up judge fell down some stairs and was also on his way home. They got one from the city an hour away, he came on crutches but he did get there.

Then the first case they had took FOREVER because one side had a witness that was sick and the other had a witness who was rushed to the ER for a heart attack the night before so both the judge and the lady from the court sat there for 20 minutes arguing about future dates. ( sigh ) Judge talked to my husband for all of 30 seconds. Dimissed no fees. YAY ( they had 118 cases to be seen today and over half of them were for the same thing as my husband. the ones who actually didn't have insurance got fined $1000 and have 2 years probation EEEK)

 

[OldGuy43]

Just another case of American blind justice.

Congrats!

 

[HeatherLynn]

I was really thankful. Never had an issue like this. Even the lady from the court asked why we didn't just have the new card faxed in or called and had the cops talk to the insurance. It was an honest mistake. I had a stack of old cards in there but just had forgotten to put that new one in. The officer though said he wanted to see us in court, although he wasn't there so not sure why he was so insistant. A few days after the ticket the lawyers started calling trying to get us to pay a retainer. Had me in a bit of a panic. The way they made it sound just having no gap in insurance for the last 18 years was not good enough, we really needed representation. Had me a bit freaked. The lady from the court and the judge were very nice though. All they wanted was the letter showing we had insurance and the whole thing went away. Sweet relief.