There’s a stop sign up by the AJA apartment that I’ve been running regularly. And last night, I finally got caught. I now have four points on my record and I owe Reno $170. I would go to court and try to lessen the points and fine, but I leave for Dallas/Madison next Wednesday and couldn’t be back in Reno until August 12th. The lady I talked to at the court said that a one-month extension is possible, but that would only take me to August 1st. She said the only other option is to write a letter to the judge asking for more time or to just pay the fine and take traffic school.
Coming back to Reno costs a lot more than $170 so I think that’s out of the question. The money isn’t really the problem, though; it’s the demerit points. I had no idea that running a stop sign is four points. And traffic school? That would imply that I didn’t know how to drive.
My defense in court would be that I have a perfect driving record until this citation, and that I don’t habitually run stop signs - but if you’re going to run a stop sign, this is the one to run. It’s not even a four-way stop. It’s a T intersection, and the road is angled in a way that you can see the whole street above before you even get to the corner. I was making a right-hand turn, which in my opinion is far less dangerous than a left-turn stop sign run. I’m not a dumbass. If I thought it was a dangerous maneuver, I wouldn’t have done it. It was midnight and if there were any cars coming I would’ve seen their headlights. Plus I check the street for cars every time, day or night. It’s not like I obliviously and recklessly blew through it.
I won’t be running it again, thanks to my citation. But four points is kind of a lot considering that I’ve never been cited for anything else in my life, and that I took the necessary precautions to avoid an accident.
On a more positive note, the cop that pulled me over was a nice guy, just doing his job, just as all the cops who have pulled me over have been. Don’t worry cops, I don’t hate you like most of my peers.
1 Comment
June 6, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Who pulled you over? Was it Liutenant Dangle? Jonesy? Trudy? Garcia?
… You walked into that one.
… And yes, I do check your blog every day to see if you’ve written a new post.
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