Dodging Bullets

If you read my last post, you learned I'm in limbo, waiting for my new drivers license to come, and waiting to call and find out how much my fine is for my traffic stop. When the cop generously offered to "waive" the speeding issue in order to seize my license, I asked him outright if he was doing that because he knew it was more expensive to drive on an expired license than it was to speed. (I just ask quesitons so I know how many tissues to buy when I make the call to get the fine. Risky? Maybe.) The cop simply told me that they can't quote fines, and he wasn't sure. Well, I knew a girl once (of COURSE not ME) who got a speeding ticket for $150or so...same number of miles over the limit, and I was braced for the worst.

Today, I called. I figured my fine would be somewhere in the range between "I'm never getting in a car again" and "can I get some sort of car-diabling device installed in my car if I go over 25?".

I dialed the number, and after only 6 or 7 menu tree branches, I wound up typing in my citation number. "Your fine is......(enter digigized automated voice)....$300.

HUH????? REALLY????

I decided I was going to court for this one. I'd heard that if you appear, they are likely to lessen the fine just because you went out of your way to contest. My defense? SIX KIDS. Need I say more? Doesn't that cover a multitude of sins? Aren't I entitled to forget a few doozies now and again simply based on the fact that some mornings I can't even remember if I put on deodorant or not? And hey, I donated to the Sheriff's "Shop with a Cop" program last Christmas. I figured that was worth at least a couple hundred dollars right there.

I dialed again, choosing a NEW maze of menus to navigate through for a court date, and landed with a LIVE person. I gave the citation number...and BINGO. Suddenly, all those little good deeds I've done in my life started falling out of the sky onto the scales of justice...(dinner for the new mothers, changing diapers, pulling slivers out of my kids' hands, not purposely stepping on certain bugs on the sidewalk, on and on and on...)

The lady said there was a mistake, and apparently when the cop wrote up the ticket, he wrote in the code for "Driving on a SUSPENDED license." I was merely driving on an EXPIRED one.

Here's the bonus. If he had cited me for speeding (for which I was guilty), the fine was around $150 (as per my FRIEND'S past experience). The fine for driving on an expired license?

$40.

I'm going to write out a check right now for "shop with a cop." Oh, and I'm going out to get new shoes. But I still have an ugly license picture. You can't win 'em all.