Prologue
Just flying along on a Sunday morning back at the end of October with little to no other traffic around at the time. Oops, my mistake for forgetting on this particular stretch of 2-lane country highway the speed limit is 55. Of course I was not going 55. The CHP was fairly good about it and cited me for ten miles less than I was really going. I'm not going to argue.
Chap. 1
The saga? He advised me that I might not get a 'courtesy' notice in the mail and that it was my responsibility to show up in court on the date shown, or otherwise clear the fine via phone or internet.
Chap. 2
OK? About 2 weeks later I go to the internet and look up my ticket by citation number. Hmmmm...might not be in the system yet.
Chap. 3
Wait till the third week. Internet says 'system is busy' come back later. Went back later and system still busy.
A couple days pass and internet says no such citation, might not be in the system yet.
Now we are in late November. I am due in court by first week of January. No problem, eh?
Chap. 4
How about calling? The phone number is on the ticket, and look up the citation by punching in a bunch of numbers. Not found. Oh, how about checking via my driver's license number? Do so, no citation found.
Several days that week I try the phone system again. And it boots me off!! Too many callers.
YIKES. End of November, beginning of December. I do not want to take time off to appear in court if possible. Ugh. I just want to pay it, take on-line traffic school and get on with my LIFE!
Chap. 5
Early one morning I tried and got through on the phone lines. Just wanted to ask why my citation is not in their records.
I WAS 79th IN LINE ON THE PHONE QUEUE!!!
If it wasn't so ridiculous it would be laughable. But I stayed on the line with a death grip on the phone. The polite machine comes around every so often....Now you're 48th in line.....Now you're 37th in line....Now you're 15th in line...
A PERSON finally answers. She looks me up and confirms there is not record. The CHP has not sent it in yet as far as she knows. And there is NOTHING they can do.
I SHOULD WAIT 2 MORE WEEKS and do it all again. AHHRGHHH!
Epilogue
My husband says just go to court as the statistics are that 25% of the time the officer does not attend and the case is dismissed.
*sigh*
Traffic Ticket Saga
December 7th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
December 8th, 2007 at 01:57 am 1197079028
December 8th, 2007 at 03:36 am 1197084996
January 18th, 2008 at 08:59 pm 1200689992
January 19th, 2008 at 12:31 am 1200702663
I didn't have to make the court appearance. I'm not sure if there is anything to prepare, but dress nice, speak politely and bring the paperwork and you should be ok!
I also did the traffic school on-line (approved ones are listed on the court website). it was not expensive at all, but just as time consuming as going in person for a Saturday. Good luck!