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Tickets | Pad Patter 6.15

bestcee

bestcee

In love with places I've never been to
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Dec 18, 2013
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Tickets. Pesky little things aren't they? No, I haven't gotten one recently. My mom and sister are driving back home, and my mom is very concerned my sister will get a ticket for speeding before they make it home. In only the ways moms can be concerned about us and criticize our driving in the same breath :lol. So, it made me curious:

When did you get your first traffic ticket? Share the details. You don't have to be the driver, of course! My mom got one as a pedestrian as a kid.

If you don't have a ticket story, do you have a story about being pulled over? Or perhaps being a passenger when someone was pulled over? Or perhaps a time when you know you should have gotten pulled over or a ticket, but luckily, there was no law enforcer around. (Yes, I have all 3!)

None of those? What do you call law enforcement in your area?
 
Summer of '70, I was 16 driving to the beach (Rehoboth Beach, DE) with my family. The road back then went from 55MPH to 35/25MPH as you drove in and out of the small towns along. I came to a small town, didn't see a speed limit sign, so I slowed down to 35MPH. WRONG, it was 25MPH, cop pulled me over, lectured me, but only gave me a warning b/c otherwise I'd would have had to go to court with a parent and we were more than an hour from home.

My father was FURIOUS ... never mind that he always sped and still does at 93 y.o. ... he took my license away from me for 2 months. I only got it back b/c I needed to drive to community college.

The following summer my younger sister and I were driving to the beach and looked for the speed limit sign ... it was on a multi-sign "billboard" ... a dozen or more signs for the town's Lion's Club, Rotary Club, etc. No wonder I didn't see it. Lesson learned though, was to slow down to 25MPH when entering a small town in Delaware. :)
 
Oh and a friend of mine was ticketed for riding her bike too fast on an army base back in 1976 ...
 
I got my first ticket in 2018, but I didn't even know about it until the traffic law enforcement body announced a discount on all tickets and I went to check my traffic account online. It took me a while to recall where I was heading and for what occasion! Turned out that I was on the way to a mental health awareness event that I was volunteering for. I must have been late and rushing because the organization's office is about 45 minutes' ride from home :driving
 
I think I got one last week from one of those traffic light cameras. I was turning right and there was nobody on the streets so I turned right without waiting the 5 secs that you are supposed to wait!
 
I haven't had one in a long while... and I hope I don't get one now! :giggle

A couple silly teenage story though. Please note, I have a lead foot... and I'm in New Jersey.

I was riding down the road in the town I grew up in... and was going pry going a little over the speed limit - 10-15 maybe... young, and in my own world. I was pulled over... cop did his thing, I did mine. He came back to the car and asked if my Dad was Jimmy the Electrician. I said yes, he is... then he proceeded to tell me to tell my Dad Cop So and So said hi! Then he let me go. Weeks upon weeks later, I meet up with my Dad somewhere... and he asked me if anyone said hi to him recently. By that time, I had completely wiped it from my memory.... and he started laughing. He explained that he met up with the cop, and the cop asked about me greeting him.... and I hadn't. lol!

Another time, I was riding on my street... (there are no stop signs, just one long street, and people def go more than the 25 posted. The stops are all for the cross streets). And yes, I was flying. Cop sitting at a stop sign, and I went by. Realized after he was a cop, and didn't slow down, but no lights yet. I'm a block from home... and I fly into the driveway... I'm running toward the door, and the cop pulls up and yells out... "whatcha got there a hot pie!?" I said "no, I had to pee" and ran inside... then peeked out to wait to see if he would leave or come up to the door. He left... whew!

Um... find out, it was the same cop. Hahahahha! Funny now... though my dad has some special words for me then, lol!
 
Oh my I got a few when I first got my "fast car" sometime in the 70's. I bought a Chevy Super Sport Coupe with a 409 engine in it and boy did I get in trouble. Thankfully, we lived in a small town and when I got stopped, it was by policemen who I'd gone to school with. One time, I got a ticket from a well-know cop that didn't like young people and he threw the book at me. My grandfather knew everybody in town and went over to the guy's house and "got it fixed".

Fast forward to a few years ago. I got a "few" and was in danger of having my license suspended. My husband said "you better slow down or you'll lose your license." I was TOO old to lose my license. I slowed down. That was when I was driving back and forth, by myself, from Florida to Michigan.
 
I haven't had one in a long time, but I've had my fair share.
The first one I got on my way to work at 18. This car had been messing with me...speeding up, passing me, slowing down, etc...and the one time I sped up to pass him and hopefully leave him behind, there was the state trooper.
No real stories on any of them...I was speeding, got caught, end of story haha. I've had a couple of warnings and I think 3 actual speeding tickets. I've been pulled over for a couple of other reasons...tinted plate cover, strip across the windshield, expired inspection, headlight out...for those I got "fix it" tickets, except the strip across the windshield, that one I won.
As far as what we call them:
State Police - Trooper
County Police - County
City Police - City Cop
These days, when I'm on the highway (which is most of my commute), I use my cruise control pretty religiously.
 
I've gotten a total of two tickets in my life. One when I was 18. Speeding. But honestly, I was going as fast as everyone else on the highway.

Then I got a ticket a few years ago. It was a speed trap in a nearby county. Construction zone that all of a sudden came up, that wasn't even that noticeable and the speed dropped drastically. I noticed on my way back through the county that several people were pulled over in the same spot.

I know, I know. Making excuses. I paid for my tickets and was nice to the police officer.
 
I've only gotten one ticket ever. It was a parking ticket when I was working at a project site in New York. Parking was tough, and one day the only spot I could find was at the train station. Turns out the spot I had used was a handicap spot, but there was no sign post (a requirement in Texas), and the markings on the pavement were covered in snow. I went and argued it in court, but since I didn't have pictures (this was way before smart phones), the best the judge could do was cut the fine in half. :P

As a passenger, I have been in cars that were pulled over several times, but the drivers just gave a polite apologetic explanation and there was never a ticket issued. :thumbsups
 
When I saw "ticket" I thought you were talking about ephemera. And I'm like, "I love tickets!" But alas, this thread is not about the ephemera type of tickets. :disagree

I've had two. One in Hawaii - going downhill of all things when the car speeds up naturally. And the second in Texas when the highway went from 75 to 60 but I did not slow (was actually visiting Texas back then and did not know the area).
 
I've only had 1 speeding ticket (that I remember). Which is surprising since I have a lead foot. Thank goodness for cruise control on highways. I got the ticket on my way to my cousin's house in the 70's. I was less than 20 miles from her town when I got stopped. I was given the choice of appearing in court at a later date or paying the ticket by credit card on the spot. Since I was 3 hours away from home, I paid by credit card. The reason I was speeding... I had to go to the bathroom really bad and was trying to get to somewhere that had a restroom. At that time, the highway I was on didn't have many places to stop. Been built up since then though!

State police are "troopers". County are "sheriff" and the town cops are just called "cops".
 
I got pulled over once on the way to a Cubs game in Chicago and we were running late for a night game. I was going about 75 which is fine, right? Well, I didn't realize the speed limit had switched to 55. Argh! I must have been believable when I screeched "What? I thought it was still 70mph" when the cop informed me of my transgression. I was so SURE I was going to get a ticket, but he let me go. Phew!

My son got his first parking ticket a few weeks ago in our town. We had several lots around our beach town that are free for residents, but I had forgotten to call and give them our updated license plate number for the year. They have a police car with cameras that scans all licenses plates as he drives by and the computer alerts them when they should give a ticket. Thankfully all I had to do was go into our city hall and tell them it was my mistake and then he didn't have to pay the ticket (he was driving my car).
 
Circa 1993 I was driving home from my boyfriend's house, just 3 minutes from my own house, up a very familiar road and I got pulled over and ticketed for going a few miles over the 25mph speed limit. I was humiliated because it was such a low speed.

That's my only ticket. But I've been pulled over once or twice since then. My favorite was the time I was driving home from berry picking with my first baby. She was a toddler sitting snug in her carseat behind me in our little car and we were singing. I think the speed limit was probably 50 on a small rural highway and I was just going a little over. I don't know if the officer let me go with a warning because I apologized effectively or what. I honestly admitted I didn't know how fast I was going and that I was singing with my baby.
 
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