[ale] OT: Court tomorrow

[Greg]

I would suggest that the most obvious/simple explanation is the actual
explanation - that traffic court is to punish those who violate traffic
laws.  Fault (unless it's a no-fault state) must be determined because they
who commit the crime shall pay for all expenses and need to be punished for
justice's sake.  Having a car presently in the shop due to an idiot's
driving I'm glad of the present system as opposed to *me* the victim having
to go to court to prove the obvious.  In my case he lost control and skidded
across 2 lanes and the median to hit me while I was stationary at light.
The idiot then tried to blame it on the recent rain and slick road
conditions rather then either saying nothing or taking responsibility for
his actions.  Insurance companies as well as justice require a person whose
fault caused the incident.  While in some places it is a "money making
scheme" I would suggest that it is not that way in all places.

In this instance we have nothing more than a person who is trying to avoid
his responsibility for causing an accident by trying to play jail house
lawyer (lots of folks like to do this and it makes them look pretty funny
when they go up against a real lawyer in court) and looking for a
technicality rather than being a stand up guy and saying "It's my fault and
I will pay the consequences - no need to cause the public further expense
and inconvenience".  The deal to plead nolo contendre and avoid the fine was
a hell of a good thing for the people's attorney (DA ?  in VA they are the
"commonwealth's attorney) to offer the original poster.  That in itself
seems to void the advice of your jaded lawyer friend.  I would advise taking
the "gift".

IMHO I would rather the state punish the offender like it is supposed to do
rather than plea bargain this away (a fault that has crippled the American
justice system).  Asking for a jury trial in something so simple just shows
the offender can't/won't 1)recognize his guilt in something *so* simple
and/or 2) take the consequences for their actions.  They would much prefer
to waste the justice system's time on trivial BS.

I don't know why folks try to avoid responsibility in this society.  The
whole matter seems so cut and dried to me (and, I'm sure, to the court
system).

Greg

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org]On Behalf Of Mike
Millson
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2004 12:45 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] OT: Court tomorrow


On Mon, 2004-11-15 at 08:57, Sergio Chaves wrote:
> I can  verify that.
> Two years ago I was on a intersection, merging to a freeway.
> The driver in front of me and myself made a complete stop waiting for
> traffic to clear so we could merge.
> The car in front of me "took off" and I followed  behind it.
> The other driver *suddenly* hit the brakes thinking she would not have
> enough
> room/speed/etc. to complete the merge and I hit her.
>
> ALL of that was acknowledge by the other driver and myself in court but
> it seemed that the judge did not hear a single sentence . All the Judge
> kept
> saying was that I should have (a) waited for the other driver to complete
> the merge or (b) given more distance between the cars.
>
> The hammer came down hard; my checking account got $150.00 poorer,
> I "earned" points on my MVR and, my insurance went up a little for
> having to pay for both car repairs. :-(
>
> Sergio

This sort of thing used to bother me too. Then a lawyer friend of mine
explained that traffic court is not about finding out whose fault
something is or justice or anything that complex. It's a money making
operation. And when you go down there and plead innocent and try to
present your case to the judge and ask for a jury trial, you throw a big
monkey wrench into their money making operation. And they get pissed off
and you pay more for wasting their time. My advice is to just send in
your "donation" and avoid the humiliation of going to traffic court at
all cost. It's just a more elegant way of collecting money than, say,
when I was in Mexico and we were pulled over for "too many people in the
car" (4 I guess is too many) and were allowed to pay our fine on the
spot w/ a $20 bill.

Mike

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