Due Care and Caution

So not totalled. Only half of totalled. And a tire. And perhaps a pear tree.

The adventures of the day . . . I went to the Secretary of State yesterday to get a new copy of my registration. Yes, I know. I'm supposed to have a registration on my person. And I did . . . but they made us get new license plates, so there was that temporary one and then the real one came in the mail but not together with my other car. Anyhow, it was misplaced somehow. So I received a ticket for that . . . in addition to my "failure to use due care and caution" citation. Yes, it is my fault. I pulled out of my driveway, impeding traffic. Which makes me leery of pulling out of my driveway ever again.

(The fun part? When I tell men this? They advise me to "back in" to my driveway and then I can just pull out when I want to. Except when I explain the street I live on . . . and that the only time I might be able to "back in" to my driveway would be 3 a.m.. Otherwise, I would be really impeding traffic. Back in when cars are going 50 m.p.h. down the busy street. grumble.)

So today, I made it to the court office in time and showed them my registration. "This is a duplicate." Well, yes, I just got it from the Secretary of State. "It says you got this yesterday." Why, yes, I did. "I can't use this . . . you'll have to bring me the registration from Monday." Well, okay, but I can't find my registration . . . which is why I'm talking to you and why I got a new one printed. "Yeah, this won't fix this." Well, I guess I could go back to my house to tear it apart again and look under the refrigerator again, but I really couldn't find it. Which is why I got the ticket. So what happens if I don't find it? "You'll get charged the ticket fee." But I have a registration.

At this point a woman calls from the back of the office. I am standing looking perplexed on the other side of the bulletproof glass. "Does it say 'duplicate'?" "Yeah." "It's valid. Give it to her." "Is it a waived ticket?" "Yeah." So with that taken care of, we move to the "failure to use due care and caution" part of the proceedings. "So you want a court date?" "The officer at the scene suggested that I get a court date." "Phone number." I give her my phone number and there is a discussion of if this number is the number that I can be reached at during the day. I have to explain that I'm a teacher and that I cannot answer the phone during the day. "Oh, so you want night court?" Well, no. I don't want to make anyone stay late . . . I can really take a personal day. "So night court. We have a 5 p.m." Then there is the "admit" or "deny" section on the form. I shrug. "I was just pulling out of my driveway." She does not like that answer. "What did the policeman say to you exactly?" That I should go ask the judge to waive the points. She writes "WAIVE POINTS" in big letters on the form and checks the box "review". "Okay, don't do anything about your ticket. I'll send you a notice. The officer works during the day, so he will not be showing up. He only goes to day court."

I'm still confused and don't get any paperwork. But I arrived at 10 minutes to close, so I don't argue. I tell the woman to have a nice afternoon. "Yeah. What's left of it."

So I have a court date. And I don't have to bring pictures or math equations or diagrams, "cause you're just gonna talk to the judge."

And the though of talking to the judge still makes me nauseous.

But it's just the "good girl/teacher" in me. At least I don't have blue hair anymore.

(Chinese Mafia . . . goin' to court.)