How did you feel the first time you got a ticket?

I received one for accidentally not making a full stop at a blinking red light at 1:15am after work. I was more tired than anything and just wanted to get home. I just ended up paying for the damn thing.

Haven’t gotten one! :)

Let’s see how long I can keep it up.

Pissed as hell. It was overturned, too.

I left my house, my tag light was working. Somewhere on my drive to a football game (this was in Florida) my light shorted out – no tag light. The officer that pulled me over didn’t give me the normal ticket where you had 10 days to prove that it was fixed and the ticket was forgiven – no questions asked. He gave me a “normal” ticket, which had a nice fine to accompany it. I did do something right, I kept my cool and waiting to go to a station and talk to a supervising officer who told me what to do and also encouraged me going to court to fight the ticket.

In court, my case was almost instantly dismissed and the officer was warned by the judge to stop skipping the proper procedures. Evidently, he had a habit of doing this – mainly to young women.

Drunk.

I’m not sure if it actually qualifies as a ticket, but I was arrested for drunk driving. Other than that, I’ve never even been pulled over, before or after the offense.

I know. It was bad. But that was many years ago when I was young and stupid.

I was pissed off. I waited to park in a particular lot until my watch and the radio said it was 5 minutes after 3 pm, the lot being restricted between the hours of 9 am and 3 pm. A cop wrote me a ticket, claiming it was written at 2:57 pm. I contested it and it was dismissed.

I was living out in Cali with one of my friends, and I was taking her girls to school, well, appearently, I drove through a crosswalk, and got pulled over in the school parking lot. The cop came over and knocked on my window. I was scared, cause I honestly didn’t know what I got pulled over for, I’ve never been pulled over before that was a few months ago. I thought that I was going to go pee on myself. Well, he tells me that I drove through the cross walk while kids were crossing. But when I drove through, there were no kids in the crosswalk, and the crossing gaurd hadn’t stepped off of the curb. So the ticket I got was $206 and it still hasn’t been paid. So the one thing I can say is you go to Cali, on vacation, and leave on probation, or thats what it seems like, I was only out there for six months.

My first day driving by myself, I went into Philadelphia (my parents had told me not to) And went to South Street. I parked in a spot and saw no meter…very strange for Philly. I came out of the store with my friend, to see my first ticket! I was actually excited, because I was 16 and stupid.
I look at the ticket…it’s for $300!!! Apparently the lovely Philadelphia meter people make handicap meters below the waist height. I didn’t even see it. I had never even heard of that…so I was pretty damn upset. My parents made me pay it. I am hyper-vigilant about that now.

I forget my first moving violation, I used to get tickets very frequently. I do remember my second ticket….because I was also 16, and began sobbing hysterically because my parents told me “One more ticket and we take your car” I know I had already gotten one…oh wait! I remember now. It was “Failure to traffic control devices” the bottom of the tickets..they give it just to give it, usually when you fight a speeding ticket, it’s what they give you so they still get money. Anyway, my second ticket I apparently drove a couple miles with the music too loud to know the police had been following me. So, that was quite traumatic because they thought I was running from them. It was awful.

2 tickets in 45 years
Rolling stop & no seatbelt-both completely justified. What can you reasonably feel but if you make a mistake, you bear the consequences.

I have recieved thousands of dollars in fines, for various infringements, but I’ve never recieved a traffic violation, not once!! The irony of this is that I only got my licence a month ago & I have been driving since I was 16. I am now 28. I have had a really good run, not to be caught in 12 years. Foolish, – Absolutely!, But my failure to get a licence was due to a resentment I had to a driving instructor when I was 16. It took me 12 years to come to my senses, but now I have a license & I do feel better! No fines as yet!

Many years ago, I got into an accident that was technically my fault but I wasn’t being negligent or reckless. The officer didn’t want to ticket anyone, but the other driver was a kid driving his father’s car and he insisted. I’m sure it was just so he wouldn’t get in trouble. I went to court, neither the cop nor the kid did so it was dismissed. Whoo!

The only time I was ever stopped for a moving violation (speeding) I was like 38 years old. I was let go with a warning. I was extremely relieved and grateful, since I really was speeding. I did get a ticket for an expired registration, entirely my fault. I was bummed because it was a significant fine, and the whole reason my registration was expired was because I couldn’t afford to renew it!

My first 5 tickets were all for speeding and I received all of them while I was in high school. I was angry, irritated, and nervous about getting them but it was my stupidity that reigned supreme for me not driving responsibly. Now that I’m the one issuing traffic tickets, on occasion, I know what if feels like to be on the giving and receiving end of it all.

@Bluefreedom What’s it feel like to be on the giving end of the situation?

@Sampson. Whenever I perform a traffic stop, I’m not immediately in the state of mind that I must issue a traffic citation to someone. If the offense happens to be blatant disregard for the law or something really egregious, the driver is more likely to get cited by me. If they appear to have a careless attitude about their safety and the safety of others on the road or they display a belligerent attitude toward me, that’s not going to help their case any either.

At other times, when I think there might be an instance to give some leeway to the driver, I like to talk with them and find out their state of mind and the circumstances that caused them to do what they did. There are occasions when people have made some honest mistakes while driving along with times when some extenuating circumstances might have made a person do what they did. On occasions like these, I’m not always inclined to write tickets to people.

@Bluefreedom Thank you. I should write that stuff down… Just in case, ya know ;-)

My first ticket was so long ago that I cannot remember it. If memory serves I think I illegally parked my dinosaur on a one way mountain pass.

I was a bucket of nerves when I got my first (and only) moving-violation ticket. The cop had the legal right and opportunity to REALLY bust me, but he looked at my clean record and wrote me a ticket for a more minor violation than I’d actually committed. So, I was upset with myself for speeding (and especially for getting caught ;) but I knew I got less than I deserved.

I’ve never gotten one either.

Welcome to adulthood.

One ticket, but a big one: Reckless Driving – Speeds in excess of 110mph. I was 26 yo. A friend and I had purchased identical new Honda CB750 Customs (first year models) for cash on a rainy day in February 1980 (got a great deal). We had just completed gingerly breaking in the motors, did the recommended oil changes, etc. and took a ride out to Malibu and the beaches at county line. On the way home, on the 101 South through the Agoura Hills area, there was no traffic so we decided to see what our new bikes were capable of doing. Getting over 110 mph was no problem and it really didn’t seem that it was so very fast. As we came up on the few cars on the freeway, we did some very quick lane changes, but nothing that seemed to put us or others drivers in danger. The CHP patrolman must have seen us from an overpass or tucked in an on ramp and was on us before long. Comparing notes with my friend later, I found we had the same thought: one of us could pull over while the other pretended he didn’t see the CHP immediately and the CHP would either also pull over and bust one of us, letting the other get away, or would chase the other allowing the first guy to quickly exit the freeway and conveniently disappear. Not wanting the extra burden, I slowed down and pulled over with my friend right with me.
And that was the first smart thing we did. The CHP had his say about the dangers of traveling at those speeds even tho there were few cars on the road and then said he was writing us up for Reckless Driving and was going to call in for a tow truck to impound the bikes. That’s when I got very nervous. I envisioned my new spotless bike falling off the hook as it was being raised into the tow truck, or the tow truck driver or impound personnel not giving a shit and mishandling the bike. We appealed to the CHP and he relented because we both pulled over right away and didn’t try to pull a fast one by splitting up, just as we had both considered in the moment before actually pulling over.
So we had a court date scheduled in Calabasas and we did the second smart thing. We dressed conservatively in suits and got there early. We thought discussing the situation with the DA would be a good idea so we asked where we could find him. We found him and he was so busy, he only briefly looked at us when we told him we wanted to discuss the violation. He told us to go on and I explained that there were no prior violations that the incident was just a foolish one time deal of two guys testing out their new bikes and I was sure there would be no future violations and asked for leniency. He said he would be willing to reduce the reckless driving violation to two moving violations, speeding and illegal lane changes, and that with a fine on one and traffic school on the other, only one infraction would stay on record and be available for insurance company review. We agreed.
When we were called into the courtroom, there was the DA and he had a look on his face like he was expecting someone else to be there. When asked if whatthefluther was present, I responded “yes right here.” The DA was suddenly pale as he stuttered to the judge that the County had agreed to reduce the charge but that he frankly had thought he had negotiated the reduction with the violators attorneys and not directly with the violators. Well the judge had some rather strong words for the DA but told him he would have to live with the deal he made. The judge ruled accordingly.
The morale of the story: don’t compound stupidity…get smart and cut your losses!
See ya….Gary aka wtf . (fuck, I feel like I just had a @dalepetrie moment)

I was twenty, not bad-looking, dressed for a party and driving the original VW blue beetle. My eyes teared up and the cop gave me a friendly warning for going a tad too fast. Old Beetles didn’t have overdrive.

No longer a succesful method, I might add. I am going to Traffic Court on the 25th to pay my fine for speeding and to talk the judge into making it a non-moving violation. I won’t bother getting dolled up. Milo will be my attorney.

@gailcalled – Does that mean you expect to get off by a whisker’s breadth? Or will your attorney have to fight tooth and claw to get you justice?

@Darwin: Direct all questions to my lawyer, please He’ll be awake soon.

@gailcalled – No need to be catty. ~

@Darwin: Sorry, you just missed him. He’s at the gym now. My lips are sealed.

Just got a pulled over by a cop. At first, he claimed he was “chasing me” because I had a lapse in insurance, which I knew wasn’t true and I politely told him “I have current insurance, officer.” He asked did the car belong to me and I answered “yes”...he then asked for my license and I gave it to him. He verified my address and told he’d be back. He returned back to my window moments later and said “I was wrong, you have insurance but your tag has expired” then proceeded to hand me a ticket, court costs ($131) only. I tried to explain that I had the car inspected but it failed due to the check engine light being on and I had to get that checked out and try it again. The ticket still remained and he told me that if I get it handled before the court date, I wont have to pay the ticket. Smh….everyone who knows me, knows my demeanor and said “he should’ve given you a warning and let you go without a ticket.” What do you all think?

@anna1377 ‘Should have’ doesn’t matter much, in the end. He was within his rights/responsibilities to either give you the warning or the ticket. Sorry it didn’t go your way! Also, welcome to Fluther. :)