So Friday, heading home from work, I pulled out of the parking lot driveway a little quick. A little too quick. I could see the road for a good half mile in both directions, it was clear, and I peeled out (if 10 mph can be called peeling) and turned right to head home.
Guess I didn't really stop for the stop sign.
Price? Anyone want to guess?
$75.
That's right. $75 for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign when the coast was clear and I was turning right from a glorified driveway.
So guess how much respect I have for Idaho Falls cops now? None. The cop tried to tell me the seriousness of my crime, but from the insecure way he said it, I got the feeling that he realized the ticket amount was way too much. And I no longer find the cops here trustworthy, intelligent, or, most of all, fair.
I guess I've made a lot of stupid mistakes driving, some of which would've deserved that hefty of a fine. This was not one of them. Had I been charged $25, I would've been fine with it. But if cops want respect, they need to be fair. And $75, for that, is not fair.
For now, I'll consider it the price for all the dumb mistakes I've made in the past. Including the time I pulled a right onto Bangerter in icy conditions and was this close from plowing into traffic coming the opposite direction (good thing all the lanes going my direction were clear). Or the time I pulled out of 10th West onto 106th...and seriously cut off another driver (some of you may remember that...) It's just too bad I get fined for something this lame.
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An old girlfriend of mine took me up to campus late one night. The intersection of 450 N. and 900 E. had been a stop sign the year and a half previous. She did one of those slow-down-until-you-see-the-coast-is-clear things and took off. I guess the intersection had just been upgraded to a traffic light and she had just run the red. Her ticket was for $60+. Was it a harbinger for things to come? Perhaps. It was right before Christmas break, and when she returned she broke up with me. April hasn't broken up with you yet has she? ;)
I got a $95 ticket for catching the first edge of a red light while crossing an empty intersection in South Jordan at 1 am. I don't know what the problem was ... the coast was apparently clear enough for the cop to speed through the intersection behind me ;)
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