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Snakeadelic · 07-18-2017, 08:32 AM

I haven't had a ticket since 1997, when I wrecked my 3000-pound steel-plated rolling cockroach of a Plymouth Volare (which I continued driving, broken turn signal bracket hanging diagonally and all, for another 18 months). $408 for careless driving, and the cop was a JERK. She was snappy, cold, and straight up told me it was a good thing she'd been RIGHT BEHIND ME in traffic or they'd have assumed I was speeding to bump it up to reckless driving.

I'd never been on that stretch of road before (it's on Mission St. East, aka Hwy 22, east of Salem), it was dusk, it was raining, and I didn't know about the 3 exit-only lanes and 2 stop lights in less than half a mile on a 50 mph arterial. Slid into a stopped car at a red light. Went to traffic court not to contest but to request a payment plan, explained it all to the judge, got everything but $108 court costs knocked clean off it. This guy had only let 1 guy off lightly by the time it was my turn, and that was because he took photos of the improperly maintained, indistinguishable handicap space (no sign at the front, paint faded just about clean off) he'd accidentally parked in. Another dude came back from a season on fishing boats off Alaska to pay off his DUI and assorted other fines and this judge slapped his butt in jail for leaving the state with a warrant out, so I was sure I was DONE.

Saw that crabby cop once after that. She was on foot at the "bus island" in the middle of a busy downtown 1-way street that served as Salem's transit center until sometime after I moved out of that city for good around 1994. That was THE WORST detail in the city. She looked at me, limping on my cane because I hurt my back badly in that wreck, trying to remember where she'd seen me, and as I was getting on my bus I smiled and said "I paid my ticket!". Based on her expression after I'd gotten seated, I think she was trying to figure out a reason to pull me off that bus and put me in cuffs.

And that's actually the worst I've ever been treated by a cop. Oregon didn't do license points back then, and I'm really glad I never had to figure that part out!

07-18-2017, 08:32 AM	#11
Snakeadelic Banned Join Date: May 2015 Posts: 660	I haven't had a ticket since 1997, when I wrecked my 3000-pound steel-plated rolling cockroach of a Plymouth Volare (which I continued driving, broken turn signal bracket hanging diagonally and all, for another 18 months). $408 for careless driving, and the cop was a JERK. She was snappy, cold, and straight up told me it was a good thing she'd been RIGHT BEHIND ME in traffic or they'd have assumed I was speeding to bump it up to reckless driving. I'd never been on that stretch of road before (it's on Mission St. East, aka Hwy 22, east of Salem), it was dusk, it was raining, and I didn't know about the 3 exit-only lanes and 2 stop lights in less than half a mile on a 50 mph arterial. Slid into a stopped car at a red light. Went to traffic court not to contest but to request a payment plan, explained it all to the judge, got everything but $108 court costs knocked clean off it. This guy had only let 1 guy off lightly by the time it was my turn, and that was because he took photos of the improperly maintained, indistinguishable handicap space (no sign at the front, paint faded just about clean off) he'd accidentally parked in. Another dude came back from a season on fishing boats off Alaska to pay off his DUI and assorted other fines and this judge slapped his butt in jail for leaving the state with a warrant out, so I was sure I was DONE. Saw that crabby cop once after that. She was on foot at the "bus island" in the middle of a busy downtown 1-way street that served as Salem's transit center until sometime after I moved out of that city for good around 1994. That was THE WORST detail in the city. She looked at me, limping on my cane because I hurt my back badly in that wreck, trying to remember where she'd seen me, and as I was getting on my bus I smiled and said "I paid my ticket!". Based on her expression after I'd gotten seated, I think she was trying to figure out a reason to pull me off that bus and put me in cuffs. And that's actually the worst I've ever been treated by a cop. Oregon didn't do license points back then, and I'm really glad I never had to figure that part out!