About 2 1/2 months ago I was woken at about 5:15 am by a phone call from Jerry. Shock! His first sentence was, "Don't worry, I'm OK!" Shock!! He was driving to work and his tire blew out which sent his car spinning on the freeway. He was trying to steer, brake, anything to control the car, but he had no control over the car at all. He didn't stop till he hit another vehicle. Luckily it was a van with only two people in it, and he hit it right behind the front passenger side and no one was hurt. THANK GOODNESS! I was still trying to process everything he was telling me. He said his bumper was scratched up, dented, and needed to be repaired. And the other van was dented, it was actually worse than our car. We are lucky that is all the damage, and that no one was hurt. The policeman arrived on the scene and got everything all taken care of, and issued Jerry a ticket for "Unsafe lane change". Can you believe it!? Jerry told the police officer that his tire blew out, and that the car was spinning. He didn't know what he could have done differently. The cop didn't care, he said that he'd seen other people get a flat tire and they could safely pull over to the side of the road. Then he told Jerry, besides you can just do an online traffic school and get the ticket reduced to $50. Whatever! The insurance repaired the car, but we had to buy the new tire. The old tire had run over a screw and that's what made the tire blow out.
So, now fast forward 2 1/2 months. This morning Jerry had to go to court for his ticket. We probably could have called ahead and just paid the ticket (they don't tell you how much the ticket will be until you call in.) But Jerry really wanted to fight the ticket because we really feel it is unfair that he got a ticket. He went to the courthouse this morning. He tried to plea his case, but they didn't care. They said he could do the class online and it would reduce his points, but not the amount. Ready for the amount?? $300.00. What a joke!! I'm ready to hunt down the person that left a screw on the road and give them a bill for $300. What's the point of even having the option to be able to go to the courthouse and state your case if they won't hear it?! I guess I should just be grateful that there wasn't more damage to either car, and that everyone is fine. Jerry is worth WAY more than $300, but it still makes me angry.
So there you have it! There's my rant!!
1 week ago
2 comments:
Heaven forbid it ever happens again, but you should get a lawyer next time. That's what the pink building is for. I've had friends go there and they've had great results. I've seen the commercials but can't think of the name!
That's what I'm thinking Kim. We just figured that if Jerry went and fought the ticket it would reduce it, but they didn't even give the option. We didn't want to get a lawyer before because we didn't want to end up paying more money.
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