All my hard work at scrimping and saving, shot to shit.
The ticket is for "Failure to Yield to a Pedestrian in a Crosswalk." I think it was a sting or something, because there were two motorcycle cops pulling people over. I never saw any pedestrian, before during or after. I was late for an appointment (or at least I was after the ticket) but I wasn't speeding or driving recklessly. In fact when she pulled in behind me, I was really surprised, because I knew I wasn't speeding, and I had just put my new registration sticker on, so I knew it wasn't that. I haven't gotten a ticket in 30 YEARS!! I was shocked when she told me what the ticket was for. I asked her for details of what had happened, and she said that the guy was headed North across the street (I was heading West) and that he had to stop to let me go past (I was in the center-most lane of a 6 lane road.) I went back to the intersection later, and couldn't see how I could have missed seeing someone in the crosswalk there. It is so frustrating, because I never saw anything!
And now I'll have to pay a fine (I'm imagining $300, but it could be higher than that, I imagine it's considered a fairly serious infraction) plus traffic school fees and charges, both to the court and to the traffic school.
I had a friend and her husband and kids visiting on Monday, and I was making brunch for them, when all of a sudden water started gushing out from underneath my sink. So her husband and I spent the whole visit replacing pipes and washers under the sink. It took a total of 4 trips to the hardware store, and about $40 worth of supplies to fix it (and I'm still futzing with it trying to get all the leaks under control) but I saved a visit from the plumber.
Two weeks ago, I had to get the windshield wipers on the van fixed. I thought I would just live with them not working, since I only use the car to go camping in the summer, and it NEVER RAINS IN CALIFORNIA, especially in the summer, but I got caught in the rain taking my roommate to the airport, and almost got myself killed trying to get off the freeway, so I figured I needed to get them fixed. I took the car in, and at first they thought it was just the switch ($300) but that didn't work, so it was the Body Control Module, which is the computer that runs everything in the dashboard ($1000.) Well, I wasn't going to pay $1000 to fix the wipers for a car worth $2500 at the most anyway, even if I COULD afford it. So I went on-line, and apparently this is a common problem with the car, there were reports from people who had had to replace it numerous times. One guy said he just unhooked the wires from the BCM and hooked them up to a toggle switch, which I thought was genius. So I called the repair place and asked if they could do that, and they said yes. I was pissed at first, because I thought, "Why didn't YOU think of that?" When I went to pick up the car, I suggested that since this was such a common problem, they should suggest this fix to everyone, and he said they couldn't do that. They can't suggest a fix that they can't warranty, but since I had suggested the toggle switch to THEM, they could do it. They also gave me 10% off the cost. It still cost $300 but it works well enough now.
I am just so dis-heartened, because I am trying so hard to cut back on everything, and it just seems like the universe is out to get me. I am about at my limit.
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Sorry, Chip, that really sucks.
ReplyDeleteYou have no cushion; that means that everything out-of-the-ordinary that happens is a hit.
I doubt this will help, but... you really should "budget" 10-15% (minimum) for unexpected expenses, because frankly, unexpected expenses are completely expected. Especially owning a home and a car, there will always be repairs and the like. Owning a car in the city, for instance, you MUST budget in a couple of hundred a year for parking tickets, because no matter how careful you are, you simply WILL get them.
As for the ticket, it looks like it is less than $200, and only one point on your record. If you go to traffic school, my understanding is you DON'T pay the fine and you don't get the point; you simply pay for traffic school, and it is undoubtedly less than $200 (or at least no more, and that way you don't get the point).
ReplyDeleteYou could always fight it, but if it really was a sting, the cops will surely show up to testify, and then it is he said/she said, and you'll likely lose--AND lose the option of doing traffic school.
Looks like on-line traffic school should cost you about $10. You'll have to pay court fees, but those should be nominal. In other words, you should be getting a virtually free one-bite-at-the-apple, and as long as you keep your nose clean for another 18 months, you can even do it again.
ReplyDeleteMy ticket expressly says that you have to pay the fine in ADDITION to paying a fee to take traffic school, plus whatever the traffic school charges. when I tried on=line to figure out how much my ticket will be, it wasn't in the system yet.
ReplyDeleteOk, but traffic school costs like $10, as best I can tell. I'm not saying it doesn't suck... but getting angry in anticipation doesn't help, right? You can be angry about the dollar amount when you find out what it is; don't waste anger (and spin it into anger about other costs you are facing) on speculation. It *might* cost $300 (or more), but as best I can tell, it probably won't. So why get angry about a $300+ pricetag that might not materialize?
ReplyDeleteI'm not trying to be argumentative, just to keep things in perspective.
Oh, poop, I wasn't getting angry, I was feeling dis-heartened. Where's my "dis-heartened" emoticon?!?
ReplyDeleteI feel better now, after finally (I think) getting my sink fixed, after a total of 6 visits to the hardware store.
I still can't see what my ticket is going to cost. The website says it may take 20 days for it to show up on there, so I guess I might as well forget about it until the time comes.
I just got excused from jury duty tomorrow, and had a job interview this evening at a church that needs a bookkeeper for about 15 hours a month, which I think went well.
What kind of church? Sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear about your ticket. I was just in the Fair Oaks area yesterday and was very careful to let a pedestrian walk all the way from curb to curb even if it was a four lane street and he had already passed the lane I wanted to turn into. That's actually the kicker with this kind of ticket, they can still issue you a ticket even if the pedestrian had already gotten to the next lane.
ReplyDeleteFor your church job, will they let an athiest do their books?