Laugh At Me For I Am Stupid OR Legal Questions Someone Has To Be Able To Answer

LeHah

LeHah

212 Squadron - "The Old Man's Eyes And Ears"
Here I am this morning driving to work in the lovely (read: Shitty) state of Connecticut. Doo do do doo do doo do do do doo. Minding my own bullcrap when a cop pulls me over. He doesn't flash his lights, or flip the siren - he just honks his horn at me.

That alone makes me go "What the fuck?"

So I pull over and he informs me my car's registration ran out in January.

Again, "What the fuck?"

So, he hands me a ticket for $93 and says "Don't let me catch you around again. I'm driving that way, you drive the opposite way." Basicly, if you're unregistered, you get your car impounded, you get billed for impounding, etc.

So here I am, holding this damned ticket, mouth hanging open like a fish. I jump in my car, dash down to the DMV and get my car registered in exactly 55 minutes from the time he started writing the ticket.

So, a friend of mine who called the police station on my behalf said that the station said I should just sign "Not Guilty", add a copy of my registration and send it in. Does this work? What about my insurance? Do they get informed of such an infraction? Does it add points to my license? Anyone?
 
CT sucks about tickets...probably points...they might notice the same day ticket/registration although the chances probably lean more to you getting by...insurance will only find out if you give them a reason to check....don't call
 
Precisely, if the station said to do it, I would...it can't hurt. As far as insurance...since I'm a licensed personal and commercial lines agent I can tell you that it won't affect your rates. Speeding tickets affect your record not a registration infraction...that's just like getting a parking violation (cept more expensive ;) ).
 
Thats great news, Striker! I was more worried about my insurance than paying the actual fine, per se.
 
I can only speak for the shitty state of California, but for a cop to legally initiate a traffic stop, he need only have a solid red light to the front of his vehicle. The sirens, flashing lights, etc. are just extras.

Most cops will give your plate a month or two past the expiration date before stopping you for a registration violation unless they have had a bad day or their particular dept. has some kind of quota. In CA a car can be towed and impounded for an expired registration only if it is over six months.

A signature on a ticket is your promise to either pay the fine (admitting guilt) or show up in court on the day specified where you can try to fight it. since you paid the reg. fee after you were stopped, technically the citation is good. Just sending it in with "not guilty" on it might get a warrant issued for you.

At least it's not a moving violation and shouldn't affect your insurance rates or driving record.
 
I worked in the courts for a while. In the states where I worked, registration tickets were usually "fix it" tickets. If the judge was able to see that you had corrected the problem in a timely manner, he or she was usually willing to drop it. So, a "not guilty" or "no contest" plea could probably get you off, considering how quickly you managed things.
 
McGruff said:
Old enough to know the ins and outs of petty traffic warrants.
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Apparently not - because pleading "not guilty", at worst, gets you a court summons, not a warrant. Generally, the state will attempt to plea bargain you by lowering the ticket and/or the points going on your record and at the very worst, the judge will lower the fine some.
 
I’m not familiar with Connecticut law, but you should read the entire ticket carefully just to make sure it itself isn’t a summons.
 
It's not a summons - since I checked off "Not Guilty" on the back.
 
Sounds like Connecticut does it quite differently from, say, New Jersey then. There, you can generally mail in the ticket only if you mark “guilty” and include a check for the fine. If you choose to plead “not guilty”, the ticket states you must appear in court to defend yourself, and notes the specific date and time as well. I guess Connecticut’s process takes an extra, and probably much more time-consuming, step.

Good luck with it.
 
LeHah said:
Apparently not - because pleading "not guilty", at worst, gets you a court summons, not a warrant. Generally, the state will attempt to plea bargain you by lowering the ticket and/or the points going on your record and at the very worst, the judge will lower the fine some.
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Like I said, I'm familiar with how things work in California - not Bumfuck Connecticut.


Bandit LOAF said:
You're stupid.
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That's not very nice
 
I know that where I am if you get, say, a speeding ticket, you can choose to challenge it. So when go to to court at your appointed time, if you plea not guilty, and say, the cop who wrote your ticket doesn't show up, then you win. Of course, you don't really win anything.
 
He's not really just stupid, which I wouldn't mind. He's oh-look-how-special-I-am!-notice-me!-I'm-being-stupid-on-purpose! stupid.
 
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