So the start to this story for this post dates way back to August 2011. Now I might whine and rant a bit during this post so if you don't care to read that, just skip this post.
Eric and I, with our three girls, took a trip up to Washington/Oregon to go to my brother's wedding and visit family. During that trip a police officer pulled us over and gave me, the passenger, a ticket for not wearing my seat belt. First off I WAS WEARING MY SEAT BELT!!! Second, he said he pulled us over because he believed I didn't have the shoulder strap over my shoulder (even though it was). This officer told me that I was dishonest because I told him I was wearing my seat belt. I asked him to explain to me what it was he saw, but he couldn't, just that I wasn't wearing it properly. So he wrote me out a $144 ticket for failure to use safety belt. Now I don't know why I got this ticket, was it because he had it out for out of staters, was having bad day, really thought he saw what he saw or saw someone else but thought it was me... whatever it was it just wasn't fair. I was almost in tears, didn't let myself cry though, not because I got a ticket for doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, but because he told me I was dishonest. This is something nobody has ever called me before, I try very hard to be an honest person. Still makes me mad all these months later.
Well I decided to fight this ticket through the mail. I wasn't about to pay that much money for something I didn't do without a fight. I had to call their court to clarify somethings, I wanted to do everything correct, and I'm not sure the people there know what they are doing. I was telling them what I was suppose to do and they were like "oh yeah you do need to do that" What? Well I sent in my letter and asked for their official papers. Waited. Finally got it, sent in another letter along with their papers and waited for the judge's decision. And waited...finally got it.
Guilty.
That officer flat out lied and said he clearly saw me buckle my seat belt when he pulled us over. Almost in tears again. How could this be? Why? But, the judge said he would waive the citation if I attended a seat belt course within a few weeks. Okay, well that was something. Not necessary, but something. I'm a stickler for seat belts, just ask Eric. So I searched and found a course in Logan. I called with questions, got my answers and registered online. It was only $12 dollars and I was only suppose to attend the first 2 hours of a 4 hour defensive driving course. I waited for my confirmation email and never got it, so I called again and was told that it didn't go through and registered over the phone. I was told again to just attend the first two hours and not stay the whole time.
Well the day finally came and I went to the class. I told the instructor that I was only there for the seat belt course and that I was told to stay only the first two hours and not the entire four. He didn't know anything about that and said that he doesn't go over the seat belt stuff until the end. So I had to stay the entire time. And what you might ask does this class teach you about wearing your seat belt...that it is good to wear your seat belt, it saves lives. Seriously, just a few minutes from a movie is all that was talked about for wearing seat belts. To make things worse I was in a class full of foul mouth boys, and the instructor wasn't much better. In my mind I just kept thinking that I have to get some kind a positive lesson from this whole experience, but for the life of me and I can't figure it out. I came home fuming and threw the dumb booklet away I got and filled out the evaluation and gave them a piece of my mind. As a side note, here in Utah you can get pulled over for not wearing your seat belt if you are 19 and younger and the instructor said that he would pull me over because I look 19 years old. Um... I'm almost 27, I'll take that as a compliment.
I got my certificate for completing my defensive driving course and mailed it in for proof of attendance to the court system and waited to see if that all worked out. Finally I got back a letter telling me that my citation has been forgiven. Great, all done with that mess.
Right?
Well, not really. Turns out that I was charged twice for the class. I called to get my money refunded and they said that it was an easy fix and will refund that right away. Okay, still no refund. Called again today, was told that it is an easy fix but the person who does it is not in the office today but she does work part time from home so she would give her a call and it should get taken care of quickly. Well I've heard that before, I'll believe it when I see it. I asked for a confirmation email (which they promised last time), but won't be able to see the money back in my account for 48 hours. So more waiting. But, if this finally gets taken care of then I can put this whole mess behind me, and I will, I won't think about it any more.
Okay I'm done with my rant, it felt good to get that all out. The end.
Eric and I, with our three girls, took a trip up to Washington/Oregon to go to my brother's wedding and visit family. During that trip a police officer pulled us over and gave me, the passenger, a ticket for not wearing my seat belt. First off I WAS WEARING MY SEAT BELT!!! Second, he said he pulled us over because he believed I didn't have the shoulder strap over my shoulder (even though it was). This officer told me that I was dishonest because I told him I was wearing my seat belt. I asked him to explain to me what it was he saw, but he couldn't, just that I wasn't wearing it properly. So he wrote me out a $144 ticket for failure to use safety belt. Now I don't know why I got this ticket, was it because he had it out for out of staters, was having bad day, really thought he saw what he saw or saw someone else but thought it was me... whatever it was it just wasn't fair. I was almost in tears, didn't let myself cry though, not because I got a ticket for doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, but because he told me I was dishonest. This is something nobody has ever called me before, I try very hard to be an honest person. Still makes me mad all these months later.
Well I decided to fight this ticket through the mail. I wasn't about to pay that much money for something I didn't do without a fight. I had to call their court to clarify somethings, I wanted to do everything correct, and I'm not sure the people there know what they are doing. I was telling them what I was suppose to do and they were like "oh yeah you do need to do that" What? Well I sent in my letter and asked for their official papers. Waited. Finally got it, sent in another letter along with their papers and waited for the judge's decision. And waited...finally got it.
Guilty.
That officer flat out lied and said he clearly saw me buckle my seat belt when he pulled us over. Almost in tears again. How could this be? Why? But, the judge said he would waive the citation if I attended a seat belt course within a few weeks. Okay, well that was something. Not necessary, but something. I'm a stickler for seat belts, just ask Eric. So I searched and found a course in Logan. I called with questions, got my answers and registered online. It was only $12 dollars and I was only suppose to attend the first 2 hours of a 4 hour defensive driving course. I waited for my confirmation email and never got it, so I called again and was told that it didn't go through and registered over the phone. I was told again to just attend the first two hours and not stay the whole time.
Well the day finally came and I went to the class. I told the instructor that I was only there for the seat belt course and that I was told to stay only the first two hours and not the entire four. He didn't know anything about that and said that he doesn't go over the seat belt stuff until the end. So I had to stay the entire time. And what you might ask does this class teach you about wearing your seat belt...that it is good to wear your seat belt, it saves lives. Seriously, just a few minutes from a movie is all that was talked about for wearing seat belts. To make things worse I was in a class full of foul mouth boys, and the instructor wasn't much better. In my mind I just kept thinking that I have to get some kind a positive lesson from this whole experience, but for the life of me and I can't figure it out. I came home fuming and threw the dumb booklet away I got and filled out the evaluation and gave them a piece of my mind. As a side note, here in Utah you can get pulled over for not wearing your seat belt if you are 19 and younger and the instructor said that he would pull me over because I look 19 years old. Um... I'm almost 27, I'll take that as a compliment.
I got my certificate for completing my defensive driving course and mailed it in for proof of attendance to the court system and waited to see if that all worked out. Finally I got back a letter telling me that my citation has been forgiven. Great, all done with that mess.
Right?
Well, not really. Turns out that I was charged twice for the class. I called to get my money refunded and they said that it was an easy fix and will refund that right away. Okay, still no refund. Called again today, was told that it is an easy fix but the person who does it is not in the office today but she does work part time from home so she would give her a call and it should get taken care of quickly. Well I've heard that before, I'll believe it when I see it. I asked for a confirmation email (which they promised last time), but won't be able to see the money back in my account for 48 hours. So more waiting. But, if this finally gets taken care of then I can put this whole mess behind me, and I will, I won't think about it any more.
Okay I'm done with my rant, it felt good to get that all out. The end.
No comments:
Post a Comment