Traffic tickets are a very common and inconvenient pest for many people.
You probably live on a tight budget already. School textbooks, $1 Spicy McChicken sandwiches and handles of Admiral Nelson rum, although thrifty, do add up over time. The last thing you need to do is pay for some kind of traffic ticket.
Perhaps the most frustrating tickets are the small ones. Brake tags come to mind. Although the brake tag itself is only $10 to renew, the fine for having an expired one is more than $100.
It’s something I always forgot about until I got pulled over for it. Twice.After finally remembering to get a new brake tag, I had to drive all around town trying to find a place that will accept my “illegal” tint. Several car shops later, I found myself deep in the urban sprawl of east Baton Rouge at a tiny gas station that did inspections for brake tags.
The overtly friendly employee working approached my car and simply said, “Left blinker, right blinker, brake. You good, baby!”
I wish cops were that cordial when you get pulled over.
First you get the intimidating stare and request for license and registration. You get the usual questions. Where do you go to school, what is your major, etc.
The worst is if you get pulled over in a neighboring southern state. Them folks out in Alabama don’t take too kindly to us Louisianaians.
If they find out you go to LSU, then a full blown investigation will start. Do you have any marijuana? Any cocaine? ANY MARIJUANA?
Before you know it, a police search team, complete with canines, will be tearing apart your vehicle looking for any speck of drugs they can find.As long as you don’t have anything illegal you will be let go (no apologies from the officer for wasting your time) or written a reckless driving or speeding ticket.
I’ve never gotten a speeding ticket. Of course I know countless people who have. This is easier than brake tags or registration stickers because all you have to do is follow the speed limit sign.
Experts say a red paint job is most likely to be pulled over because it represents “speed.”
I think the most likely to get pulled over are those gigantic monster trucks with license plates from Texas hauling down the interstate. I don’t see how some of these guys haven’t gotten their drivers licenses revoked.Traffic tickets of any kind are never fun. But most are a cake walk compared to the most-feared acronym of all college students: DUI.
Drinking and driving awareness is very prevalent throughout Baton Rouge and the rest of the country. There are billboards all along the interstates, radio jingles, television commercials and more media warning about the dangers of driving drunk.
Additionally LSU’s new bus route and local bars’ “free cab ride home” makes it even easier for students to not drink and drive.
Yet people still do it. It’s something I don’t understand.
Hopefully they do understand after paying somewhere in the ballpark of $7,000 for legal charges and lawyer fees. Not to mention the entire drawn-out process of dealing with a DUI and the possibility of jail time.
Keep yourself out of court by keeping up with brake tag and registration renewals. Go the speed limit and don’t try to drive after you’re nearing liver failure. Follow these simple rules and stay clear of The Man.
—-Contact Cory Cox at [email protected].