I fought the law...and the law won...maybe...

So a few weeks ago, I wrote about the lamest traffic violation ticket ever. Since then I have had a lot to think about it...should I pay the ticket and let my insurance go up? Fight and hope that the judge sees that this silly little ticket is merely a blemish on my otherwise sparkling driving record and let it slide? Oh decisions. So I decided to consult my attorney ::waves at Dad:: who promptly advised me that ignorance to the law is no defense and as a law-abiding American I should educate myself to the varying traffic laws in every state ::frowns at Dad::. So then I turned to my co-workers, who do not hold law degrees but have lived in these crazy states for quite sometime, thus being a valuable resource. Their answer was a bit more complimentary to what I was looking for. They said that often times courts will throw out minor infractions to first-time offenders and that I will probably never receive a court date ::ding ding ding!::. So I contested it, mailed off my ticket and hoped for the best. Six weeks passed...nothing. Well today the mail came and I have been issued a court date! UGH!!! Apparently this Rhode Islander (by way of California) needs to be brought to justice! So September 29th is my day in court...bleh.

After receiving my court date, I realized I had not called my insurance company to confirm that my insurance would in fact go up, being in different states and all. So off I went and called my local insurance representative. I explained my story which got the typical reaction..."Seriously, you got a ticket for that?!?" and once she had stopped laughing, looked it up and my insurance will indeed be knocked 2 points. Bleh.

So here is my dilemma....Do I take half a vacation day, drive the 3 hours round-trip to the courthouse and pray that the 'not nice' highway patrol man fails to appear or just pay the darn thing and suffer through the fact that I am no longer a perfect driver?

Head-scratcher.

I should probably just take my attorney's advice ::waves at Dad again:: as he's pretty smart and usually right and I should know better. Ugh, I hate being a traffic criminal :( ::hangs head in shame::