Traffic Court as a Teaching Moment

Disclaimer: I do not condone, encourage, or promote reckless driving, speeding, or any violation of traffic laws. Always obey local, state, and federal traffic regulations. Driving above the posted speed limit or in unsafe conditions can result in serious injury, death, or legal consequences.

At 16, I was in no rush to get my driver's license as my friend had a car and drove me around. I think I was 18 when I finally got around to getting my license. I bought my first car at 19 and so started this story. I picked up two of my friends and we went out to see how fast my car would go. I headed down the onramp of the interstate 55 in Chicago with my foot to the floor. We didn't realize there was an Illinois State Trooper there at the bottom of the ramp out of sight. There was a fair amount of traffic so I was changing lanes back and forth like crazy to keep up my speed. Many minutes later there was that state trooper swerving into the fast lane with his light blazing. I don't know about today, but then in Illinois the driver gets out of the car. When I moved to California and tried that I received a cold reception. He was yelling at me saying he had been chasing me for 7 miles and did I know I was doing 95 miles an hour. My first thought was, wow, 95, pretty good. He paused and said as a compliment, you did signal every lane change.

A few weeks later I received my second speeding ticket driving around with two other friends in the streets of Oak Park where I lived. When you get three tickets within a year, they suspend your license. So I decided to go to court to see if I could get out of my first ticket as I now had two. I am not making this up, but on the way to court, I received a third speeding ticket.

First Court Date
I was 19 and arrogant and basically said to the judge the trooper was lying. I didn't use those words but that is what it must have sounded like to the judge. The judge got angry and said he trusted the trooper over me. I think he wanted to use me as an example and fined me twice the amount I would have paid if I just paid my ticket by mail.

Lesson 1, don't be arrogant and don't contradict what a police officer says.

Second Court Date
So learning from lesson 1, for my second court date I tried not contradicting the officer but trying some wiggle room in the interpretation as the speed was not by radar but by him following me for a short distance. Wow, the judge was about to dismiss my ticket when the officer, visibly upset said, well he rolled through a stop sign as well.

With 20/20 hindsight or if you had a lawyer, at this point a lawyer knows the proper words that basically says, if that is true, he should have written that ticket as well but he didn't so that is not relevant. As an individual, you basically have to pause and maybe say nothing. But NO. I opened my mouth to say I drive a stick shift and I can downshift to come to a stop so no brake lights. Immediately the judge says, in Illinois we call that a California stop, guilty. Next case.

Lesson 2, don't get roped in to things that have nothing to do with the case at hand. Or learn when to keep your mouth shut!

Third Court Date
With everything I learned, for my third and maybe final court case before having my license suspended, I started with: if the officer says I was doing 40 in a 30 zone, I must have been doing that. If I can say, I was on my way to traffic court at the time -- I went on to tell the whole story. I believe the judge smiled and rolled his eyes and said something like, you were on your way to traffic court and got your third speeding ticket? Pause. Case dismissed.

Lesson 3, gee maybe honesty and some humility is in order. Also I learned that sometimes the judges are not in favor of speed traps which is what this was.

Another Court Date
Its December 8, 1972 and I am driving my friend to work up by Ohare Airport, north of Chicago. I noticed many "airplane specific" emergency vehicles heading the other way (from Ohare Airport). Later I was to learned United Air Lines Flight 553 had crashed on Chicago's south side. It was snowy and wet. On the way back I ran out of gas for the first time. I would repeat this twice more in later years. It's a long story but it took a long time for me to have someone show up with gas. I decided to go down to the crash site to see for myself. By the time I got there it was dark, everyone had left and the area was blocked off. I could see the airplane's tail there in the middle of everything. You have no idea how big an airplane tail is until you see it in a neighborhood twice as high as the houses. On the way home I approached a traffic light and still a bit dazed ran through the yellow that turned red. Of course, there was a police officer there and I received my first non-speeding traffic ticket. I only told the whole story as I thought it was interesting, I could have said I got a ticket for running a red light.

Don't remember what ticket number this was. With all I had learned, I again basically said that the officer was right and my explanation was, it was snowy wet and icy and I mentioned where I had come from and when I looked up at the light and saw it was yellow, I worried that if I jammed on the brakes I would slide out of control through the intersection. There was a pause and the judge said, listen up everyone, this man has just admitted he ran a red light, unlike the rest of you. Thank you for your honesty, case dismissed.

Time to Hire a Lawyer
Sometime later as I was always on the edge of having my license suspended I decided to hire a lawyer. Greg was right out of law school and not that older than me. In today's dollars it was expensive, like $800. What I learned was first, they let all the cases with lawyers go first. So instead of waiting hours, you are heard first. Second, the lawyers have a way of saying things in shorthand to the judge and generally the judge dismisses the case. Each time I brought Greg, the case was dismissed. I think I only used him like 3 or 4 times as it was expensive. I do have one wonderful story about one of his cases.

We were waiting our turn and Greg wasn't sure how we would get out of this ticket. At one point he turned to me to say, you have been to traffic court more than me, what do you suggest? I still laugh to this day as it was probably a true statement.

At that moment and for the first time in a long time I had no tickets for the last year. I said we should use that as the primary argument. I have to interject that in those days, you surrendered your paper license when you received a ticket and the ticket was now your license. They stapled the ticket to your license for the court. When the judge held up my license, he said, this license looks like Swiss Cheese with all the staple holes in it. I don't believe you. Sit down and we are going to run your record and if you are lying to me there will be consequences. Greg gave me that, what did you get me into look. A few minutes later and back in front of the judge, he said, I don't understand this but you have a clean record, case dismissed.

More Court Dates
I did get a ticket while driving in Michigan picking up a product I had purchased. I drove all the way back, a few hundred miles to go to court. I was in a court room with only me, it was weird. They have VERY different rules and if you admit guilt, they have to find you guilty. The judge basically apologized for this and lowered the stated speed but still guilty.

So you don't think I won every case or went to court every time, I finally did get my license suspended, but lowering that Michigan ticket just got me under the points that allowed me to get a probationary license that allowed limited driving.

Somewhere before I moved to California and my 26th birthday, this whole speeding ticket adventure ended. I have not been to court since then.

Conclusion
What I realized all these years later and why I decided to write this story, is that this experience affected my whole life in a positive way. What a wonderful experience. You have one try and one minute to plead your case. I will say that watching my father interact with the world, followed by this experience, followed by reading the book "You Can Negotiate Anything: The World's Best Negotiator Tells You How to Get What You Want" by Herb Cohn shaped how I go through my life.

It's about getting yourself out of the way. I had to get my arrogance out of the way then get the "look how smart I am" out of the way. After that many more lessons to get me out of the way to get to what do I need to do right now to be successful at this task.

I am disappointed that many people I encounter either feel like victims: nothing I do will work. Or have themselves in the way. With myself out of the way, I am thinking: what does this situation need from me for me to succeed. Unlike traffic court, most life situations allow us to try multiple times to succeed. Persistence is a virtue.


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