COLUMN: The unjustestness of traffic tickets
Justice n. — The administration of that which is reasonable, correct or proper.
The other night, I was dealt with unjustly. Lately, my Pontiac Sunfire (flashy name for a junky car) has been making noises that have me prepared for the worst. I wouldn’t be surprised if someday in the very near future I was driving down Main Street, and all at once, all four wheels and both doors fell off as I continued for another couple hundred feet like a bobsled driver.
I was rattling my way down 300 South going west at 35 mph. At 400 West I passed a cop. The speed limit, for some mysterious reason, is 25 miles per hour in the middle of this 10-block straight road with no stop signs or lights.
Of course all of that is irrelevant when you drive past a cop. Passing a cop while you’re speeding is the adult equivalent of having your hand in the cookie jar as your mom walks into the kitchen.
I did what you’re supposed to do when you’re in danger of being busted. I kept my eyes straight ahead while gradually pressing the brake pedal with my right foot. The last thing you want to do is slam on the brakes while you give the cop a deer in the head lights look.
My strategy didn’t work. To the cop’s credit, he was very lenient and seemed like an all-around good guy. As usual when a cop asks me for my license, insurance and registration, I pulled the license out of my wallet and then sifted through coupons, instruction manuals, mystery receipts and three-year-old insurance cards in the glove box.
Every time I pull out some new slip I give the police officer a tentative look to see if it is what he’s looking for. “I don’t happen to have my insurance card on me but here’s a coupon for 10 percent off at “A Little Something.”
He let me off with a minor speeding ticket.
I went to court Monday and, in exchange for clearing my record, I am paying $55 to take a driver responsibility class.
I now refer you back to the definition of justice.
Is this whole speeding ticket idea really fair? Is the whole world against college students?
Consider my situation, which is typical for students.
We have the university raising tuition every semester, we’re lucky to make $6 an hour and we get USED textbooks for obscure classes at the bargain price of $100.
So I attend this class, stare at my $100 textbook, and then I have to hurry home and put on my little pizza outfit and drive around Logan until one in the morning to pay for all of it. Just? No. I’d go as far as to say it’s the unjustest.
I only make up the word unjustest because “unjust” doesn’t give my situation true justice.
As I drive around delivering pizzas for eight hours, I break the speed limit once. Although he was just a nice guy doing his job, what he was really telling me that night was, “Why don’t you just give me all of the money that you have made tonight, plus you have to sit in a class for two hours learning what a menace you are to society by going 35 mph in a 25 mph zone.”
If I were a lawyer I could make $55 just sitting in my office sharpening pencils for five minutes. But when your job is going from house to house where people tell you to “keep the change,” giving you $20 on a $19.82 order, $55 is a real sacrifice.
Being nice guys just doing their job is the only thing that separates traffic cops from the bully on the playground that steals your lunch money. OK, so I’m bitter. It’s just that it’s really not fair. I’d go as far as to say it’s the unfairest.
Clark Jessop is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. Comments can be sent to clarkjessop@cc.usu.edu.