I got a ticket a couple of months right around the corner from my apartment. A school bus was pulled over to the side of the road in the opposing lane of traffic and it had a stop sign attached to the side of it near the rear. So I slowed down, came to a complete stop, looked around carefully and proceeded down the street. Well, almost immediately lights were flashing in my rear view mirror and a motorcycle cop pulled me over.
I didn’t know what I had done but when he came to my window he asked me if I had seen the stop sign on the bus. I told him yeah, and I came to a complete stop. He then told me I was supposed to stay stopped until the bus left. I told him I didn’t know that; in 45 years of driving I had never seen a stop sign on a bus. Well, ignorance of law in no excuse and he wrote me a ticket.
He was polite and I was polite and when the courtesy notice came in the mail it showed a $691 fine! I don’t have that kind of money to spare so I went to the court website and they had an “ask for reduction” feature. It asked for my bills and financial situation and asked if I was getting kind of aid. I uploaded my medicaid card, my EBT card and an SSDI proof of benefits award letter. I filled it out three days ago and today I got an email from the court saying they had reduced my fine to $250! I’m so happy! That’s almost only a 1/3 of the original fine. And they’re going to let me make $25 a month payments. Except for getting my studio, it’s the best news I’ve gotten in a long time.
