Marf

[annathepiper]

So there I was, driving home from work, when I overshot the exit to get onto 405 from 520. "Not a problem," I think, and I get off at the next exit--the 108th street exit. I have an impulse about finding a new sekrit ninja way home, possibly by sneaking up to a more northerly exit onto 405th, or failing that, cutting through Kirkland. I drove north, and finally got into Kirkland, and I recognized the street I needed to turn onto to get into downtown Kirkland and the familiar part of ninja routes I've taken to Kenmore before.

I saw a guy crossing the street in a crosswalk, and hit my brakes to give him what I thought was adequate time to get on over to the other side of the street. Apparently I was wrong, because the next thing I knew, BOOM, there was a motorcycle cop right behind me. And he dinged me $101 for failing to let the guy get all the way over to the sidewalk. :<

So that was stressy-making, especially since my iPod cut out just as I was pulling over to let the cop make with being copperly, so I had to drive home the rest of the way in silence.

It didn't help much either that I found that the iPod battery I'd ordered had a defective connector on it. So solarbird had to futz with the connector on the old battery to try to get it off to use with the new one, since I wanted to try that before I called up the store where I placed the order and complained about being sent a defective battery.

But it did help some that spazzkat treated us to sushi.

We came home to watch the second episode of the new Doctor Who, which was fun, and we conducted iPod surgery as well. As I type this the iPod is now recharging, and I'll need to let it sit for a while and do that. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be able to see if I've put everything back together correctly. I'm vaguely frustrated that I broke off part of one of the tabs that holds the case of the device together, but it does not appear to have been too much of a problem since everything snapped back together still.

Marf. Now to see if I can try to do at least some work on Chapter 15....

Comments

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Grr. Cop. Why can't he go deal with REAL crimes?

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

Actually, the law is that you have to stop if he's within one lane (http://www.leg.wa.gov/RCW/index.cfm?section=46.61.235&fuseaction=section) of your side of the street. I take it there was only one lane each way?

[annathepiper]

There were two. This was Central, coming into downtown Kirkland.

[annathepiper]

Well, he was doing his job. I can't fault him for that, and hell, as near as I can make out I wasn't paying close enough attention to what the guy crossing the street was doing... I only paid enough attention to make sure he wasn't in my lane before I continued on.

But $101?! That's the part that boggles me. I shiver to think of what the fine would have been if I'd been speeding through that particular stretch of Kirkland. o.O I am, in fact, pretty sure that I didn't have to pay that much for the one speeding ticket I've had to date.

[annathepiper]

Talk to spazzkat. He's the one pulling the episodes down off Bittorrent.

[poetry-lady.livejournal.com]

Since we took away their tab fees and other taxes, cops have raised ticket prices as a way to raise money for various types of government. And they "fundraise" quite a bit with speedtraps and such. It's getting to be quite ridiculous, as they never seem to catch the jackasses who drive dangerously and do really illegal shit. Hell, I've had the cops pull me over to give me a fixit ticket for having the little bulb over my rear license plate out!! (And he DIDN'T ticket me for having 2 of 3 brakelights out and a headlight and one other light. (I knew about the bulbs--had replacements in the car.) I mean, GET REAL!!!

Kirkland's notorious for jack-ass pedestrians, and a cop-culture that makes near gods of them. I'm not suprised they dinged you for that...Sorry to hear.

Coppages

[(Anonymous)]

The cheapest fine here(Lexington) is about $125, but most cops will just give you a warning over small-scale stuff. I've gotten a few warnings in the past, but only one ticket. I have been pulled over once out of curiousity..I had a landing light on my old Jeep(A 1958 Willys-Overland,with a 24 volt,150 amp DC generator). It was a dairy-crate sized box sitting on a tripod in the back of the jeep.(the tripod locked into slots on the jeep..it was meant for it-literally). The cop just wondered what it was..Scott

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

Fight it, then. I got out of a parking ticket legitimately once. :-)

Re: Coppages

[annathepiper]

I've only had the one ticket, before now. I'm not angry that I got pulled over, necessarily--but rather more just annoyed at myself for not paying close enough attention.

Though it's kind of cool that the cop pulled you over that one time just out of curiosity. :)

[annathepiper]

Well, here's the thing--I wasn't paying close enough attention. I can accept that. I was in the left-hand lane, but as soon as I knew the guy wasn't directly in front of ME, I went ahead and continued. I can grant that I should have made sure he made it safely to the sidewalk.

Since I have that gut reaction to the situation, I'm leery about going to argue about the ticket. I didn't see where the guy was after he got out of my lane, so it'd be the cop's word against mine--and since I wouldn't be a hundred percent certain of my side of it, I wouldn't feel like I could marshal a convincing, and most importantly truthful, argument. So there would be no guarantee that it would go in my favor, and then I'd be out of the pay for that time I should have been spending at work anyway. ;P Which would annoy me extra on top of having to go deal with the ticket.

What this does tell me though is to damn well not cut through downtown Kirkland on a Friday afternoon. I did at least figure out an alternate way to get to where I needed to get without going through the downtown core, so next time I find myself having to take the car into work, I'll just go that way instead.

[annathepiper]

*snugs* Thanks, hon. I think I have indeed heard before about the cops in Kirkland being quite, quite anal. Now I know for sure. But what I can do? I mean, I wasn't paying close enough attention to the pedestrian.

Oh well. Lesson learned: don't cut through downtown Kirkland on my way home. ;P :)