The amazingly EPIC yet slightly tragic judicial system.

[bassahaulic 155]

To start the story I will by saying at no point did I think I did not deserve the tickets.

On my van I have, what may be some of the darkest tint you can have and still be able to drive. 5% over factory 20% on rear five windows, 5% on front two, and 35% on whole windshield with a 10" 5% strip over it. While I have had this my inspection sticker has since expired. But would cost $200ish to get brought up to date due to having to have the front tint removed then replaced, so I have not done it yet.

I was driving to a local audio shop I frequent with my GF and friend in the van with me, we were going through a small antique shopping center. Stores on both sides, speed limit 25. We had both front windows down as it was nice outside. As we are making out was though I see two cops towards the end of the area standing there checking inspection stickers, at that point I KNEW I was getting at least that ticket. As I get closer of course he stops me.

First thing out his mouth was "Man is your whole windshield tinted I couldn't see anything but black coming at me" I was honest and admitted to it, he then told me to roll up my window so he could meter it. It read .05% which I expected it to. So he tells me I am getting a ticket for tint and inspection sticker. But as he says that he looks over at my GF and see's she isn't buckled, which I tell everyone to do in my van, so she is informed she will be getting a ticket as well. As we are waiting we are thinking about the price of the tickets not expecting them to be to bad. So we get the tickets, I thank the officer for hit years of service and risking his life for us as I always do and we leave.

Well, my GF calls the Court House to find out the cost of the tickets. Mine were $187.75 EACH, so $371.50 total, hers was only $25. At the time I was not working much as the tree business slows down alot in Fall and Winter. So we decide the best course of action is to go to the court date and ask for an extension on out fines. So that's what we do.

We arrive at the court house and take out seats in front the Judge. The DA then comes out and says "I have a surprise for everyone here as it's the Judges last day as a traffic court judge." I'm like that's cool. So people start going up to the stand, I can't really hear as I am all the way in the back. All I hear 5 times in a row is "Seat belt ticket do you have $25 today to pay it?" I was like WTF no way they write that many so I listen real close, and what they are doing is amending ALL moving violations to seat belts tickets thus dropping the fine to $25 as long as they plead guilty to it. Then if people didn't have the $25 someone in the crowd offered to pay it for them, which in turn, their ticket regardless of what it was, got dismissed for helping others. I was like that's cool I guess. Then they got to a non-moving violation which is what my tickets were, and they just dismissed them all together. At this point my GF and I are getting very excited thinking they may dismiss our tickets.

And sure enough, on my turn I went up to the stand and they asked if I was guilty or not guilty, I said guilty and they dismissed my tickets just like that. Then my GF went up with her seat belt ticket which also got dismissed.

At this point we are flying high, happy as hell. So we leave the court house to head home, again, it's a nice day windows are down. She has to make a phone call so the windows go up. Not as soon as I get them all the way up I pass a cop sitting on side the road. I'm like NO FUCKING WAY!!! So he pulls me over, tells me my tint is to dark and inspection sticker is out of date. I tell him I know I just left the parish court house for it. He asks why my tint is so dark, so I show him the back of the van. He gets that wow face and tells me he will just write me for the inspection sticker. Which only turned out to $75 in that town.

So in the end I saved over $300 thanks to the Judicial system. lol

P.S. here's the van..

[Shogen 325]

Lmao... awesome story... I never get lucky, if something badd will happen to me it does... But nice to know that there is some good luck when it comes to the court systems...

[raolito1980 2]

Great story. I was like, dang, thats kool.

[bassahaulic 155]

This is why I like this forum!

People take the time to read and understand. On SMD all I got was "To long to read, got cliff notes?"

[Shogen 325]

I just acted like it read it... any answer would have worked... lmfao... nah for real though, i don't join that forum for similar reasons... I was on the fence about this one for like a year.... lol

[Shogen 325]

BTW.... like the van.. chevy venture yes?

[bassahaulic 155]

BTW.... like the van.. chevy venture yes?

Thanks! 1999 Chevy Venture. I have since gotten new headlights that are clear.

[jcarter1885 995]

Cool story bro, tint looks dark.

[gcs8 10]

WTF are inspection stickers? also tint laws are BS.

best ticket story i have is i was doing ~33 over in a construction zone and i told the cop i was speeding because i "had to crap and i had irritable bowl syndrome"....... it worked...... kind of.... had to take a doc note to court, good thing my doc likes me.

[heckvr4 2]

This is why I like this forum!

People take the time to read and understand. On SMD all I got was "To long to read, got cliff notes?"

so true, but yeah cool story

[bassahaulic 155]

WTF are inspection stickers? also tint laws are BS.

You see that sticker on my windshield on the bottom right. It says the vehicle is safe to drive on the road.

[raolito1980 2]

Yeah Chevy Venture. Me and my bro bought my Mom a 2002 Chevy Venture with like 45k miles for like 2500. Mint condition. Anyway i would of liked to see the expression on the po-po when he seen your system.

[Dan208 23]

This is why I like this forum!

People take the time to read and understand. On SMD all I got was "To long to read, got cliff notes?"

tl;dr

My wife got stopped a few weeks ago. The cop said she was doing 90 in a 55, which I know is bullshit. $350 ticket. My cousin is a county deputy and even he doesn't believe it. Anyway, her name still hasn't shown up on the court docket, so we're hoping for some reason he didn't turn it in and it will get dropped.

[aimone 4]

im glad oklahoma dont do inspection stickers anymore. my current vehicle is probably the only one i've ever owned that would pass.

also wuts it like drivin at night with the tinted windshield

[The enD 467]

Cool story, bro.

[Mtopper 23]

i myself get pulled over a lot for my tint, i'm not nearly as dark as you (yet) but i legitimately have eye problems that require me to have prescription sunglass lenses (they looked like crap). so i took that and tinted all my windows.

you got really lucky with the tickets. good for you though. even in my own city, where i know the judge personally, i don't get that lucky. i get my moving violations knocked down to no points but i pay almost twice the amount

[Godsmack 360]

Very fortunate turn of events for you.

I will say being polite and honest certainly has helped me.

There have been officers that I have met that get pissed when you fight the ticket (after they ticketed you for everything) and they lose it.

J

[Duran 387]

Very lucky this time Drew

Here we have emission and inspection tests our vehicles have to pass, if you don't pass, you can't register the vehicle, and our police officers have cameras that scan everyone's license plates lol

[J@SouthSlap 0]

Drew man, that sucks to hear! I'm guessing right near the railroad tracks in Denham?? I got stopped there as well, but it was from bumping. Right as I got to the Walmart, just told me to be careful through the antique part of town. Then said have a good night.

Then last week I got a ticket in the Tahoe!! 41 in a 25 and I had JUST pulled out of my neighborhood. I was pissed to say the least. Hopefully he'll drop it, I didn't even have my plates on my hoe yet and he knew I had just pulled into traffic.

Friend of mine did get a ticket while the police in my town were trying to meet quota, 2% tint, black headlights and taillights, and no cats on his truck... Around $500 I think? He sold the truck the next week and when he went to court they dropped the ticket because he proved he sold it.

[Kanaworm$ 292]

Good story man! Nice that you had all the tickets dismissed.

[slim142 9]

Cool Story, Bro!

LoL! Jk, I read everything

Its cool how when you went to pay was your lucky day but it all went south a few hours later lol.

But that IS a good excuse to have tinted windows. Show your monster audio system. Will keep that in mind!

[kirill007 52]

tl;dr

Just kidding

(and don't be telling things that aren't true... there were only 2 that said they didn't read it, others did read it...and you maybe don't know chode, but he is lazy, he does that a lot )

That's intresting, too bad my country doesn't has those kind of fails.

[steveo50 3]

hahah big middle finger to the pigs!!! they need to go fight crime not give people like us a hard time

[onebadmonte 235]

Lucky that you got off so easily. Then again with tint on the windshield you can't expect not to get haggled by the man.

[altoncustomtech 773]

That's too cool dude, lucky shot there. Something that nice could never happen around here, as a matter of fact the way the judges/cops are around here on the last day like that they'd probably double the fines, the bastards. On another note, these Venture vans are pretty good platforms for systems aren't they? LOL Though it might be more fun just to see the looks on peoples faces when they notice all that is coming from a mini-van.