I didn’t say it was acceptable. It just is. Personally, I’d rather the government not withhold. Then I could invest the money myself and wouldn’t have to worry about them giving me back what’s already mine.
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You seem to accept the concept SS you paid into will not be there for you thus my conclusion it is acceptable to you.
Traffic laws and judicial procedures dealing with violations vary from state to state. I have received 6 tickets in 52 years of driving. 1 improper turn, 2 “fix it” tickets, 1 failure to signal a lane change and 2 speeding tickets. Every one of them was a total surprise when the flashing lights came on. I was honestly unaware of doing anything wrong. My first ticket in 1968 soon after I got my license was the improper turn. I drove my Mother to a department store in the capitol city which occupied an entire block. I dropped off my Mother at the main entrance and was orbiting the block in the second lane. It was one way streets and the curb lane was marked left turn only. The second lane was marked left turn or straight ahead on three corners. The other corner had no markings in the second lane. On my second orbit I was presented with my first ticket. The officer had no clue why the one corner was not marked the same as the others (paint shortage)? I just paid the $11 at city hall. The only other time I did not appear in court was a “fix it” ticket for 64mph in a 55mph national environmental speed limit on the interstate. Driving a Ford E-350 with a 55mph governor I was not concerned when a state trooper gradually approached behind me. I was shocked when they pulled me over and gave me the ticket!. My employer had the speedometer checked (12% error) and repaired. They took care of having the ticket dismissed. Of the 4 times I went to court the first was the other “fix it” ticket to prove I had replaced a turn signal bulb. 2 others were the failing to signal a lane change where I did not change lanes but merged when 2 lanes became 1 and 60mph in a 55mph zone again on the interstate with a 55mph governed commercial vehicle. I entered guilty with explanation pleas. They were dismissed. My hopefully final traffic ticket was 10 years ago for speeding when I thought I was 5mph under the limit! When I went to court the judge was giving no one a break and increasing fines for some frequent offenders. When it was my turn I entered a plea of guilty. The judge was looking at my driving record and commented my last ticket which was dismissed was 26 years ago. He asked if I had an explanation for the current one. I told my story and he reduced my $150 fine to $50! I agree going to court is a good idea but pleading not guilty can be counterproductive if you lack evidence of your innocence. It creates an actual trial and you could end up with a criminal judge instead of a traffic court judge.
My mother was an odd duck, I ran a stop sign while doing hours to get my license, she told me to pull over and wait for the police, of course they never came, pre cellphone days, she wanted me to go to the police station and turn myself in. I finally convinced her that was ridiculous.
My last one was Sunday before Christmas in Indianapolis heading to Ohio. I could drive back 500 miles to Indianapolis for a court appearance and take my chance of being detained or pay. I simply paid the $176. Yeah I was going too fast on an 8 lane road with little traffic but messing with that dang touch screen. What ticked me off a little is the guy got mad because I was trying to avoid all of the debris on the left shoulder with my new tires. I guess the state pays for his tires but I gotta buy my own, being privileged and everything. Yeah, stay out of Indiana but you can’t get to Ohio without going through Indiana-trapped like a rat.
Well you’re lucky. She could have made a citizen’s arrest.
(I don’t know how to do multiple responses. Don’t think I’ll ever learn in time.)
Well speaking of traffic enforcement, the great state of Mississippi finds one of its finest in trouble and the on line ranting and raving leaves a great deal to be concerned about
be aware that some of the language in comments is over the top but possibly indicative of the “us vs them” conflict between various law enforcement agencies and the overall political climate in the state
In my opinion it’s not strict enough. I think getting pulled over and getting a ticket for breaking the law is fair. Funny thing is I’m going to school to be an officer, in Police Academy now. I’m a car guy too, I get it, you want to go fast. It costs like 20 dollars at the most to go to a race track and get 3 laps.
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In 1973 I did a 90 day temporary On The Job Training as a volunteer/reserve county deputy for school credits. I agree if you have a problem with traffic tickets the simple solution is to obey the traffic laws.
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No one said it’s not. Some of us are saying that hitting poor people harder than rich people is a dumb idea.
Some of us are also saying that we’d be better served by cops if they stopped worrying so much about speeding drivers and paid more attention to dangerous drivers. I’d much rather see red light runners, texters, tailgaters, and other aggressive jerks get pulled over than the guy doing 20 over on an otherwise empty highway.
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When too much attention is paid to petty details in the letter of the law and the intent of the law is ignored it would seem that giving out tickets is the first priority while making the roads safer is just an incidental issue.
I am still convinced that issuing licenses based on history and experience and color coding status and requiring that the license be displayed in the rear window could greatly improve driving safety by putting more attention on those who need it and less attention to those who don’t.
I don’t know about your area, but in mine, if someone is going 10 over the limit on a highway, odds are they exhibit the aggressive behaviors you list. That’s not always the case, but it usually is. Oh, and the police typically don’t pull people over for just speeding near me. The cops are too busy speeding themselves. I guess the police in different areas have different violations they emphasize.
Going 75 in the 55 mph interstate is the norm, but I am passed quite often.
In my area it’s generally the 20-30mph people that are being aggressive… Mainly because they’re mad at the rest of us doing 10 over. 
Really, I would say red light running and fooling with phones are the two biggest dangers where I live, by a wide margin.
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I have always thought that writing speeding tickets has nothing to do with making the roads safer. Or perhaps I should say that the goal is to make money from people speeding and not to prevent it in the first place. After all, police hide behind radar guns and around blind curves to catch people speeding and write tickets.
If the goal is to stop speeding, simply put a patrol car on the highway and drive the speed limit. No one will pass a highway patrol.
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Two years ago I was driving an interstate through Illinois, cruising along in the right lane, pacing traffic at about ten mph over the limit. Left lane was relatively open for anyone wanting to go faster. Suddenly a black Charger runs too damn fast right up behind hugging my bumper dangerously close. I couldn’t speed up without doing the same to the car in front of me and I was about car five or six in a row. Jerk trying to bully me could easily have gone around in the left lane. After a couple minutes I turned on my hazards to tell him to back off. Ooops, turned out it was an unmarked state patrol car. He flipped on his lights and gave me one short siren toot. I signalled to pull off onto the shoulder but before I could he turned off his lights, zoomed around while giving me a hand wave. So I just kept on going. Never did figure out what THAT was all about.
19 year old dope in the cop car? I’ve been tailgated by state police for no reason at all. One time I was at the speed limit on a highway exit and a dope statie was way too close behind me. No other traffic, no lights, just aggressive driving on his part.
Just a law enforcement laugh. I live near the small city of Enid in northern OK. One night some years ago 2 cops from outlying small towns came into Enid to do some partying on Sat. night.
Neither one had jurisdiction in Enid.
One pulled the other over for a tail light being out. The one pulled over said you can’t ticket me I’m a cop. The other said oh yes I can and all hell broke loose. Because of the screaming and cursing at each other all of the neighbors around came out on their porches to see what was going on. One called the Enid PD.
By the time the Enid PD got there both cops had drawn down on each other with their service weapons and each threatening the other with the loss of their blanking head. Per the usual, the Enid PD just separated them and let them go on their way. Boys will be boys…
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Good grief. But we get similar stories here between the competing tiny municipality PDs in the metro StLMO.
I have respect for cops overall but sadly there are those who are sadly deficient and shouldn’t have a badge. And my opinion is informed by the fact my paternal grandfather was killed in the line of duty when my dad was still a kid.
There are so many official officer videos of outrageous behavior and even negligent homicide for me to be quite certain that far too often the men in blue are mentally and psychologically unfit to wear a badge and carry a gun. And when you consider the videos that are mysteriously lost the distrust grows exponentially.