If you're going to fight to get out of a traffic ticket, you might as well make the story good!
Traffic tickets are some of the scariest things that a car enthusiast can think of, from speeding to noise complaints it all looms over our heads all of the time. Unfortunately, the traffic ticket system is more about making more money for the government than it is about ensuring the safety of everyone on the road. This has led to things such as quotas, nonsensical laws, and the infamous traffic light camera. Of course, while most people roll over at the sight of any authority there are still a select few who fight the system and win. Along with the tales of enthusiasts arguing for their right to put as much tint on their window as they want, there also come some pretty hilarious stories.
Watch an angry neighbor lose her mind over a birthday parade here.
One example of such a story is that of a California drag queen, while on his way to work the drag queen missed a red light. Fortunately for him, California takes a picture of both the license plate and the driver. When the judge looked at the photo, he did not see the sharply dressed man standing before him in court. What he saw was a woman resembling Marilyn Monroe, the judge was extremely confused and the case was dismissed. Another case involving California traffic cameras was that of a man who was having an affair. This resulted in the traffic cam catching the two “in the act” and the man was mailed the ticket. It was just his luck that his wife was the one who checked the mail that day and he got caught red-handed. The case was dismissed seeing as that the state of California didn't black out the image of the 'passenger.'
Number three on the list is the instance in which 31 cases were to be heard in one day, being that it was a small area in Florida the judge felt that he was particularly entitled to be above the law. The judge had been giving Mark Gold’s various lawyers a whole lot of trouble so Mark took a trip down there himself. After hours of argument, the judge finally agreed to a deal in which all of the 31 defendants get no more than a $100 fine without points or record. The Ticket Clinic crew now does much better in that particular county. One of the more technically interesting cases involved an instance in which one Deputy had given a speeding ticket which was then dismissed due to improper calibration of the device used. The law in that county states that the laser must be calibrated before a shift by pointing it at a 12x12 sign from a distance of 100ft. She was using her mailbox instead of the sign which invalidated her case, this resulted in the dismissal of about half a dozen cases that day.
Finally, we have our last entry on this list and it is pretty ridiculous. A woman had been pulled over for “reckless driving”, the official reason stated for the officer's citation was that her cat had been sitting on her shoulder. Needless to say, most cats are not illegal and the case was dismissed. These are some pretty crazy cases in which people were able to evade the strong arm of Johnny Law and narrowly escape penalty mainly due to officer error. Maybe next time the government will be competent enough to back up its claims, or it could just stop pulling people over for ludicrous reasons.
