Once a while an inspector goes on the bus to see if you have activated a bus ticket. I always activate my bus ticket for about 4 years to take the bus to school, but today, I really forgot to activate a ticket because of a hail storm. The officer gave me a fine ticket and an envelope to mail it back to some court. I believe the fine ticket is the exact same one as a speeding ticket. Does anyone have experience with this? These are the options that I need to choose one at the back of the ticket: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8126/8782328831_c93ffe511a.jpg Since I live about 35km away from the court, I want to select the option where I can talk to the prosecutor in person. (without going to a courthouse and not paying.) I don't have a driver's license, so I guess I need to find a way to get there by bus. I also don't want to tell my parents about this. Do you think if I talk to the prosecutor, I won't have to pay for this?
Being forgetful is not a strong excuse unless you can extrapolate a bit more .. why? Family emergency or whatever that led up to it .. perhaps a judge/prosecutor might be a bit more sympathetic. Otherwise, you can count on paying the fine.
I'll say I was all wet even though I was carrying an umbrella, and I had to hand in an assignment right before class, and I was already late. I could collect all my recent tickets, so they know I've been activating them. (These are true.)
I don't have any actual experience as I am in another country. Usually dictatorship and harsh regimes have harsh punishments for trivial offence caused by unintentional act. It is very easy for people to make mistakes, even big companies running trains and buses guarantee something like 95%-99% service level. Their excuse is that when they are busy they could not cope with high volume of activity. Likewise for an individual our brain can be overloaded with high activity and occasional forgetfulness. Put it this way, if every one could remember 100% what to do all the time then all of these people would score 100% in exams invoving listing of steps in a process. A good example would be that even a judge would forget to drink his tea or coffee on his table a few times a year, forget where one puts his pen! I would suggest that as you have impeccable track record you should challenge this first mistake/offence. No one is perfect and to err is to be human. You could look up on the law about these tickets to see if there are appeal procedures to get off such fines. I think for a first mishaps a court should view your case sympathetically. What you can do is to challenge in court the bus company as to whether they had done a scientific test on the actual human degree of forgetfulness. For example, if science suggests that 1 in 500 transaction is forgetfulness or unintentional breach then the bus company or the court should tolerate this level of loss of revenue. The reason is that if science shows this level of breach as normal human failing then the price of ticket should be increased by 1/500th. So the loss of revenue is dealt with by using a pricing mechanism without a penal system and a court. (In a similar way that a manufacturer expects 1% of goods to be defective so he ups the cost per unit by 1/100th to take account of this.) I think it is very very sad to ignore human rights and dignity when normal human behaviour (occasional forgetfulness) is punished by a penal system. On the other hand if a person , say, is in breach more than twice a year I can understand the forgetfulness is not genuine and may be an excuse. Moreover I know that many medical and psychological conditions can cause a person to be confused. So there should be an appeal system to get off a fine.
Ya, people make mistakes, but sometimes mistakes can end up as a terrible situation, so we need to experience some sort of warning in order to learn from our mistakes. Even if I go meet with the prosecutor, I don't have enough money to pay the fine. It's about $155. I don't have a job. The officer said if I talk to the prosecutor, he may lower the price. I also have an apointment with a psychologist, so maybe I can bring that in as evidence.
I would be very careful about doing that. Having it in evidence that you have had psychological counseling may impact future career endeavors. Having said that, everyone makes mistakes, and everyone pays. If the world forgave everyone because it was "...only a mistake" then no one would ever follow any rules. Hey, it's not Ralph's position, that's just the way the world works. Be that as it may, I'm a bit puzzled over your "please don't tell mommy or daddy about this" stance. If anything, no matter how badgering parents can be, they usually have your best interests at heart. Most parents are usually tough on their kids, especially if they make mistakes, because they love and care about their child's eventual outcome. Will your folks be pissed? Yes. But that's a good thing; so tell them. Have mom or dad go with you to the prosecutor's office. Law enforcement generally want to see parents get involved with their kids because they then know that there are interested third parties out there watching what you do, in effect making their jobs easier. Thus, bringing your folks with you may actually improve your chances of getting the charges forgiven.
Just make thing simple .. admit the error and ask for forgiveness or fine reduction and installment payment cuz you're a student .. show some responsibility and who knows .. the judge/prosecutor might dismiss your case altogether. Excuses like yours just don't add up.
I think I'll tell my parents about this. I just don't like how my parent always review my mistakes that I've done in the past. Thank you for your advice everyone.
My mother, who is 80, still recounts all my childhood mistakes to me and I love every minute of it. I hope that you too, will be blessed with a parent who can live as long and keep such a keen intellect for as long; appreciate what you have and good luck with the ticket
Your mother probably talked about the past just to give you a good laugh about the silly things you've done in the past. My dad says I can't "handle it" that's why he has to "do it for me". That's the annoying part. lol I don't mind telling my parents about this because it's stressing me out.
No matter how it turns out, at least you made the decision to tell your parents. I think that's what stressed you out; not so much the ticket. Keep this in mind, anything that can be solved with money is not a problem in life. You really need to communicate with your parents more ... perhaps ya'll lacked of communication led to your parents snooping around you to know what y'all doing ... that's what concerned parents do.
I'm stressed out because I was planned to bus there, and it seems unsafe to go out like that without my parent knowing. I told my mom already, she's just annoying. lol
