traffic court

[SmootSmack]

I was driving in DC one afternoon when a cop pulled me over. So he approaches the car, I roll down the window, and he says "You know it's illegal to drive without a seatbelt." To which I reply, "thanks for the tip" as I tug on the seatbelt that's strapped around me. Then he says you know it's illegal to talk on your cell phone while driving, and I say "But I wasn't talking on my cell phone, and even if I was it's not illegal in DC to talk on your cell phone while driving" (at that time it wasn't illegal yet). Then he says "You know you rolled right past that Stop sign there." To which I say "No I didn't" and he says "I saw you" and I say "You also saw me without my seatbelt on talking on my cell phone apparently."

So he wrote me up a ticket for the "rolling stop" and warned me not to give him any more lip. I challenged it, I didn't even go to court actually. I wrote to his supervisor and explained that it was apparent he was just trying to find a reason to give me a ticket and that if he doesn't even know what's allowed or not allowed (see cell phone law) then why is he even on the force?

So his boss wrote me back and apologized for the mistreatment and tore up the ticket. It wasn't a super hefty fine, but still it's the principle of it all.