Crap - my daughter nicked by the old bill for passing a school bus

[dazzleman]

You mean the leadfoot? Yeah. They share that and the ability to be pains in the butt.

You ought to give some serious speeding a try.  You might even find that getting busted for it is sort of fun......   See how the other side lives.

[Morris Minor]

Update. She had her day in court. They reduced the charge to driving carelessly in hazardous conditions, to which she pleaded guilty. Sentence was $350 fine, 25 hours community service and a defensive driving course.

A bench trial, at which she certainly have been found guilty, would have resulted in loss of her license (six points) and a very expensive blot on her (my) insurance record.

The most chastening thing for her was seeing the losers being paraded though the municipal court who'd done far worse things than she.

Make fucking sure you stop for school buses.

[James Young]

And if the bus driver is allowing a convoy of cars to go past, stop anyway and yell for the bus driver to fuck off. 

[sparkplug]

The defensive driving course I can understand but the community service is rather insulting. If anything the bus driver should have to serve community service as well. I remember hearing stories of a time when bus drivers would turn their red lights on as someone approached just to make them slam on brakes. That was unprofessional.

[TurboDan]

Community Service?  Sounds like some overzealous local judge who gets his jollies "teaching those young'ns a lesson" without giving a damn about the merits of their cases.  Lame.

[dazzleman]

Community service does sound overzealous for this case.  In most cases, I would think having to do community service would be much worse than paying a fine.

[TurboDan]

Community service does sound overzealous for this case.  In most cases, I would think having to do community service would be much worse than paying a fine.

Yeah, definitely.  And it seems like a punishment for a true criminal offense, not a questionable traffic violation.

[dazzleman]

I could see it as a punishment for a serious traffic violation, or as a substitute for paying a fine for a routine violation, if the person doesn't have the money.  But community service plus a fine for a questionable violation seems like a lot.

Generally, with real crimes/violations, I think it's better to overpunish than underpunish, within certain limits, but this seems a bit beyond reasonable limits.