ticket

On the way home from jury duty pre-selections, my wife called my mobile while I was on the way home to check how it went, though I had sent her a few txts on the way to the car from the court building.

We had only been on the phone a few seconds and I was debating putting her on speaker phone, when there was a police car on the right at the stop sign I was approaching. I immediately said that I had to go and dropped the phone in my lap. He came after me. I pulled over a block later. It was because of the phone. I explained that the phone has a nice speaker phone function, but I didn't put my wife on speaker soon enough after picking it up so he caught me. He was nice about it and didn't ticket me for that, but I have been driving the car for eleven years without a front license plate. There's no bracket on the car for it, but it can take a plate because the holes are there under some bumper inserts, unlike some newer cars that have no bumper that allows for a license plate. Anyway, he gave me a ticket for that.

I went home and popped out the bumper inserts and slapped the thing on with the bolts that have been in the trunk forever. Ugly car front now. It's going to get bug encrusted and bent up, but it's hanging there, as required.

The ticket is a correctable citation/violation. The citation form says to take it to the court, but it has to be signed off by a police officer after the correction (in this case, mounting the plate) is complete. I called the DMV to see if I can get that signature there. They said no, if the citation has the court address on it, then it needs to be taken there. This morning I took off work to go to the (traffic) court building. They told me to go to the police station, then mail it to the court with the fee after they sign it.

I left there and drove to the police station I knew of. It's closed and fenced off, not there anymore.

I drove to and parked in a nearby parking lot and called the police from the contact list on my phone. The officer told me the new location, but added that they only sign those things on Wed and Fri mornings, so I couldn't have done it today anyway. Oh joy.

Try again tomorrow.

... and no, jury duty is not a welcomed experience, total pain in the ass, but I've heard that after you do it, you appreciate the experience and understand the system better.