The Traffic ticket that changed my driving Attitude
I woke up on the morning of August 26th, 2019, a day like any other as I headed towards the gym to go work out but had no water to keep myself hydrated. Keeping focus, I get into my Chevy, head down Placentia Ave. to make a left on Chapman Ave. The traffic light left turn signal was yellow as I speed up to try to beat the signal that turned red before I run the red light. Instantly, a cop car signals behind me as I’m left in disbelieve as I pull over my car to the side.
It felt like an eternity waiting for the officer to walk towards the driver’s side door to my car but instead, he walks over toward the passenger’s side door. I give him my license and registration he asks for as he heads back towards his car and I wait, I wait a little while so that I have time to reflect. Thinking, I should have seen this coming because for years I ran red lights like it was nobody’s business not thinking twice about getting caught, but it was inevitable. The feeling made me still, I just couldn’t say anything to the officer to get out of the ticket just speechless. The officer gives me the ticket and I go buy myself bottled water and headed to the gym to work out, but feel bittersweet.
Coming home, thinking about what just happened and wishing I didn’t have to pay $526.90 for my first ticket. So, I swallowed my pride, saved my money, and decided to go to traffic school where I paid $25 at the North Justice Center in Fullerton, CA on September 24, 2019, and looked up traffic school information lists of whats the best traffic school that’s the cheapest and that school is called, Cheap School. Two months later, on November 15, 2019, I pay my ticket and schedule my traffic school date, January 25, 2020.
Looking back, I wished I could have taken traffic school a lot sooner, but that's out of my control and it's all a waiting game until the date of my traffic class.
On the day of traffic school or Cheap School, I take a deep breath and drive out to Costa Mesa, CA where to my surprise, the class was being held in a motel. I head up to the room along with forty-nine other people, with an instructor from New York. The class started at 8 am on the dot, you couldn’t be even five minutes late or you’d reschedule another appointment once the instructor closed the door. Before the class begins, everyone was instructed to have our forms of identification, traffic receipts, and $45 in cash to pay the instructor himself when the class is over.
The instructor begins the class by handing out papers that were the safe-driving journal that was our cheat sheet the class used until the end of the class test. All we had to do was write down the answers as the instructor taught us about traffic safety, the rules of the road, what not to do while driving, driver safety, driver responsibility, and why he doesn’t want to see anyone in his class again to retake his traffic school.
Nearing the end of class, the safe-driving journal or cheat sheet paper that he’d given everyone was used for the safety test that everyone ended up passing. I turn in my test, passed it, and had to give the instructor an additional $45 to pay him, as everyone did, that’s all the money I had in my wallet. Never felt too happy about that but the instructor had to make money to support himself which at the time I didn’t question, as I do now, but sincerely relieved to finally be given my receipt of completion.
All together ended up paying $595.90.
If this taught me anything is that this situation could have been avoided if I’d taken more responsibility driving out on the road and never run red lights so that cop car sirens wouldn’t appear behind me. The money I wasted paying my ticket, traffic school, and the instructor could have been used to save or invest because nobody likes paying money for any ticket, just drive safely. For every time I drive anywhere, I coast along the road. If the traffic light is yellow I’ll never take the risk to run the traffic light no matter how bad I want to try to speed through it. It’s better to see everyone else run traffic lights knowing it’s only a matter of time until they get pulled over and they have that expensive ticket, learning the hard way by the example of what not to do in order to be a responsible driver.
