No 158: When it comes to court appearances, how often is too often?

My first appearance in court was back in the late 1980s. I had been driving for about a year and was involved in a car accident. The case was dismissed within minutes, not because I was wholly innocent (it had been one of those situations where neither party was paying enough attention), but because the other party started making statements that were patently untrue. My then girlfriend (who is now my wife) appeared in court beside me, partly as moral support, partly as a character reference, and partly because she had witnessed the event in question. I went into the courtroom fearing I would be banned, I walked out acquitted.

My second appearance was about 10 years later. Speeding cameras were still a relatively new phenomenon and following a spate of poor choices on my part I had accumulated more points on my license than is wise. I pleaded guilty. My time in court was mercifully brief. I went into the courtroom expecting to be banned, I walked out with a hefty fine and a slap on the wrists, but with my license still valid.  

My third appearance was earlier today. It may have been over 15 years since my last visit but little had changed. Except this time my wife was not with me to provide character support/shoulder to cry on (sensibly she had better things to do). I was charged with speeding, having been caught on camera driving at 69mph on the motorway in a 50mph zone. I pleaded guilty. I went into the courtroom knowing I would be banned. I walked out not at all surprised.

The judge was rather nice about it all, and we had a little to-and-fro banter about the challenges of modern driving. Don’t press so hard on the accelerator might be the obvious advice to someone like me. Or perhaps: pay more attention to the variable speed signs. Either way, as the judge said with a little conciliatory shrug, ‘speeding is speeding’. When invited to give a statement I wisely chose to reject the pearls of wisdom that friends have encouraged me to use. I did not, for example, say that I was sorry….Sorry that the police were not spending more time chasing real criminals.  Neither did I point out that the speed awareness courses clearly don’t work, otherwise I would not have been appearing in court today. In particular I chose to reject my loving brothers advice that I base my appeal on the fact that I pay so much in parking fines that local authorities across the UK would be harshly hit without my regular contributions. No, I simply said I was sorry and I took my punishment (a 6 month ban). Clearly I have not yet learnt my lesson.

On the plus side this will help with one of my New Year Resolutions. I vowed to tread more softly on the planet and this will help. Now all I have to do is find a way to get banned from flying too and I will be able to really reduce my carbon footprint.

For previous versions of this blog visit http://notesfrompiers.blogspot.co.uk/