I got a ticket and it's BU115H!T!

I'm sure Victoria Beckham could talk her way out of
a speeding ticket! (I hope I looked this good getting mine!)

Say WHAT?  A "Yoga Blog" and you're calling B-S on something?  Where's that in your Yamas and Niyamas?  Well, truthfully, if I had been concentrating better on following the speed limit (it was set a ridiculously low 25MPH) instead of happily zipping around town, feeling good about all the errands I was getting done, I may have avoided all of this consternation.  I fully admit that it is my fault, and now I'm suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous MIS-fortune!

Rewind several weeks.  My 5-series is having electrical problems - several times per week the on-dash computer asks to reset the clock, I get warnings that the car's 4x4 drive is malfunctioning and my braking distances are somehow compromised.  It's frustrating, so I decide to take the car in and have it looked at.  I have a great service center, I must admit.  The center will provide you with a loaner car while your car is being fixed, and once your car IS fixed, they make sure to wash and vacuum it.  Suffice it to say, my car always comes out better looking than when it went in.  This particular time, they provided me with a 3-series as my loaner.  It's a bit smaller than my car, but it has pretty much the same engine, so it goes f-a-s-t.  So fast, that I don't even realize that I'm speeding. Or at least, that was the case that fine winter day...

For a variety of reasons, I ended up taking a personal day on the day that I scheduled my service appointment.  I had lots of errands to run, and I am in the middle of yoga teacher training, so I figured I might be able to knock out a few of the classes that are held during the day.  I was planning on doing a "double" - 2 classes in one day.  I dropped my kids at school, made it to the morning yoga class, and tried to squeeze in some errands back near home before the early afternoon class.  In my yoga-induced state of bliss, I apparently zoomed off down the road. According to the officer, I was doing 50mph in a 25zone.  Silly me, my defense was "I drive this way all the time!"...meaning that I take this route regularly, never noticing that the limit was 25 (especially when I am just keeping up with all the other cars on this road!).  When it's written up on a ticket, though, it sounds like I'm admitting to being some speed maniac who daily drives twice the speed limit.  I had a defense:  this isn't my car, and I'm unfamiliar with its "pickup".  It was the truth.  The officer wasn't buying it.  I needed to admit my guilt, sign the affidavit, and await the judgement.

The judgement came:  $250, payable by money order or credit card only.  Ugh.  Can't I just write a check?!?  It is a pain to get a money order, so I paid by credit card.  Yippee...paying online garners you a $5 convenience fee.  I have to find time to go and pay in person, because in the interest of identity fraud, I'm not mailing my credit card info.  FINALLY, I pay the fine, await my hefty credit card bill, and figure that my ordeal is over.  Ha ha... fat chance.  I get a $25 meter ticket the very next week.  Same deal.  Pay in person.  I'm SO over this law-breakin' streak.

I now am SURE to drive 24mph on that road, much to the road-raging frustration of every single car lining up behind me.  I enviously watch the cars in front of me, speed away, secretly hoping the copper pulls out of some side road, like he did for me, letting them know that the speed limit is 25 and the Town of Eastchester will NOT stand for that.  But they never get stopped, and the line behind me gets longer and longer.  Still, I don't care.  I am not going to break the frickin' $250 speed limit law.

But the good old department of Motor Vehicles is not done with me yet.  No, sir!  Today, I receive a notice in the mail that I have accumulated 6 points on my license as a result of this incident.  Super!  Now my insurance will be going up.  The New York State DMV also assesses a fee of drivers who accumulate 6 or more points on their driving record within 18 months.  Yes they do.  This fee is $300 for 3 years, payable in 3 yearly installments of $100 each.  So now my $250 ticket has turned into a $550 ticket, in addition to any increase in Insurance premiums.  I might be mis-reading this, but according to the fine print, it appears that if this were a drug or alcohol related incident, I would be assessed $250.  Where is the justice in THAT?!?

So, yes, readers, this SUCKS. I'm trying to put this unfortunate event behind me, and New York won't let me.   Fair warning, my friends:  don't speed in Eastchester, NY.  And if you're behind me, and I'm going too slow for you, Mr. Speedy McLeadfoot, don't you dare honk at me.