I was in the area last month when some dumbass hit my car. I was in a rental car at the time. The police officer asked me for my insurance information which I didn't have on me so he issued me a ticket. I called the county clerks office to see if I could mail, email or fax my insurance information. I was told that if I didn't show up for court, there would be a warrant out for my arrest. I drove all the way back from Nashville just to show the assistant to the judge my insurance information. I was in and out in 5 minutes. It took me 8 hours to get here. I find it outrageous that I had to come all this way just to show them my insurance information when I could have easily showed proof that I had insurance another way. Has anyone else ran into this problem?
Hugs,
Juliette
...You don't have to appear in person if you are represented by an attorney. You could have called the local bar association for the city or county where the court is located. They would have referred you to an attorney who appears in that court on a daily basis. He could have done what you did - show up and hand the clerk your insurance info. It would have saved you a 16 hour drive and probably cost no more than a couple of hundred dollars.
If no one shows up, that is a separate offense from the ticket. It's called Failure to Appear and courts will issue a bench warrant for your arrest. The "crime" is against the Court and has nothing to do with the original offense.
I'm not even sure the clerk gave you correct information over the phone. He or she certainly didn't tell you that an attorney can appear on your behalf. You should have read the back of your ticket and/or researched it yourself. Also, most bar associations offer very low cost or even free initial consultations where you could have found out if you were required to appear in person. Next time ask a lawyer, not a civil service moron.
then MY company has insurance cards I can print out online! You could have printed it out at anyplace with computer access... a library or hotel or Put it on a flash drive & take it to Staples. Some companies now have proof of insurance you can keep on a smart phone.
Going forward, get an extra insurance card from your agent & keep it in your wallet. Priceless.
License, Registration, Proof of Insurance (in most states) is required to be IN THE VEHICLE. Really silly to give the Cop an excuse to bust your what-knots. Some places are willing to work with you but others are sticklers for the details. Could be just a mile down the road in another jurisdiction.
And for gosh sakes, don't carry medications without the proper prescription bottles. I have one of those daily medication sorters... but I carry the original bottles in a travel case if I'm traveling outside my local area. (And none of them are any fun!)
-- Modified on 10/5/2015 1:41:00 PM
I found out the hard way when trying to travel with my kids, one of whom needed a lot of daily prescription meds. We always put her meds into a daily sorter, but the TSA (or their predecessor) stopped us when they saw that and said we could not take the pills like that. This was in our carry-on, but fortunately we had the prescription bottles in the checked bags, which had to be brought back out, yaddah, yaddah.
I came to find out that there are pharmacies who will (for a very stiff price) put up the meds into blister packs that can be dated and have all the needed federal info on the packs, so you can travel with them.
You'd think you'd hear about this kind of shit, but apparently not.
Good advise...
I came to find out that there are pharmacies who will (for a very stiff price) put up the meds into blister packs that can be dated and have all the needed federal info on the packs, so you can travel with them.
You'd think you'd hear about this kind of shit, but apparently not.
it is wise to not blunder into an easy points for some LEO who has not made his quota for the month. Years ago, local cops cut me a break or 2... those days are gone. Police are more aggressive, militaristic... hostile to the public they serve. It cuts both ways.