Currently, if anyone is keeping track, my track record has taken a beating the past few months. There was that first car accident I had which has yet to be resolved. The damage was resolved but not blame. Whaddya mean you can’t get a hold of the guy’s insurance company? Whaddya mean they won’t return your phone calls? This is what you do insurance company. You fight my battle, prove me right and refund my deductible! He pulled out in front of me! He made a u-turn in front of me! Where is the controversy? What is the problem? I am sorry ma’am but she’s not answering. Would you like her voicemail?
Meanwhile, the second accident happens before my thousand dollar deductible is refunded from the first. It will be refunded! I was not at fault! Turns out for the second accident, the damage is cosmetic. There is nothing that a little grey duct tape can’t hide. That is until I took my car in for a mandated inspection. They don’t have those in Florida. I’m just saying. It cost me another $1,000 to pass inspection. Something about my alignment being off, say what? I need to replace two tires and fix the headlight. I am getting that sucker punch feeling again.
It gets worse. I got a letter in the mail from the rental car agency. Shoot, do I owe them money? The line of hands out wanting money is getting longer and longer. Oh, yes you do owe them money. They have charged you a fee to cover the administrative costs of receiving your speeding ticket that you got while driving their rental car. This track record is taking a beating! What did I do to deserve this? Oh yeah, crash and speed. Not!
The ticket is one of those new fancy Schmancy cameras that I was completely unaware of that took a picture of my rental car, my supposedly speeding rental car. Based on that camera’s picture, I am levied with a huge fine. This does not sit well with me. I absolutely deny that I could have been speeding.
Life is telling me not once, not twice, but three times. Perhaps, driving is not your thing. No, my driving is fine, except for that one momentary … Anyway I wasn’t speeding either. But how do you defend yourself against a camera? You can’t go to court and hope the camera doesn’t show up, case dismissed!
No, this fight calls for…online adjudication. Basically, you never have to face anyone; you just tell your side of the story online and wait for someone to decide whether you are right or wrong. Telling them that I had just been in an accident and I was driving a rental just screams that I would obey all traffic rules, right? This isn’t rocket science. Accidents make you wary. Driving rental cars makes you wary. Cameras cannot record wary. If they could, they would know that my safety and the safety of others was my primary concern driving a rental car that day. But, just in case that isn’t considered “evidence.” I offer this.
Your camera? Who made it? Who services it? When was the last time it was calibrated? Does an electrical surge or failure affect it? Has a ticket ever been dismissed after being camera-ticketed? Who installed the camera? When was it last inspected? Who is the camera’s boss? Has the camera ever been reprimanded for being late, sleeping on the job? Hey, it’s a long shot, but I wasn’t speeding. The truth will prevail! At least, I am hoping so.
I may never know. I may live in denial until a warrant is issued for my arrest. Why? The online adjudication process requires an online sign up, so that you can view your case’s decision. So what is the problem? The problem is…they have to mail you a letter for verification before you can sign in online. Only after completing the process online do I read that they send the verification letter to the address assigned to the license plate. That would be the rental car company. Cha ching! Pay the fee!
I wonder how many people opt for online adjudication, or better yet, how many people make the adjudication decisions? If they told us there was a nine month window for the adjudication process before we submitted an online adjudication, would we still have done so? Of course we would. Since i sprained my ankle, the irony is there is not much track in my track record. Am I fighting a losing battle? Will my track record be damaged forever? So, what if it is. Life, sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t!