Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The Jaywalking Ticket Aftermath- The Summons

Ew.  I received my summons for jaywalking in the mail a few weeks ago, and the whole missive reeks of reprimand.  I am officially summoned to court on August 13 to face the judge.  If I wish to plead guilty I can just send in a response by mail.  When I first received the summons, I had a perverse inclination to go and have my day in court and see firsthand what this ridiculous exercise entails.

However, I also heard that this is essentially the modern day equivalent of a day in the stocks.  The judge levels you with a long, unbearably patronizing lecture about morality and the benefits of being a moral, upstanding citizen, and you have to show sufficient remorse.  No thanks.  I would probably end up in more trouble (ticket or another summons for unruly behavior in a court of law, perhaps?) than if I did not show my face.

Plus, I have to go to Koh Samui!  The date of my summons is the same day I am supposed to be sunning myself on a beach.  The summons did not seem to give any options to change the date (and why should it) so I figured I would just write in with a guilty plea but mitigated by my excuses.  Sometimes the little things in life are just not worth fussing over.

The amazing thing throughout all of this is that I still have no idea how much this ticket costs.  I asked the cops when they issued the ticket and they ignored me in a completely high handed manner, telling me that I will instead receive a summons in the mail.  The summons came and it has absolutely no reference to the ticket price or penalty or fine or anything!  Annoying.

5 comments:

  1. This still amazes me. Good thing you are a lawyer!

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    1. Isn't it the worst?? Unfortunately I'm not sure that my being a lawyer is of any help!!

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  2. I'd hate to plead guilty and then find out the penalty was jail time! But you are wise to skip the court appearance :-)

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    1. Hehe I agree. I received the letter last week and thankfully they only fined me HK$200 (approx. US. $26). Not a great penalty but not so bad in the overall scheme of things I think!

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  3. Hi. Can I ask what you worte in the mitigating circumstances in the summons letter, if any?

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