Red Means STOP

Just to say it right up front I am doing this post by way of a warning and in not in any way making fun of anybody, particularly my husband. Let's just all learn from his mistake so we don't get caught by surprise like he did.

Jeff has been doing a temporary job in Southern California the last few weeks. After his first trip down there we received a letter in the mail from the Hertz rental company stating that Jeff had a traffic violation and was being charged $30. Immediately, Jeff's natural defensive instincts kicked in and he made it clear that he did NOT have any traffic violation of any kind and he was going to let Hertz know that they had made a very big mistake. VERY. It wasn't but a few days later that we received a letter from the city of Beverly Hills with all of Jeff's personal information and the following pictures.

The letter then went on to state his bail amount ($445.00 just so you are aware of the seriousness of his crime. Let me repeat... $445.00) and describe all the different ways he could possibly contest the violation... by letter, appear in court in person, by a written declaration, or just pay out the bail money... $445.

At closer examination of these 4 photos you can clearly see that the driver of the car did indeed run the red light. Take photo #1 for example. You see the violator's car at the white line before the intersection. The red light is most definitely RED. Photo #2 shows the violator's car in the middle of the intersection, that indeed he did not stop but proceeded through the red light. Photo #3 shows a close up on the violator. Some could dispute that it was any light haired guy wearing an orange shirt, but if you think it looks like Jeff, then raise your hand. Oh my, everyone? The voting has been unanimous. Photo #4 shows the license plate of the very car the violator rented from Hertz. Now the question I ask you is, how would one dispute this violation where clearly there has not been a mistake? This is photographic evidence of the citation. Jeff could make the case that he was new to the area and was looking for street names of where he was supposed to turn, but I don't think the judge would knock even $100 off for that excuse.

I'm not sharing this to hang out Jeff's dirty laundry to you. It could have happened to anyone... anyone who couldn't see that the light was clearly red and had been red for a few seconds.

So here's our take-home lesson:

As stated on the "notice of traffic violation" letter in red writing...RED MEANS STOP. In Jeff's case we're helping him understand that yellow can also mean stop. Cameras can be anywhere where you least expect them. Be on your best behavior at all times.

As we're groveling for ideas of how to dispute this amount of money we could let the kind judge of Beverly Hills know that we are jobless at the moment and don't really have $445.00 to give to them. We have a money can on our doorstep if you're interested in donating.