It's even worse than that. I once got pulled over in a small town for a rolling stop, and the officer basically said that I had two options — either he could wr

It's even worse than that. I once got pulled over in a small town for a rolling stop, and the officer basically said that I had two options — either he could write me three tickets — one for running a stop sign, one for disregarding a mechanical signal (flashing red light), and one for speeding ("nearly 25" in a 20, he claimed) — that added up to nearly $400 in fines and several points on my license, or else I could agree, right then and there, to show up in person at the county courthouse within 30 days and pay a $100 "fee", that "wasn't a fine", so, while it couldn't be contested, it also wouldn't show up on my driving record. In other words, if I was willing and able to show up in court, I may as well just agree to pay the $100, because, bullshit speeding ticket aside and regardless of the truth of the matter * , it's sort of pointless to argue in court that, in spite of the officer's testimony, I did, in fact, come to a complete stop — the only way I could have avoided >$100 in fines is if the officer hadn't testified at all, which, without familiarity with the particular jurisdiction or considerable research, isn't a very safe bet, and certainly not one I was willing to make on the side of the road at 3:00am with no time to think it over. * Truth be told, I may well have roll-stopped, as I was making a right turn at a four-way stop with no other traffic and perfect visibility in a 20MPH zone at 3:00am, and I probably was driving 25 in a 20 at some point, because I don't regularly calibrate my speedometer or watch my speed that closely, and it was one of those small towns where the speed limit drops from 55 to 20 in the course of a few blocks.