42mph in a 30 Zone

Since leaving the Foreign Service and relocating to the Chicago area six months ago, I've accumulted 2 speeding tickets and 4 parking tickets, for an average of one infraction per month. Is it just me or is driving and parking in this country a serious hazzard to one's pocketbook? I'm actually a fairly conservative driver, and I don't just park wherever I want, but you'd think I was a complete scofflaw with all the tickets I'm accumulating lately.

The other day, I got pulled over driving on Austin Blvd- a very busy four lane thoroughfare in Oak Park. There was quite a bit of traffic and I was going basically the same speed as everyone else- I wasn't passing anyone or weaving in and out of traffic. The officer claimed that I was going 42 in a 30, and i wanted to say, "yeah, so what!" but instead, I asked him why he chose me to pull over, and he basically just said that I was the most convenient car to pull over, while acknowledging that he could have pulled over almost anyone on the road.

As we drove away, I started cursing and, truth be told, pounded my fist a couple times on the steering wheel and dashboard. My wife, Jen, made the mistake of trying to rationalize what had just happened.
"Well, you were speeding," she said, "he was just doing his job!"

This is not what you want to hear when you get a ticket- I wanted her to share my outrage, not justify the cop's decision.
"42 in a 30, its bullshit- you think this was justified?" I yelled.
"You just have to be more careful, you can't keep getting tickets," she said.
We drove home in silence.

So far, I've tried to fight all 6 tickets, I've recieved and I've won 4 out of 5 cases so far, with the hearing for my second speeding ticket coming up later this month. Parking and speeding tickets are like a game- if you are willing to invest the time and effort to fight them, you can usually get off. For example, I think I spent a sum total of about 2-3 hours writing letters and then appearing in court to fight a $20 parking ticket I got here in River Forest. Why? Principle. The village apparently has a rule against overnight parking, but posts no signs advertising it. I went to a hearing where there was a room full of people, all there trying to fight parking tickets on the same grounds that I was. The judge dismissed dozens of cases before I took my turn- telling each person- none of whom actually lived in River Forest-that there were signs advertising the ban at the "entrance to the village".

When I got up to the podium to plead my case, the conversation between me and the judge went something like this.

"I've heard you tell several people here that there are signs advertising this parking ban at the entrance to the village, but I'm not sure which entrance you are refering to because there isn't one entrance to River Forest- there are quite a few, and I have actually gone looking for these signs and have never been able to find them."
"Do you have any evidence to support your claim?" he asked.
"Sir- I got the ticket 100 yards away from here, I could walk you over to the street myself and show you- there are no signs!"
"I'm going to give you the opportunity to come back one month from now with photos or evidence to suppport your claim," he began before I cut him off.
"With all due respect- you are asking me to prove a negative- how am i supposed to bring you photographs of something that doesn't exist?"

This stumped him and after a whispered conversation with a cop standing next to him, he dismissed my ticket! I cannot tell you how happy this made me- I was exultant, but I have to admit that I wanted to tell him that he should have dismissed everyone's tickets- not just mine- but instead I just walked out.

The bottom line is that suburban communities make a fortune on speeding and parking tickets- they purposely set speed limits at only 25 or 30mph even on very busy 4 lane road, and they purposely make parking restrictions confusing in order to hand our more tickets. Ah the hazards of life in the suburbs...

UPDATE: 2/28: I won! Free at last, free at last, thank God Almight I'm free at last! Thankfully, I didn't listen to my wife, who told me to just "pay the ticket." I plead not guilty and actually won my speeding ticket defense- not with any rubber gloves that didn't fit, or by alleging that the cop was a racist, but by acting deferential, praising the cop's professionalism and courtesy, and mildly suggesting that since he was shooting radar against 4 lanes of traffic and since I was driving around a 4 month old child and certainly wasn't speeding, that perhaps there was some mistake. The judge said he'd give me, "the benefit of the doubt." Damn it feels good to win in court!