Extortion racket in New Jersey

I mean traffic court.

I had a ticket for speeding so was forced to attend traffic court in Bergen County, New Jersey. What a fraud!

Those who wanted to "discuss" their case with a prosecutor had to wait in line, standing, around the perimeter of the room. This took a long time, because there were about 40 of us miscreants. It was hot and my feet hurt.

Here is the discussion I had with the representative of truth, justice, and the American way, aka the prosecutor:

Prosecutor: You have a ticket for speeding. That's 4 points. Do you want 4 points, 2 points, or no points?

Me: No points.

Prosecutor: It'll cost you $433.

Me: Okay.

Traffic court is a nice little money maker. Everyone pleads guilty to a lesser charge, everyone has 2 minutes with the judge, and everyone pays: whatever the fine is, maybe $50, plus court costs, maybe $100, and a surcharge of $250 (this goes to the State of New Jersey). The judge pounds his gavel, the next person is summoned. I estimated that the judge pounded his gavel at least 25 times each hour. You do the math.

I guess this is how Corzine is going to balance the budget.

But the day was not all negative. Someone else pumped gas for me. That felt good!