Is there a 3rd Option?

[ruff_hi]

Please read this (http://ruffhi.blogspot.com/2012/02/is-there-3rd-option.html) and give me some feedback? Is there a 3rd option? Which of A or B do you think is the true situation?

Edit: Here is the content of the link ...

Last November I was issued not 1 but 2 traffic violation notices for a New York State Inspection sticker that had expired. I knew it was expired and I knew that I should have taken care of it the previous week end. Ok, so I was angry at myself. I was also (a little) angry at the police ... I got home at about 6pm on Friday night to find violation ticket #1 (grumble, grumble). I pick it off the car and take it inside. The next morning, I go out to the car to go get something, coffee, shopping - can't remember and ...

yep - you guessed it ... violation #2 issued at 1:30am not 8 hours after I removed the first one.

Both of the violations were for 'Violation #10' ... whatever that is. Luckily they had provided a nice, short description:

Inspect Expire > 60 Days

Errr - what? My inspection sticker expired in October. It was early November ... let me check on my fingers ... two weeks expired. Err ... 14 days. Greater than 60 days? Crazy. I check 'not guilty' and head to court.

Fast forward to Feb this year ... waiting in court to have my two violations ruled on ... police who issued ticket #1 calls my name and says that he can void one if I pay the other. I point out that the violation says 'greater than 60 days' and my inspection was only expired about 14 days. 'No no' he says, 'that is a less than sign'.

Ok, I was hoping that they wouldn't say that ... but I wasn't surprised. I pull out my printed page from the wiki showing the difference between a greater than sign (>) and a less than sign (<). His response ... 'No - that is a less than sign. This is a greater than sign' - and he draws less than sign. He goes on: 'I'm not going to argue with you - you can see the judge if you want to'.

At that point, I decide to call it quits - I was always happy (not the right word, but you know what I mean) to pay one violation.

Now - here is the issue ... there are only 2 reasons why the police thought that a '>' sign was a less than sign ... either:

A) He is poorly educated - which says alot for the education system in the US and the police hiring practices in general
B) The town is looking for any sort of revenue it can and is asking the police to boost its revenue

To be honest, I cannot decide which it is. The contestants on 'Are you smarter than a 5th grader' argue for A while stories like Adrian Schoolcraft's argue for B.

 

[The_J]

Under a) you should probably also fill "and is totally dumb". Because even if you can't remember which sign is which, you can still logically derive it (bigger side = bigger, smaller side = smaller).

 

[warpus]

I would have taken it to the judge.

Obviously the cop didn't really think that > means "less than"

 

[Birdjaguar]

The alligator always eats the bigger number first, hence, > equals greater than.

 

[GoodGame]

"Inspect Expire > 60 Days" lol Possibly it was Alzheimer's disease or other related illness and not a fault of the education system.

Option #3 would either be to see a judge, and/or contract a lawyer.

But it really wasn't worth him not getting the inspection done, especially since an inspection sticker usually adds a month to the sticker expiration date.
That and getting the inspection was probably cheaper than the ticket.

And if he didn't like one of the inspections he could have shopped around for a smaller garage with more reasonable prices. Case in point: I went to a dealer for an inspection, got the most grievous work performed, then went a smaller garage that did one more piece of work (a lot less overall cost and more satisfactorily than just getting taking the dealer's word on it), and passed inspection. Another time I went to the same dealer to prepare for an exhaust inspection, got told it would need several hundred dollars of work, went to the inspection anyways and passed without needing any work. lol

 

[Verarde]

The alligator always eats the bigger number first, hence, > equals greater than.

Yeah, that's the way I learned greater than vs. less than.

 

[jtb1127]

Yeah, that's the way I learned greater than vs. less than.

I remembered it by thinking of the < as an "L" for "less than".

 

[warpus]

I learned it as "the higher side is larger"

< - right side is higher
> - left side is higher

 

[Glassfan]

You're mistake was to remove the first ticket - opening yourself to the second.

 

[pi-r8]

Wait, so according to this cop, if your inspection sticker expired MORE than 60 days ago you're in the clear? That would be ridiculous... anyone who can evade the cops for 60 days gets away with it forever?

(Of course the real answer is that a cop is never going to admit that he's wrong about anything)

 

[Ayatollah So]

There is ALWAYS a 3rd option. But in this case option A is correct. Trust me, I actually am smarter than a 5th grader.

 

[Glassfan]

(Of course the real answer is that a cop is never going to admit that he's wrong about anything)

Sort of like - people on this forum?!

 

[jtb1127]

Sort of like - people on this forum?!

And everyone else.

 

[LucyDuke]

It would be nice if you'd summarized the situation in the OP rather than making everyone click your link.

I think A might need more nuance. Sometimes educated people make mistakes. But I don't see any explanation that isn't dishonesty or a mistake.

Sort of like - people on this forum?!

I've seen people on this forum admit that they were wrong.

 

[ruff_hi]

It would be nice if you'd summarized the situation in the OP rather than making everyone click your link.

Yeah - fair enough. At least I generated a little traffic to my silly blog . I've edited to OP to include the text.

 

[Glassfan]

I've seen people on this forum admit that they were wrong.

And I've seen cops admit they're wrong. Perhaps we should stop arguing the extremes.

 

[GoodGame]

You're mistake was to remove the first ticket - opening yourself to the second.

That's not his fault. It was bureaucratic error that caused that. The ticket usually has info about paying it off anyway. Can't go driving around with the ticket on the windshield.

 

[ruff_hi]

You're mistake was to remove the first ticket - opening yourself to the second.

That's not his fault. It was bureaucratic error that caused that. The ticket usually has info about paying it off anyway. Can't go driving around with the ticket on the windshield.

I asked the officer about that - he said it wouldn't have made a difference. They can put a ticket on your car each and every day if they wanted to.

 

[Janig]

If I took a dump on your windscreen and then left a traffic violation notice with no written explanation you still wouldve got the message. Be careful next time!

 

[LucyDuke]

And I've seen cops admit they're wrong. Perhaps we should stop arguing the extremes.

Just credit where it's due!