This morning I went to traffic court with my granddaughter. She was involved in an accident earlier this year and was hoping to get reduced fine and traffic points by going to court. Court can be a scary place so I went along for moral support. Actually I went because I love to people-watch and this seemed like a good place to watch people. The courtroom was filled with an interesting array of folks. They were young, old, black, white, brown, well dressed and not. We waited for about thirty minutes before the judge finally appeared, thirty very silent minutes. Most folks just stared into space with an expressionless face. Some picked at their fingernails. A few brought books and spent the time reading (That is what the granddaughter did.) Everyone looked ill at ease. The judge finally appeared and gave us instructions. You can plead guilty or not guilty. Do not give any explanation unless he asks. If you are charged with speeding it is not an excuse to say that you were just moving with the traffic. It does not matter if you were just passing to go around someone. It does not matter if your speedometer was broken. It is irrelevant if you were just trying to around an unsafe situation. The only question is were you driving faster than the posted speed limit. There are no excuses. Granddaughter was the third case called. The judge asked how she pled. “Guilty,” she relied. He asked, “Were you cooperative with the officer?” “Yes sir,” she answered. He ruled “Probation without judgment.” That meant she had to pay the fine but was assigned no points on her record. We walked across the hall where she paid her fine and we were free. She was very relieved.