Aaron, first and foremost, thanks for sticking your neck out. Also, pretty crazy how people change. I remember a time when you and I were at heavy odds on this subject, however, as experience sets in, it's funny how the roads start melding together again.

When I was young and dumb I got many, many tickets. I think I was 1 point away from losing my license for 5 years straight. I used to budget speeding ticket fines in with my insurance, tire and gas costs. I've carried an attitude with cops, I've been nice, blah blah. What it really comes down to is they are human, like we are human.

You think it sucks to get a ticket? They have to suffer with people with bad attitudes all day, to keep some semblance of civilization floating around. No, I'm not defending cops, I'm saying that as soon as you make universal statements about one group of people over the other, even with qualifiers, you are no better for it. There are good cops, there are bad cops, there are good people, there are bad people. The rest of us in the middle, we get to suffer whatever the previous person's consequences were.

I remember getting a ticket one time and thanking the officer "for doing business with him". He chose to smile at the jibe.

Another time I decided to try something new. No matter the ticket, I would make sure the officer left in a better mood than he did when he stopped me. I was courteous, polite and all that other jazz. I got a ticket. After being given the ticket I told the officer: "I'm sure you get a lot of people who hate you after getting a ticket, but I want you to know that I am not mad, and whatever shit comes your way today, I hope you can continue to have a good day. To show I'm sincere, can I buy you a cup of coffee, because I genuinely want you to have a good today, and feel good about who you are and what you do".

Some of you will think that silly, and very hippy dippy shit.

However, the officer declined the cup of coffee, but got into his cruiser with a smile. Even though I got another ticket, I felt good for the rest of the day as well. I decided I needed to find some side work to pay for the ticket. Which I did.

The moral of the story is: You choose your life path. You choose what upsets you, and who is responsible for your attitude. If it's everybody else, you are going to be one upset individual the majority of your life.

So, there is no set in stone rules of how to get out of a ticket. We all know the rules of the road. We all break them countless times. If you don't want to get burned, don't play with fire - there are many options around not to have to risk a ticket or worse on the road.