Appearing in court? traffic violation?

this is my first ticket ever, and i'm so embarassed....

i just got the stupidest ticket....a 21806 (failure to yield to emergency vehicle...i fully blame my stereo system for this one...), and on top of that, in my haste, i gave them my expired insurance card when they asked me for it. of course, they didn't tell me that until AFTER they wrote the ticket.

so now i'm going to have to appear in court for that second violation. my question is...what's that like? do i just go..wait til they call my name, and provide proof of my insurance at the time? are they going to grill me? and does appearing help at all for the 21806 violation?

thanks for reading...hope some of you get amused by this embarassing ticket...prob the stupidest one i could ever get :P

don't be embarrassed. These things happen. Learn and move on.

If I was in your place, I'd have a talk with my insurance agent to see if they could write me some sort of proof that I had insurance at the time of the ticket and tell the judge that I believe it was unreasonable that the officer didn't give me a chance to show it. The insurance agent might even be a good source of tips.

I've been to traffic court in Michigan and Texas. It was pretty informal. The rooms were big and intimidating at first, but they herd in enough people at a time that you will probably have time to relax and calm your nerves. The custom of putting the judge on a pedestal so that they look down on you can be effective in it's objective to make you feel small, but remember that it's just another trick.

all in all, don't treat it like a big deal. Stuff happens. If this is the worst you have to deal with in life, you are a lucky soul.

When you show that you had insurance AT THE TIME of the ticket you should be okay. As for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, pay the fine and be more observant when you are driving. Sorry, but you can't "blame the stereo system" since you are the one who had it turned up so loud that you couldn't hear emergency sirens. Just think how you would feel if those emergency vehicles were going to assist one of your loved ones and was slowed down enroute.