On 27 Oct 2005 15:13:38 -0700, "ribonucleotide"
wrote:

Hmmm, that never occured to me! This is an interesting note. But I
really see no logic behind it - how my desire to pay at the first
opportunity leads him to believe I would only pay if challenged?

Some people try to play the system by never buying a ticket and just
paying the penalty whenever caught - in some areas the inspection rate
is so low that this strategy works out cheaper. It appears, from
various stories such as yours, that inspectors are trained to pursue a
prosecution against anyone who seems a bit too eager to pay the
penalty. You are by no means the first "honest" person to get caught
out by this.