After a brief-yet-comforting stint at Mimi’s house for Thanksgiving, I trundled off to work on Friday with a rather self-pitying mood. When I left around 3pm, the sky was clear, the traffic was light, and I had the whole weekend in front of me. Not too shabby, I thought.
Until I saw a radar-gun-wielding state trooper walk out into the road. And point at my car. And point to the shoulder. And look very stern.
I am getting pulled over. I am in a speed trap. And I was speeding. I am about to get my first speeding ticket.
I pulled Walter to the side of the road as the trooper approached my passenger side. I thanked my lucky stars for power windows.
“How are you doing, ma’am? We clocked you going 62 and this is a 45 mile per hour zone. Just have your license, registration, and insurance information ready and this other officer will be right with you.”
I fumbled to pull out my documents and another trooper, indistinguishable from the first, walked over.
“How are you doing, ma’am?”
“I’m okay, thank you.”
“How fast do you think you were going?”
“Around 60*.”
“And you’re aware that the speed limit is 45?”
“Yes.”
“You understand why you’re being stopped?”
“Yes.”
“Were you in a hurry to get somewhere?”
“No, I just felt a lot of pressure from the traffic behind me.” My one plea for mercy.
“That can be hard, ma’am, but you just got to maintain your speed and let ’em tail you. Okay, I’m going to write all this up and be right with you.”
I made a quick call to JG to let him know about the situation (“I am sitting on the side of the road because I am getting a ticket!”), and he was reassuringly light about it, much to my relief. When it was all said and done, the officer cited me at 54 mph, and the fine was for about $60. All of the other items on the citation** seemed to be okay — I was wearing my seatbelt, I was not distracted, and there were no other vehicles involved. It could have been much worse. I took a deep breath and pulled back out onto the road.
I ran a couple of errands afterward, carefully heeding speed limits all the while, and I passed two accidents within two blocks of each other that involved ambulances, road blockage, and police officers shoveling car wreckage off the road. I said a little prayer of thanks that I only had a $60 fine. I didn’t need to be scraped off of the pavement and rushed to a hospital. It was all very timely.
If you’re driving through the Delaware/Pennsylvania area and get stuck behind an antique gold Civic that is going exactly the speed limit, please don’t be mean; just wave – it’s me!
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* JG believes that I should not have said that I knew how fast I was going because it’s an admission of guilt. I maintain that I knew how fast I was going and that it’s worse to be oblivious to the speed I am traveling and the marked speed limit. I know that it’s one of those police officer trick questions, but I feel like it’s always better to play it straight. Hello, I watch Law and Order.
** One humorous part to all of this is that on my citation, the officer listed my race as “white” and my ethnic origin as “non-Hispanic.” Well, at least the second one was right.
9 comments
I hate the trick questions. “Do you know why I stopped you” is just a ploy to get you to admit to additional wrongdoing! I never admit to knowing the speed I was going. One time I told the officer that I had my eyes on the road, not on the speedometer. That didn’t go over too well, but he didn’t give me a ticket.
Hm, that’s not a bad response, though. I, on the other hand, look at my speedometer every ten seconds.
Cops. Love them, am afraid of them, appreciate them, and hate their radar guns. Even if I’m going exactly the speed limit I get all nervous about a copcar. So sorry honey, and for the record, speeding tickets are cheap in Pennsylvania! Here it’s $90 for 5 over the limit! Brutal!
xox
I was even surprised by how low the fine was, but I’ll take it. I got pulled over in Delaware, so I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that any points on my license don’t make it over the state line to Pennsylvania…
Eek! Nothing like a speeding ticket to make generally law-abiding, follow-the-rule gals tremble in fear. I’m with you, I don’t think you should have bluffed about the speed. I think the cop might not have been so nice to you if you’d feigned ignorance.
In my old car, I never ever ever had to worry about speeding, so I definitely need to be more careful now. I say you get a point for a good use of “feign.”
Oh, I’ve been there. WAY too many times. I’ve tried the honesty thing, the crying thing and the MAD thing. None of them work. I always get the ticket.
I was driving up from St. Louis back to Chicago yesterday and there were troopers every 10 miles. And signs TELLING YOU there were troopers every 10 miles. Yet? All those troopers had people pulled over. Every 10 miles.
I was just mad that the normally 4-hour drive was 5-plus when you have to go the speed limit.
Signs? What in the world? I felt rather smug that at least I didn’t get pulled over when there were cars already on the side of the road, unlike that oblivious Volvo who got pulled over after me.
Isn’t that the WORST feeling in the world? I HATE the pressure from other cars behind you - there is a road I take to work that is THIRTY MILES PER HOUR and it’s practically impossible not to get passed a dozen times. But it’s a total speed trap too.
Sorry about the ticket, but glad you’re not dead.
HA. So am I!
I hate the pressure from other cars. Now I drive the limit and keep in the “slow” lane. If they want to overtake, then they can. I actually LIKE seeing cars overtake me because I know that even if I am doing just SLIGHTLY over the limit, the cops are more likely to pull THEM over than me.
That’s how I usually drive, but I had to be in the left lane that time, where all the pushy people are, apparently. I saw my speedometer needle creep up, which made me nervous, and rightly so.
As a police officer’s child, niece and cousin, I can tell you that you did the right thing. ‘Fess up, apologize and accept the citation. They’ll probably go easier on you. Crying, lying or getting mad won’t help. (And tickets are way more than that here in FL!)
Whoa - that’s a lot of police officers in the family! I will be sure to rub this in JG’s face accordingly.
oh, suckage! I am so sorry. That really is the worst feeling, but you’re right…it’s better than almost anything else bad that happens on the road. It’s nice that he only gave you a 9 over ticket!
And I have to agree with you — being honest is the way to go. They reward compliance and get pissed if you are obstinate.
I hope the speed reduction results in fewer (or no) points on my license, but I’ll have to just wait and see on that one.
JG is right! Never admit how fast you were going! Your reason for speeding was good though. Seriously, the questions are designed to get you to admit your guilt and to give them a reason to search your car.
Sorry about the ticket, though.
If they had searched my car, they would have found an umbrella and an ice scraper. Four weeks is long enough to get used to the fast car, but not long enough to mess the thing up, it seems.
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