Breakin' the Law

We got home from Vegas late last night (Carly & Daniel to Connecticut, Ramya to DC, me to SoMD), where we had an excellent vacation. That's a story for another night, because I have a much shorter, and much more annoying tale to share with you now.

Our flight landed at BWI at 10:15 last night, so by the time we got our bags, got to the car, dropped Ramya off in DC, and drove another 90 minutes it was right about 1:15 am as I entered greater Lexington Park. On the highway I had the cruise set to 65 (as I always do) and I passed a few drivers, and was passed a few times, but by and large I was the only car on the road for most of the trip. As the RT 235 changed from highway to main street, I cancelled the cruise control and and slowed up, even though there was not another car in sight and all the lights were green.

Then, I passed a car sitting in a turn lane with it's lights off. Figuring it was a cop, I looked at my speedometer, saw I was going right about 60, and figured "Oh good, if it was a cop I'm fine." The speed limit at the time was 45, but that's a total joke. I think we all know where this is going.

When the cop pulled me over he informed me that I was going 64 in a 45, collected my license and registration, and promptly wrote me a my very first ticket without exchanging more than about 20 words. He wrote me up for doing 54 in a 45, earning me an $80 traffic citation. Here are my thoughts:

I was not going 64. As soon as I saw the cop, I looked at my speedometer, and I was going 60. Possibly my gauges are off, possibly the radar gun is off (you hear about how inaccurate they are all the time) but to my knowledge, I was speeding, but not that much.

I can't contest the ticket. He wrote me up for going 54, which I was doing. I'm still going to go to court and see about doing one of those donations or community service things to avoid getting the points. Since I've been driving 13 years with a moving violation, it probably wouldn't be a problem, but this is more of a pride thing.

That's how fast people drive. I drove through that intersection twice today in the middle of rush hour. I was in a massive pack of bumper to bumper cars, and we were going a little over 60, both times. Yes it's speeding- but why will you get a ticket at night all alone for doing something that everyone does in broad daylight surrounded by other cars? It doesn't seem consistent.

I never understood why people hated cops for getting pulled over. I always thought "Just don't speed, moron." Now I'm like "Oh come on! That cop was a jerk!" Argh. More details as they develop!

Update: I have a few unfinished thoughts here- last night I just finished this a quick as possible so I could go back to laying on the couch because I felt terrible. Someone in our Vegas troop picked up some sort of head/chest cold and sharing a hotel room ensured that we all got it. Luckily, it didn't get bad until we were on our way home. Anyway, I forgot to mention a few things:

I know the cop did me a favor by writing the ticket for 54 instead of 64 (even though I was going 60). It's less fine and less points, and for his benefit it increases the odds that I'll just pay it. So, I guess I should thank my lucky stars for that.

But also, the speed of the whole thing surprised me. On TV the cop is always like "Do you know how fast you were going?" or "Where are you off to tonight in such a hurry?" In real life there was no small talk. It was like boom! Ticket. Not that I had a story prepared, but still. I thought maybe a few seconds of chit-chat would convince him that I was an upstanding citizen who just needed a warning.

Although, I have been pulled over before. In high school I went to see Jurassic Park 2 with friends, then afterward we went to Steak and Shake (as we so frequently did). On the road they had set up one of those random pull over things, in which they waved most cars right through but signaled for a handful to pull over for some screening. The lady with the airport light-up batons started to wave me through, but caught herself. She narrowed her eyes, and waved me over to the checkpoint with a fairly accusatory gesture. When I got there, another cop asked me a series of questions that it's going to sound like I'm making up, but this is how it went:

Cop: "How are you doing tonight?"
Me: "Good thank you, how are you?"
Cop: "Good. Been doing any drinking tonight?"
Me: "No sir."
Cop: "Where are you headed?"
Me: "To Steak and Shake."
Cop: "And where are you coming from?"
Me: "We just saw a movie at Linway."
Cop: "What movie?"
Me: "Jurassic Park 2."
Cop: "Okay. Been doing any drinking tonight?"
Me: "[slight pause] No sir."
Cop: "So where are you off to now?"
Me: "Um, Steak and Shake."
Cop: "And where are you coming from?
Me: "The movie theatre. We saw Jurassic Park 2."
Cop: "Oh, how was that?"
Me: "Not as good as the first one, but it had some decent action scenes."
Cop: "And where are you going now?"
Me: "...Steak and Shake."
Cop: "And have you been doing any drinking tonight?"
Me: "No."
Cop: "Okay. You're free to go."

There must be something in the random pull-over handbook that says you have to ask every question three times, otherwise he really wasn't paying attention. Ironically, he's the one who sounded drunk during the exchange. It was annoying, but overall much better than actually getting pulled over and getting a ticket.