In a message dated 9/9/99 9:07:26 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
neilc@apphosting.com writes:
> I got pulled over for speeding in my 626. Ok I was speeding yep. No excuse,
> but suffice to say was on a dual lane freeway at the time, and they were
> pulling in queues of cars and there was cars in front of me as well. A
> cynical revenue collecting attempt in it's purest form. Said they clocked
me
> doing 20kph over (100 in 80 zone) which amazed me and god knows how their
> radar can pick me out of a line of cars - but anyway.
Neil,
Let me tell you about my worst experience with the John Law.
January 1994 7 days after the Northridge earthquake I had to travel to the
Washington, DC area on business. My house had sustained about $45,000 in
damage from the quake (I live about 5 miles from ground zero). My wife was
so freaked she would not stay in the house with me out of town, so I put her
and the kids on the train to Northern Cal to my sister's. It had not been a
fun week leading up to leaving town, if you get my drift.
Anyway, I'm driving my rent a slug back from the office to my hotel, located
on the outskirts of Herndon Va. I turned off the hiway onto a secondary
road, with nothing but farms around. I figure that I am out of the city
limits and the correct speed limit is 55 WRONG! I'm IN city limits and
within 1/2 mile I have been pulled over by John Law.
He tells me he has me on radar at 55 in a 35 zone and asked for my papers. I
hand him my California license and Hertz rental agreement. He looks at my
license and says "Are you aware that the state of California is the only
state that has not signed the reciprocal agreement with the Commonwealth of
Virginia?" Now at this point you have to realize that I had no, none, zip,
idea of what he was speaking of. He could have been speaking Greek for all I
knew. Being a bit of a smart a** I said the first thing that came to my mind
"Excuse me officer, could I have the English translation of what you just
said?"
"It means that I am supposed to take you to jail" was the reply
At this point I just lost it.
"Great, swell, this is the perfect end to the perfect week, first my house
gets nuked in the earthquake, next I have to go out of town on business, and
now I'm going to get thrown in jail for a speeding ticket."
the cop then looked at my address and asked a few question about where I
lived and told me to wait in the car and he would be back. So I sat in the
car for five of the longest minutes I have ever lived through, trying to
figure who am I going call to post my bail 2500 miles from home. These
thought were mingled with, I wonder if Bubba is going to be in the cell with
me and be lonely.
The cop came back and I got the best late Christmas present that I have had
in a long time, he said "I am going to cite you for failure to obey a posted
sign, you sign here and you will get a bill in the mail."
When I got back to LA I told this story to a cop that I know and he said this
"Every time you get stopped for a ticket you did not deserve, think about all
the ones you deserved and never got, then wish the officer a nice day"
I did a quick calculation and I'm WAY ahead on points.
Maybe you can find a sympathetic judge that will knock the fines down
Good luck
Rick
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