This Is Why I Don’t Speed

You spend 10X as much time fighting it as you do getting it!

I’ve only come close to getting a ticket once, and that wasn’t for speeding.

My Dad’s car was really wide, an old T-Bird, and I was on the short side at 5’3″ (a long time ago!) so even with the seat cranked all the way up, and all the mirrors and stuff, I just couldn’t quite see where each of the wheels are positioned all the time.

In that instance though I just ran over the line in the middle of a turn strip, and was technically too far out into traffic. Maybe 4 inches, minor stuff, couldn’t even see it from where I was, but unfortunately one of the cars coming the other way was a cop. So he pulled me over and started to write a ticket for me being too far out.

I was kinda pissed. I mean I wasn’t really endangering anyone. I wasn’t that far out, and believe me I saw far worse situations like that every day. It is not uncommon around here to have to change lanes to avoid people with their whole back ends out in traffic, I kid you not, so me being 4″ over the line was NOTHING.

But still, he had to give me that ticket and “meet his quota” and all.

So, what did I do?

I simply told him the truth, that this was the first ticket I’d ever been issued, that I was a really good driver, and I calmly explained the situation with the car, and showed him that even though I was UP as far as the car would allow me to go in so far as my viewpoint was concerned that I honestly couldn’t SEE to correct what he was writing me up for.

Well, me being polite and all, that must have got him thinking because he actually walked back to his car with my license, checked whatever he had to check to see if I did actually have any tickets, and then came back and asked me how tall I actually was. When I told him how tall, 5″3″ he smiled, asked me to get out of the car for a moment, got into the car himself, and looked at the situation from my point of view. He then got out, laughed, suggested that I either get a booster seat or a smaller car, and tore up the ticket!

Sometimes it DOES pay to obey traffic rules and be nice!

I do think the fact that I’d had no tickets must have made a big difference. But me also respecting him doing his job, apologizing, keeping my temper, admitting it likely was my mistake, and attempting to show him why I’d likely made it was also helpful.

I actually have a lot of sympathy for anyone working in a uniform with the general public. I’ve seen people treat cops with a great deal of disrespect simply because they ARE cops, and that’s stupid in my book because if it comes down to it you WANT the cops to be able to DO their jobs effectively. Otherwise? It might well be YOUR neighborhood that pays the price for them not being able to do it.

The way I figure it?

If you’re dumb enough to go 100MPH in a 65MPH zone?

You deserve to be ticketed.

And if you’re even thinking about messing with the cop who gives you that ticket?

Then you probably shouldn’t be driving at ALL, because likely you’re a criminally BAD driver and sooner or later you’re likely to kill yourself or someone else fooling around like that in a moving vehicle.

I have to admit I have little patience for people who take unnecessary risks in a car.

When I am in the drivers seat, I don’t do anything else but drive.

I don’t yack on the phone. I use my turn signals. I don’t eat and drive. I never try to do my nails, fix my hair, or change CD’s while I am on the road. I don’t play with skipping red lights, make illegal u-turns, speed, or do anything else that might distract me from my first priority which is driving safely.

Every time I drive I see multiple people out there pushing it, bending rules, and being careless. I see several accidents just waiting to happen. Driving in my area? It really does require “combat driving skills” most of the time just to get to the grocery store back safely!

Not too long ago some guy gave me the bird because I was actually doing the speed limit (in the SLOW lane no less) flipped it as he passed me in the fast lane, just because I was actually obeying that 45 MPH sign. I had the last laugh though when I got to the next light because there he was sitting there fuming as a cop wrote him up for speeding.

I didn’t flip him one back as I was sitting there watching, though I was sorely tempted, but I will admit I sure was smiling as I got the green light! Yeah, a bit smug of me, but he so deserved that ticket it. What was even funnier? It wasn’t the FIRST time I’d had that happen on the same road in the past year. Some speed freak is always going 55MPH on that 45MPH road and getting nailed for it. They’re ALWAYS running speed traps up that route because they KNOW it’s a bad road for that, that it will happen and that they can easily nail people for it!

Got no sympathy, sorry, and yes, I certainly do hope the cop that wrote that ticket shows up in court as asked. There are a lot of things we do on the road that are simple mistakes. Lord knows I’ve made a few in my time, though thankfully, I’ve not hurt anyone doing them, but speeding?

There’s no real excuse for that unless you happen to maybe have a pregnant woman in the car about to deliver on you, or need to get to the ER for other reasons VERY quick, at which point you should be calling 911, and/or flagging the nearest cop down and asking for his/her emergency escort LONG before you decide to go there on your own!

Me, I am a bit tired of people treating the road like it’s their personal drag strip. I’ve seen more white crosses by the road lately than I care to see. People can make all the excuses they want to but in the end driving dumb is still driving DUMB.