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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The other night I got pulled over...

The other night I got pulled over.  I was on my way home from work.  I saw the officer at a cross street and immediately checked my speed.  Since I was coming from a light, I was actually going 5 under.  He pulled out behind me onto a main street, and since I knew he was there, I kept an eye on my speed as I went down a hill I normally take pretty fast.  He was still behind me when I got to a red light where I make a right, so I was careful to come to a full and complete stop before turning right.  I turned into the near lane and signaled over to the left lane.  I was in sight of my house when the blue lights came on.   “Really?”, I thought.  I was doing everything like they teach in drivers’ ed, but nobody does once they have a license.  My seatbelt was even on, so I was wracking my brain to come up with what the problem was.  My tags were current.  Both my headlights were working.  Could it be a brake light?  I got my paperwork together, and handed it over to the officer when he asked.  He asked where I was coming from, so I was all sweet and innocent sounding when I explained, and even made sure to call him ‘sir’.   After taking my paperwork, he said, “I pulled you over because your tag light is out”.  I must have looked surprised or puzzled (but not quite polite enough) because he followed up with, “The light that illuminates your license plate?  It’s a $260 ticket”.   “Oh my goodness!  I had no idea it was out!” I exclaimed as sweetly as possible, with my eyes really wide.   “I’ll be right back”, he replied and walked back to his car.  I started to go for my phone to send a text when a second officer started talking from the passenger side.  I startled because I hadn’t even realized he was there.   He said, “We don’t mean to be jerks pulling people over for a little thing, but this is a safety issue.  Your license plate needs to be visible.”  I managed to hide my skepticism.  Safety issue, really? I thought.  A brake light or a turn signal out is a safety issue.  The tag light being out only means that if I’m running around committing real crimes in my car at night, witnesses would have a harder time writing down my plate number.  However, it increases my chances of being  pulled over afterward, so that wouldn’t be smart.  If I wanted to commit crimes in my car, I’d be better off taping something over the plate so I could remove it later and drive around in perfect compliance.   Also, did I ever mention that I drove my car with expired out-of-state plates for a year and a half and was never pulled over?  Or that now that my car is fully legal, I only drive it once a week because I have my bike?  I knew I shouldn’t tell the officer any of that, so I did some quick thinking.  Since he was trying to be nice, I thought I’d let him.  “I’m so sorry, sir – I had no idea that it was out!  Is it a light I can just pick up at Lowes?” I asked.  He recommended a place and I played dumb and sweet and asked where it was.  Then I asked how to get there.  I finished with, “Thank you very much for your help!”, and he went back to his car.   A few minutes later, the first officer came back.  He re-iterated that he could give me a $260 ticket, but said he would give me a written warning instead.  I drove off (and didn’t even have to move out of the center lane, so close was I to my turn), and thought and stewed.  They played nice, I played nice, they got closer to their quota, and I learned that where I live, they can give a $260 ticket for not having your license plate properly illuminated.   Have you ever had any strange run-ins with your local law enforcement group?  Share in the comments!

8 comments:

  1. I got nailed for $167 by a fairly large female officer on a stretch of rural highway a couple years ago. She was unpleasant and in no hurry at all as she waddled between our vehicles. Now I use cruise from the turn onto that hwy into the village where I must stop. Hit 55, set cruise, down to 40, set cruise, down to 30, set cruise, kids at the high school? down to 25, set cruise, turn right at the light - I'm out of her jurisdiction. Another day with no encounter...

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    1. Thanks for sharing! I have to drive with the cruise on at all times - that accelerator peddle gets me in trouble!

      Meghan Lee

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  2. Great story! Yes, I have had my share! And some good ones! ;-) But their stories are too long for the time I have to put down the details here now...

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    1. Thanks for reading - you'll have to share sometime - I am sure you have excellent stories!!

      Meghan Lee

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  3. I guess it would be could be worse if you had expired tags, and your car registration was with your bike and your bike registration was in your car, somebody else was driving your car and....oh wait never mind....

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    1. Well, that would be worse indeed. Thanks for reading!

      Meghan Lee

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  4. Ever had any strange run-ins? Loaded question, to be sure :) Here's one, Meghan:

    http://www.stevebuelow.com/how-do-you-plead/

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    1. Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing! It does seem to happen that the moment you do something wrong is the moment somebody who can get you in trouble shows up. "I only just started doing something wrong!" is no excuse. :)

      Meghan Lee

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