Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Thanks, Officer
I drove back from Missouri yesterday, a perfectly smooth drive, 10 hours, not much traffic even in the dread I80-94 stretch south of Chicago. Then I hit the Indiana tollroad, almost home, happily engrossed in a book on tape. Suddenly, a state patrolman appeared, lights flashing. I couldn't believe he meant me; I could see my cruise control standing on 72 (the speed limit is 70). He didn't go around though, so I pulled over. "Ma'am, do you know why I stopped you today?" "No, I have no idea." "I clocked you at 85 in the left hand lane." I expressed amazement, but handed over the papers, and of course, he wrote me a ticket, which is going to cost BIG BUCKS! I have never had any kind of ticket in all my many years of driving, so this is a shock. Also scary. I have no memory of doing what he said in this particular instance, but I know what must have happened. I suppose I pulled around trucks, who are exceeding the truck speed limit (65) of course. You have to speed up to pass them, and if you try to go around them gradually without exceeding the speed limit, someone runs up on your rear bumper. So faster and faster without being aware of it. I've become so familiar with this long drive that I make it on remote control, and this is clearly not a good thing. So the moral is, don't listen to a really interesting book, and stay behind the *&&^% trucks!
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9 comments:
Eeek, spacing out on the road can get expensive.
But now at least you're home and can get cracking on those orchids.
Aw, nuts. Doesn't that just tick you off to no end. I'm quite sure I would have mouthed off to the officer. Said the cruise control thing, yadda yadda. Punks.
~~Rian
wow-sorry Kay! what a pain in the tush. Glad you're home safe and sound-though poorer...ugh!
I always speed up while passing trucks too. I tell myself that I should slow down and go more carefully but I hate driving beside them!!
Ugh. I hate when that happens.
I got a speeding ticket this summer that cost me $125 & it was a similiar situation. I was tired and wanted to get home and before I knew it I was 15 miles over the limit and a cop was pulling me over. I was totally engrossed in another thought somewhere else.
I did that too, and it reeks. What do they expect you to do? Continue behind the truck?
I have never had any kind of ticket in all my many years of driving, so this is a shock.
welcome...
Are you going to start being a NASCAR driver now? It is so easy to up the speed in those circumstances. Between here and Denver everyone drives so fast that you feel like you are impeding traffic if you stay near the speed limit. Cruise control and books on tape sure help on a long drive, but can also cause me to get a kind of road hypnosis where I space out and am not thinking of what I'm doing.
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