On Thursday morning around 3 a.m., I was coming back from a business meeting in LA going home to San Francisco when it happened…but maybe I should start at the beginning.
My business partner and I had a long day on Wednesday; an all day and all night business meeting. We left LA just after midnight and stopped by the gas station to get energy drinks and Wendy’s fast food; I had two bowls of chili and he had two burgers. My buddy drove to Harris Ranch which is the halfway point and we switched seats.
I had about an hour nap so I was ready to go. There wasn’t much traffic on the road so I could easily set the cruise control to 81 MPH. 30 minutes into my drive I noticed the car ahead of me about ½ mile away had letters reflecting back at me, so I knew it was the highway patrol. I waited until I was about 100 feet away to drop my speed to 78. The CHP pulled over to the right lane; I thought he wanted me to pass, so I did. Next thing you know, he pulls behind me and turns on his lights.
My buddy woke up when he felt the car slowing and asked what was happening. I said I was getting pulled over. When the CHP came to the door and asked if I knew I was speeding, I replied, “I was just going with the flow of traffic.” Well he didn’t like my answer and gave me a ticket.
I guess the moral of the story is I should have let my buddy drive the entire way. He drives 85-90 MPH and is normally able to talk his way out of tickets. He said I broke Rule #1, “Never pass a CHP on the highway.” Oh well, lesson learned.
you better go to traffic school or your rates will go way up. you get to go to school once every 18 months.
This story reminds me of this past Friday I was going down to Jacksonville, FL to go out to a bar with some friends and I had to drive out to Jacksonville Beach to pick up another. I usually do go 5 over the posted speed but I had never been in this area before and hadn’t noticed the speed change rapidly from 70mph down to 60mph. Needless to say I got pulled by the state troopers who were in unmarked cars and I got a ticket with the parting phrase of “It’s for your safety.” from the trooper. I’ve not fought a ticket once, but I’m going on 5 it’s like I’m a magnet or something. In any case hope your ticket isn’t as high as mine Peter.
Best wishes
LT
How much was your ticket?
@Rod I’ve been to traffic school a few times in different states to keep my driving record clean. I’ll go again to stop this one from showing.
@Peter $279, which puts a wrench in my plans to go out with my boys anytime soon. 🙁
$279 sucks, but my guess is that it will be more in CA.
Hey Peter, I can be very sarcastic, but when it comes to cops, I tend to go much more for the straightforward (and apologetic) approach.
Also, when I want to fight a ticket one time, I was sorta pissy with the judge on the first try, because I didn’t think I should’ve gotten the ticket. He wouldn’t waive the ticket but I appealed the decision. On the second time (in front of different judge), I was much more apologetic and acknowledged that I was “wrong” and the ticket was waived. I think half the time, they just want you to admit that you knew that you were doing something wrong.
Peter …………..speeding is your only bad habit……..so I won’t lecture you 🙂
You look so grrrrreat in the car photos!
I would have frisked you for sure.
hi, sexy. i hate getting pulled over by the cops. i would have let you go if you got out of the car and flexed your muscles.
“Do you know you’re speeding?” -- “No way, I’s just goin widda FLOW man, yeahooo!”. Asian blackness…
That sucks. Isn’t the speed limit 70 down there? I mean 8 miles over. Fight that one.
I know I would’ve let you off with a warning. But, Peter the law is the law. Remember the last time you had to wake up early to defend your last speeding ticket.
This time I’m just paying the ticket.
Hi Peter,
Sorry for you. I always wonder why the speed limit is so low in USA. You have very large highways, they should allow to drive a few MPHs more. The factor for car incident is not mainly the speed but alcohol or weeds.
For example, in France for 65 millions inhabitants, there are about 4000 deads by auto incidents; in US 31000 deads and our speed limit is 81 MPH.
Speed is not the major factor of auto incident.
he’s probably straight as a ruler. i would have let you off seeing how cute you are!