Apr 18 2008
Yesterday was a beautiful day!
After what seems to be a long and cold winter season, we only started getting warmer this week.
Yesterday was one of those beautiful days with the temperature around 74* F.
I was driving back to home from work and it was around 5 O clock in the evening.
The road was clear and there is no traffic at all. I kept changing the songs [my iPhone is connected to the car stereo] till it picked one of my favorite songs randomly. It was a smooth ride till I see some flashing lights in the back of my car.
In the USA, it means a police car is behind you and you need to stop and pull over. It means you did some traffic offense and the cop is going to issue a ticket to you.
I pulled over to the side and the cop came around to my side window.
I handed him over my license, registration and the insurance documents.
He : “Do you know why I pulled you over, sir ?”
Me : “I don’t know.”
He : “You were going at 75 miles speed”
Actually it might be true that I was going fast, but I do not know if it is that much.
I told him the truth.
Me : “I don’t know if I was speeding. I think I did not realize how fast I was going.”
He went back to his car with my documents and I was sitting there wondering what would happen.
If he gives me a speeding ticket, then it would cost me a couple of hundred dollars in fine. It will also add “points” to my driving history which would cause my car insurance to go higher too. That will cost me, close to a thousand dollars over the course of next three years. If I go to the court, the prosecutor might reduce the offense to something lower and leave me with just a fine but no “points”, but that means I have to lose some hours from work to go the court. So, what can I do now?
The cop came back after seeing all my driving history.
He : “I saw that you have no points in your license right now.”
I was wondering to myself “So, you are going to add some points now?”
He : “Since you did not lie to me, I am going to let you go this time without a speeding ticket. I will only give a ticket for ‘Obstruction of view in the windshield’. This one does not carry any points but you will have to pay the appropriate fine.”
and then he started talking about all the legal options I have and the court date if I want to challenge this etc and everything was going above my head.
Me : “Thank you, Officer”.
and oh man…did I tell you “Yesterday was a beautiful day” ?
