Which year was the worst year of my life (as far as driving is concerned):
June 2004, Hampton — found guilty of following too closely
This was completely my fault. I was adjusting a mirror on a rainy day on Mercury Boulevard near Newmarket North Netcenter after I got Simone back after something was broken. I have a problem of readjusting mirrors after someone drives my car even if they don’t touch them. A car stalled out at the red light and a pickup behind it came to a dead halt. I didn’t realize the truck had stopped. If not for this accident, I probably wouldn’t have had my car die in Independence, Va., and would still have Simone today.
January 2005, Portsmouth — prepaid going 22 over (47 in a 25)
This one was bullshit. The officer knew it was bullshit. That’s why this wasn’t categorized as reckless, I didn’t get the automatic $500 tacked on and I paid this ahead of time instead of going to court. I was in my mom’s car (Simone was out of commission from the radiator exploding) and old Samantha (the Plymouth Acclaim) was struggling to go uphill in a construction zone at 30 miles per hour. The zone was nearly over and I could clearly see the 55 sign so I started speeding up. This was the first time that I was told you have to pass the sign first.
May 2005, York County — found guilty of going 11 over (56 in a 45)
Speed. Trap. Downhill on a bridge that transitions between two jurisdictions. The speed limit on the bridge itself is 45 (a state agency sets that and it applies for the whole thing; I know that now). Since there are no speed limit signs once you touch ground in York County, it’s technically 55 there because of another state law that sets the statutory speed limit on roads when one isn’t posted. There isn’t a single sign on that road in York County until you get to the 55 sign well up ahead. Instead of slowing back down just to speed up again, I let Simone coast (I had just gotten her back). Again, I was pulled near the sign. You have to pass it first and, technically, I was speeding on the bridge.
This could have been far worse because I later found out someone I was riding with had very illegal things with him/her, which is why I do feel sorry for people who get pulled on like “Cops” and find out a passenger has a grenade launcher with him when the vehicle is searched. I mean, sometimes both parties are up to something and you know what someone has on him but you don’t always know what someone has on him. You don’t like search everyone before they get in your car.
In short, this is why I typically don’t go over five over nowadays. I still accelerate from a green light as if Satan himself is behind me but I typically stop at five over. The only exception is on the Interstate when going 60-70 means I’m getting my doors blown off/shot at and the one time I went 100 in Pennsylvania because I was on an interstate going down a mountain and could see the entire lay of the highway and there probably wasn’t a cop within 20 miles.
I really wish that offenses stayed on your DMV record for miles driven instead of years. Keep in mind that I drive about 30,000 miles a year so the last ticket was about 100,000 miles ago. The average American drives about half of that because it’s a bunch of short trips that they could have accomplished from … I don’t know … walking.
It’s really interesting that, since starting college, I typically drive that much because of road trips and, currently, because of work.
