Tickets, Tickets, Tickets
On my way back from Great Adventure last night, I got pulled over by an overzealous young police officer who slapped me with a "Failure to Stop or Yield" ticket. He claimed that I blew through a red light. I most definitely did not.
Going through the intersection, I watched the yellow light for as long as I could before it disappeared over my car. Sometimes, when making the dash for a yellow, it becomes a borderline case because I see the light turn red while I'm in the middle of the intersection. This wasn't one of those cases.
About a minute later, the policeman finally caught up to me. This told me that he was pretty far away which, at night, would have made his ability to judge the moment I crossed the intersection exceedingly difficult. To further reinforce this fact, he claimed that my friend (who was driving in front of me) had blown a red light himself, and that by the time I crossed the intersection it had been red for "at least 5 seconds". 5 seconds is a very long time, and I'm sure I would have stopped if I had seen both my friend running a red and had 5 seconds to put on the brakes myself.
If I had gotten speeding tickets for actually speeding, or tickets for red lights that I actually ran, I would be completely willing to accept the consequences of my actions. What angers me, though, is that I've gotten two tickets now (both carrying points) that I did NOT deserve.
About a month ago, I had a bit more faith in those that are supposed to be protecting us and upholding justice. One month and two undeserved tickets later, their ineptitude has been added to my list of jaded life realities.
Going through the intersection, I watched the yellow light for as long as I could before it disappeared over my car. Sometimes, when making the dash for a yellow, it becomes a borderline case because I see the light turn red while I'm in the middle of the intersection. This wasn't one of those cases.
About a minute later, the policeman finally caught up to me. This told me that he was pretty far away which, at night, would have made his ability to judge the moment I crossed the intersection exceedingly difficult. To further reinforce this fact, he claimed that my friend (who was driving in front of me) had blown a red light himself, and that by the time I crossed the intersection it had been red for "at least 5 seconds". 5 seconds is a very long time, and I'm sure I would have stopped if I had seen both my friend running a red and had 5 seconds to put on the brakes myself.
If I had gotten speeding tickets for actually speeding, or tickets for red lights that I actually ran, I would be completely willing to accept the consequences of my actions. What angers me, though, is that I've gotten two tickets now (both carrying points) that I did NOT deserve.
About a month ago, I had a bit more faith in those that are supposed to be protecting us and upholding justice. One month and two undeserved tickets later, their ineptitude has been added to my list of jaded life realities.
posted by Daniel at 10:56 AM
1 Comments:
I hear ya bro. Same thing has happend to me numerous times.
However, I differentiate between traffic cops and detectives.
And yes, quotas exist.
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