Speeding Ticket

WARNING: Radar detectors don’t do anything to help when the driver is being stupid!

This morning on the way into work I was stopped and given my first speeding ticket. While it was not a pleasant experience, I can honestly say that I deserved it.

I was driving on East bound I580 (as always) going with the flow of traffic. I’d say that traffic was a bit heaver today than most… maybe because I left home an hour earlier (I guess it’s a good reason to sleep in). I moved my way over to the #1 lane and was cruising along.

I found myself behind a slower driver in a minivan (still ~70mph in a 65mph) and decided that I would pass him, so pulled into the #2 lane and started to accelerate. At the same time another driver in the #3 lane turned on their directional (for the second time, as they had already done it a few seconds before when a truck was passing them). As I approached this car I moved a little towards the #1 lane (maybe even causing the minivan to apply their brakes). At this point, I thought to myself… that wasn’t the smartest thing… I probably shouldn’t have done that…

It was at this point that I looked in my rear view mirror to see the flashing red and blue lights of the CHP officer who had been sitting behind me the whole time (and I’m talking RIGHT behind me). I worked my way to the shoulder and stopped. The officer was actually quite respectable about the whole thing. He wrote me up for going 70mph in a 65mph zone (basically the most lenient ticket he could issue) and didn’t mention anything about “weaving through traffic” or about being in a construction zone (double fines) which I’m sure he could have done if he’d wanted to.

I believe it was the fact that I was trying to move through the traffic that was the cause for him pulling me over… not necessarily the speed at which I was doing it. There wasn’t a single car on the road doing less than 70mph, and I’m sure he would have driven for miles with us all going that speed without stopping someone. Just the unsmart (and ultimately unsafe) nature of what I was doing was the provocation… and I can really respect that.

So it looks like a fine (~$150 from what I can tell) and traffic school (at least you can do it online now). But it will make me rethink those sorts of activities in the future.

Note: In no way did driving the G8 GT (or my “hot rod” as people at work are fond of calling it) cause me to get this ticket. I have, for the most part, always driven this stretch of road at similar speeds. In no way did having a radar detector (which as stated before doesn’t alert to driver stupidity) given me a feeling of “invincibility” to the repercussions of driving above the speed limit. And for those who may ask, no… the radar detector did not alert to the presence of the CHP officer as he was not using radar.