Know what that is? Yep....my ticket...Ok...so I went to Dover to church today. I left in plenty of time, picked up a sweet tea, set cruise control at 70mph and was on my way. I noticed a lot of State Troopers once I got on the interstate, so I decided to keep my speed under control. In fact, I text messaged a few good friends and told them there were a lot of cops out, one right after the other, and that it was a GREAT way to trap people on the holiday weekend. You know how it works, you pass the cop and then you know you're home free so you speed the rest of the way to wherever you're going?
Well....not this weekend. Literally, almost EVERY median had a trooper sitting in it. One friend messaged me back and said "hope you're not one of the trapped". I laughed and sent back, "haha...nada". Well about half way through the trip a good friend called me. I was chattin on the cell, following a truck down the interstate, and all of a sudden these two state troopers are walking out into the middle of I-77...literally in the MIDDLE...motioning all of the cars to get over. So...being the good citizens we are, we pull over. I happened to be second...immediately following that truck that I was following. I actually dropped my cell phone because I hit the brakes so fast. I went to grab it and snapped off my seatbelt to get it since my friend was still on it. Got over to the side of the road and was just re-snapping it when the trooper walked up to the first vehicle looking straight back at me. Well, the trooper came up to my window and informed me that "the plane" is out and clocked me at 80mph coming over the hill. I was like "I had cruise set at 70mph, sir". He informed me that they get the truck ahead of me at 79, me at 80, and the truck behind me at 82 and then told me a few more. I looked back and he had FIVE vehicles pulled over. He asked me for my license and registration and went on to the next vehicle. I got the paperwork and was texting friends to tell them I would be late because I just got pulled over and the other cop was in the middle of the road pulling over 4 more cars. Literally, within about 3 minutes, there were NINE of us pulled over! I watched the second cop almost get ran over twice because people didn't know what he was doing. He got one car over, the next car went by and he jumped in his cruiser to follow them and get them to stop. When he left, the first car got back on the road becuase they thought he was after the other car, not them. He then jumped out in traffic again and was within inches of the cars telling them to pull over, yelling at the top of his lungs at the car that had pulled away. I really thought he was gonna get run over at least twice. People didn't understand that he was pulling multiple cars over. It was INSANE. I've never seen anything like it.
So, the trooper came back up, I gave him the paperwork, he asked if I had been cited in the last year. Told him no. He said well there is bad news and good news. Bad is that you are getting a citation today for 80mph in a 65mph zone. Good news is that it was only $99 (the lowest fine) and that there were no points on my license for it because it's a first offense. Sooooo...he went back to the car, wrote the first guys ticket, let him go, and then came right past me to the next vehicle that had dealer plates and he was struggling to get all the right paperwork for the trooper. So I sat there, and sat there, and sat there. Finally he gave me my ticket, I signed, and he helped me back onto the interstate. He was a nice guy, but I wish I had never met him.
So, I missed the announcements and a video at church. I bet I was the only one that got a ticket on my way to church today!
I was headed on down the road, no tears, just pure anger because I KNEW cops were all over and I tried to figure out how I got the ticket. All I can figure is that I was on the phone and just went with the traffic with my foot on the gas even though I had cruise set. The guy ahead of me was going 79mph, so I was just following him not paying attention to anything other than what was happening on the road in front of me.
Expensive trip to church today....and a few lessons learned.
When a cop is setting in your lane on the side of the road, there's probably planes flying around checking speed. PAY ATTENTION TO YOURS!
Troopers DO pull over LINES of traffic if they feel like it. (I always thought if you were traveling with the traffic you wouldn't get busted....WRONG!!!)
Also, when you set cruise, keep your foot totally away from the gas pedal!
I'm still ticked that I ended up with a ticket when I KNEW cops were all over. Frustrates the daylights out of me. I just paid the New Philadelphia Municipal Court $99 in STUPID TAX.
DOH!
