A Tale of Two Tickets

A long time ago, when Kase and I were engaged, I was following him through traffic off of an interstate exit ramp. Kase in his Saturn SC2 and I in my jeep. Normally, Kase drives very slow, sort of like a grandpa. Safety is important you know. However, on this day he went moderately down the exit ramp. Did you know they have speed limits? Apparently, you are to begin slowing down your vehicle on the interstate in front of the 70 mph tractor trailers so that your vehicle may proceed down the exit ramp at 25 mph.

As Kase and I started down the ramp, a police car came out of a hidden nook and pulled behind me. I immediately pulled over so that the officer could write me a ticket. Kase noticed that I had been pulled over, so he stopped as well. The officer asked me why I was racing another vechicle down the ramp. The officer's inquiry presents many questions: how do you "race" down a single lane exit ramp? What kind of race is it if I am directly behind the other car? If the other car was racing me, and in front of me, then wouldnt that car be going faster and shouldn't the officer have then pulled that car over instead of me? I informed him that I was not racing the other car, it was my boyfriend's car that I was following.

The officer then called another officer on his radio and proceeded to write me a ticket. The other officer showed up and then proceeded to write Kase a ticket!!! There are many issues with this: The first officer could not write Kase a ticket because you can only clock one car at a time speeding and he picked me. AND The second officer wasn't even there to witness any offenses, but wrote Kase a ticket. Do we all see the problems? Ok, good.

Kase and I had a good laugh with our tickets in hand. We were able to get the tickets dismissed which is always good. BUT the story does not end there....

A few years later (last week in fact) my mother was following my father to dinner after a long day at work. Normally, my dad drives kindof fast, sort of not like a grandpa. However, on this day, he was driving the speed limit. Just as they made it through the downtown square, my mom was pulled over for a burned out break light. The officer wrote her a ticket, and my Mom proceeded to the restaurant looking for my Dad.

Meanwhile, Dad had noticed that mom was no longer behind him. He turned around looking for her. My dad had barely made it through the downtown square, when the SAME police officer pulled him over for expired tags. My dad drives a 'new-to-him' jeep that is in the midst of being remodeled. A few weeks earlier, he had taken it to get new tags, but it had failed the emissions inspection. He was given paperwork to show that he is in the middle of making the jeep road ready and was told that this would prevent him from getting a ticket. The officer said he had never heard of such a thing, and proceeded to write my dad a ticket.

Mom and Dad had a good laugh with their tickets in hand. They will probably be able to have their tickets dismissed which is always good. I guess these sort of things run in the family.

Anyone up for a road trip?