Lucky break....

[Rich Z]

Earlier today, Connie and I were coming home from a trip over to the Palm Coast area for a couple of days, driving the C6Z. We were visiting her cousin who just moved to the area from the Delaware area where her family is from. Driving on rt 441, headed west, around Alachua where we hit a patch of road with a 65 mph speed limit. So I cranked it up a bit and put it just a notch above the speed limit. Not long after that I heard the radar detector screech like a banshee and automatically put the foot to the brake to slow down a bit, even though I didn't think I was really speeding by enough to be concerned about. Then just up ahead I saw a sign saying the speed limit was 45 mpg. WTF? How did that happen? So I see a motorcycle coming up behind me and damned if red and blue lights didn't start flashing on it.

Sheesh..... Pulled right over and he pulled up next to me on the driver's side and told me to pull up into the next road on the right. There was a convenience store there, so I pulled into the parking lot and waited to face the music.

The guy walks up all smiles and cheerful, and I think "Man, I'm in for it, because it looks like I just made this guy's quota." Anyway I asked him if I had been speeding, because I thought I was in a 65 mph zone and hit my brakes just as soon as I saw the speed limit had changed to 45 mph. He asked me if I had seen him come out of the side road, and I told him "no'. Maybe he wanted to know if I hit the brakes because I saw him. Not sure if he noticed the radar detector or not. He said the the speed limit had actually dropped to 55 mph before the 45 mph zone and he had me clocked doing 72 mph. Connie piped up that it was her fault because she had been talking to me at the time and likely distracted me. So I jokingly asked him to give her the ticket instead, and that got a chuckle out of him. Yeah, I thought I was in for it. The guy was in way too good of a mood. He asked me other questions and I just kept the conversation light and airy, kind of following his lead. He asked about my ticket history and I told him my last ticket was a few years ago when I again got nabbed when the speed limit dropped from 55 to 45 and I didn't notice late at night. The last ticket before then was at least 30 years ago.

So I handed him the license, etc., and started thinking about having to do that online driving course again to keep from getting points on my record. I could see him checking things out on some sort of laptop he had on his bike, and pretty soon he came back and handed me my stuff. I was a bit confused because I didn't see the ticket to sign and looked through my stuff for it. He said, "How does $244 sound as the fine for a ticket?" I just looked at him and said "Well, zero dollars would actually be much better." and he laughed out loud. He then said, "Well, that is what it would have cost had I written you a ticket today. Just watch your speed in the future and gave a good day."

To say I was shocked is a vast understatement! I didn't think cops let anyone go these days. I just stammered out a thank you and told him I really appreciated it. Connie looked astonished as well, and said "Maybe we should have offered him the box of Dunkin Donuts we had picked up that morning."

Seriously, this incident did wonders for improving my opinion of cops in general. I felt like I was dealing with a real human being instead of some robot with an attitude and an agenda to follow. It would be nice to think that this was an indication of a change in attitude dictated by policy and not just a damned lucky break to get a guy who was just having a real good day and didn't want to spoil ours. But honestly, I'm not in any real hurry to put it to the test by being pulled over again any time soon....