Got a speeding ticket, dammit.....

[Rich Z]

Damn it all to hell.

Connie and I drove down to Zephyrhills on Thursday (Christmas) to visit with her sister. Then on Friday we drove up to Eustis, then over to Crystal River, and then back on home here in Crawfordville. Put close to 600 miles on the C5Z without an incident until we were about 15 miles from home on route 267 coming out of Newport. I had the radar detector on, but had lowered the volume through Perry because all the shops there along the road drive the detector crazy. Connie had popped in a CD somewhere along route 98 so the barely audible volume of the detector was no longer audible. As usual I crawled through Newport at a snail's pace since the speed trap there is 35 mph. Turning onto route 267, I figured the speed limit was 55, so that's about what I was driving at. We passed a couple of state troopers on the right hand side of the road just past the intersection of route 61, and I noticed one flip his headlights on, but wasn't too concerned, as I didn't think I was speeding. Well pretty shortly he is right behind me, blinding the hell out of me with his high beams on. He turns on the christmas lights, so I pull over. Connie, is saying "what the heck does he want? You weren't speeding." I really thought he was someone on this forum just jerking around with me.

He comes around to the passenger side and knocks on the window. He says "Hello, Mr. Richard (guess he couldn't pronounce my last name), I'm Trooper Rabun (M.K. Rabun badge #2760). Do you realize you were driving 58 in a 45 mph zone?" Well, I'm shocked, and told him "No, I thought this was a 55 mph zone through here." Long story short, he gives me a citation for doing 54 in a 45. Sonofabitch..... I haven't had a speeding ticket in about 30 years. And here I get nabbed by one of those damned speed traps where the speed just drops 10 mph at the flash of a sign for about a hundred yards and they set up radar to catch the unwary. Yeah, I was going over the limit, and yeah I was tired from driving all damned day so I guess I missed a sign that announced the speed reduction. But Jesus H. Christ! It's the frickin day after Christmas and I obviously was not hotdogging it or flaunting the law. Traffic was pretty much nonexistent so I didn't have any other vehicle to even pace with. I'm sure he had to see my driving record and note that I didn't have ANY history of violations. Hell, there isn't even a WARNING on that record.....

Believe me I was biting my tongue the entire time once the guy handed me the citation. The guy looked about 15 years old and I ALMOST asked him if his dad knew he had taken the cruiser out tonight. He most certainly attained speeds much higher than mine just to catch up with me, so any "danger" from excessive speed applied more to him then it certainly did to me. Plus blinding me with his frickin' lights nearly had me running off the road because I was partially blinded by the damned bright light. Not to mention he was leaning on my passenger side mirror, and had he snapped that sucker off, I would probably be in jail right now.

Oh yeah, he also marked the citation with a notation "STALKER DUAL #046707". Whatever the hell THAT means. Notes a violation of statute 316.183.2. This was put in the "other violations or comments pertaining to offence". I think the guy was just being a real prick.

Anyway, damn this pisses me off. Pretty much ruined the holiday for me, and Connie is pretty damned pissed off as well. Just what we needed was yet another thing to pluck at our nerves. Yeah, the cops are doing a real good PR thing out there pulling people over during the holidays to piss people off and ruin the holiday for them. Hope the revenue they are generating makes the bad will well worth it to them.