I was steamed at a co-worker. I had driven an hour into the office for a meeting, and saw that
he canceled it when I was but one exit away from the office. So I didn't bother going in —
I just kept going on the access road for the US-75 Central Expressway and turned around under the
next overpass.
The flow of traffic on the access road is about 50 MPH. I turned on a surface street, and headed
home. I wasn't paying attention to my speed and was pulled over by an unmarked police car.
I remember thinking, "Are those lights for me?" to be safe, I slowed and pulled to the lane on
my right. He followed me... so there was my answer.
The Ticket
All in all, a pleasant transaction. He was a normal guy, just doing his job. I didn't fight
anything. I didn't know how fast I was actually going, because my mind had been on the inconvenience
of the meeting that didn't happen, and the time I wasted when I could have been getting stuff done --
my deadline is already tight enough as it is.
I took responsibility, of course. It was dumb not to. 99% of the time, I'm pretty good about
staying at a reasonable speed (relative to the limit) — I live in a city where the entire main road
is a speed trap. I see officers out there all the time with their radar guns. But this a different
city (where traffic seems to move fast except for school zones), and this was the one time I had
completely brain farted, and I had to own up to it.
I had almost everything going for me to get off with a warning: I've got veterans plates, I'd
never had a speeding ticket ever, and... I'm driving a BUICK, for goodness' sakes... not a car
with big balls under the hood. Given my gender, this was the abaout the best I could do.
Nope. It wasn't to be.
The officer explained that he had to ticket me — I wasn't even close to the speed
limit in that area. I had still been in Central Expressway mode, fuming over the waste of time.
He apologized a few times for "having to be my first (officer to write me a ticket)."
The Aftermath
Our transaction completed, I phoned my wife to let her know. She was elated.
ELATED.
Elated because it was proof to her that I'm capable of making mistakes. I mean, she was overjoyed.
She still is, and I earned the ticket a few days ago. I mean, she beams like she
could not be more proud of me.
I admit that I'm a pretty buttoned down kinda guy. I'm pretty risk-averse, and she knows it.
I don't do stupid shit. And I've gotten on her for speeding on the highway in the past — mostly
because she frightens me when she drives that fast (92 MPH in essentially a mini-van).
So maybe earning that ticket was something
she needed — confirmation I'm not infallible, perhaps? Do I typically present or infer
a very high standard of behavior? An unreachable standard of behavior?? Did the ticket
gave her license to relax? I'm inferring a lot here... but her response was pretty jarring —
it's really made me question how she views me, and whether she's been living by some standard
I didn't understand I had set.