One of those weeks already

Seems like everything a messed up in the last three months is catching up this week . It usually seems to go like that for some reason. So as I was driving today deep in thought about another issue I ended up running a red light, right in front of the police. I was thinking and looked up to see a REALLY red light, laid on the brakes all the way through the intersection.
After that there was no reason to stop until I saw the police car (that I knew was there) put his blinker on to turn after me. I pulled onto the shoulder before he even had the lights on and was waiting with the needed paperwork when he got to the window. "That light turn red on you a little too quick?" He asks, and I mumble about I was just not paying attention and screwed up. He ends up walking back to the window with a verbal warning, and most suprising a handshake for admitting that I did it I stead of making excuses. Got really lucky there that I didn't hit someone and that I had such a nice officer.

I did that same thing one time,followed another truck and livestock trailer right through a red light. I was paying attention though,just ran out of luck when I saw a cop sitting right there to my left. I did the same thing you did,pulled right over,said "You got me". He said he'd let me go this time,but if he ever pulled me over again,I'd sure get something out of it.

There is a light not far from home it was put in less than 10 years ago, i don't know if they changed the dwell time or what but every other time
i go to that light someone goes through the red when its showing green on my end, you can't cross by light alone you have to look both ways for certain.

A lot of the tickets people get are for attitudes. I'm not saying that it is always the case, as there are times depending on the offense you are going to get a ticket, but an attitudae can even help there. Even if you do get a ticket truthfulness and a good attitude could get you a good brake on the ticket you received.

Got a ticket once for illegal lane usage.the cop tells me good thing I was wearing my seat belt; I wasn't.in other words shut up or I'll give you two tickets, guess what I did!

Had that happen about eight years ago with a NJ state Trooper. He had me dead to rights over speed. When he came up to the passenger side I just looked at him and said "I'm toast" He asked when I had a moving violation. Told him 1981. He went back and came back with a warning. I think he saw that I was almost white with shock and told me have a nice day and slow down. Local cops are many times total jerks but states are a bit more polite. Traffic lights are supposed to have a dwell time of one second per ten miles per hour. If the Yellow is NOT that long you have a court case chance of getting off. Go video the light if you think it is not correct!!

I never try to give an "excuse" - the cop's heard anything I have to say twice already that day.

But:


Years ago my 4 year old son went into the hospital for a "high definition" MRI on his brain. I spent 2 hours in the MRI room while he was in the tube on a respirator. He came out and had wet himself while knocked out on the anesthesia. While still knocked out we changed his clothes and waited over an hour before they released him from the hospital. All this took much longer than we had expected and we were stressed out waiting for results (looking for tumors). Our daycare where our 1 year old son was at would close in an hour and a half and we had a 2 hour drive to get there. Jumped into the state color blue Grand Marquis and hauled arse out of Wichita.

Going down the 2 lane highway at 80-90 mph I made the mistake of telling my son he was going commando (we didn't have underwear in the hospital room when we changed his clothes). As kids who are sick (and drugged) will act he decided he wanted underwear on and he wanted it now! So my wife turns around in the seat (after saying I hope you're happy) and starts changing him in his seat.

That's when we met the cop, going at least 85 MPH in a 55, my wife's butt in the windshield, and a small child with no pants screaming in the back seat...... The cop walks up to my door and asks me what I thought I was doing at that speed with an unbuckled passenger in the front seat. I just hand him my license and said "Start writing". My wife suddenly chimes in about the hospital visit, the brain tumors, the other son that needed us at home, the screaming child, the wet pants and so on and so forth.... The cop looks at me like "you poor bast**d" and handed my license back and says to slow down and buckle up.

Following a truck through is about as good an excuse there is, especially when you can't see the light over the truck!

I've never got a ticket for it, but have been in the middle of the intersection only to find the light was red before the truck cleared.

If you go to CDL school, you will find out different. IF you follow a truck through a light, you are committing TWO violations. Following too closely and failure to obey a traffic signal. Any LEO will tell you that you should be following at a distance that will permit you to SEE the traffic light. They can also cite you for failure to keep your vehicle under control. This mostly depends on the violation and the cop's mood at the time, but according to the rules of the road, you would be in violation.

One other thing that I have learned over the years is that cops are not necessarily experts on the law. That is why they carry V&T law books with them. They also call in for instructions as to how to write up other non-motor vehicle violations.