Today I got a ticket. Boo.
But the police officer was forgiving and didn't make it as bad as it could have been. Yeah.
I was in the fast lane and had to adjust my distance from the car in front of me repeatedly so I wasn't following too closely. As soon as I was at the right distance a car from the lane to my right would slide into the space. So I would back up a little to increase the space again and another car would slide into the "hole". I was getting pretty frustrated after this happened 4 times and didn't back off the last car that slipped in front of me. We all had to keep slowing down even more every time this happened, even though the rest of traffic was moving at the appropriate speed (55). My frustration got the best of me and I moved to my left and sped up as soon as there was a space to do it past the 3 cars that had "butted" in front of me. Well I didn't see the police car behind us until after I did my little maneuver, but he saw me and promptly turned his lights on and pulled me over. "Ma'am, do you know why I pulled you over?" "Yes because I was speeding and probably tailgating the guy in front of me. I was very frustrated by all the cars pulling in front of me causing us to keep having to slow down and adjust the distance between the car in front of me and then have another car slide into that space even though I don't think they should have!" Well - I was doing 70 in a 55 mile per hour construction zone! Gratefully the officer only gave me a warning on the "following too closely" offense and reduced the speeding ticket to going 60 in a 55 mile per hour zone on the Interstate, without calling it a construction zone (which normally would double the fine). Thank you very much officer! Now, I think I'm just going to pay the fine, not go to traffic school, if that even is an option, and I don't care if it's on my record. At this point I just want to be done with it. Argg. AND . . . . I'm leaving the house 10 minutes earlier and going to remember what I learned in Traffic School when I went 15 years ago. Patience, patience, patience and defensive driving, which means, keep giving the cars space, even though THEY are being jerks and squishing their cars in holes that they shouldn't! : ) But of course, I'm always telling my kids - Follow the traffic rules because even though lots of people break the rules, we are the ones who will end up getting the ticket - It's just in our "Karma." Well apparently, just in MY karma. hahaha. Anyway, thank you nice police officer for cutting me some slack. Happy driving everyone!
