It was 6am, way to early for any normal human to be up and about. I was taking my husband to work so I would have the car and be able to drive my daughter to work. I had my coffee with me in hopes that my eyes would open somewhere between his work and our home. On the last corner before turning onto our road the car in front of me slams on his breaks forcing me to hit mine. Of course it would all happen just as I was taking a sip of my coffee. Coffee goes everywhere, all over me, all over the dash, all over the steering wheel, all over the radio and is dripping slowly down my leg. Not a good way to start the morning, that alone should have told me to go home and get back in bed. Did I listen to that instinctual voice that said to return to the safety of my bed? Nope, there were things to be done. After cleaning the car and taking a shower it was time to take my daughter to work.
I get my son, who has the sense to still be sleeping, and put him in the car. We begin the 20 minute drive to the town she works in. We get about 2 miles from where she works and there is a police officer in the middle of the road waving some cars to pull into a parking lot and others to pass. Now, I don't have an issue with police officers, I respect what they do and have never had any problems with them. He waves me into the parking lot. We pull in and he approaches the car asking for my license and an ID from my daughter. I inform him she is my daughter, he laughs at me and says "yeah right.". He tells me he is ticketing me for 3 no seatbelts. We were all wearing our seatbelts, I point that out to him. He says we aren't wearing them properly as my car has the automatic seatbelts that pull across you when you sit in the car and close the door and I don't have the lap belt on. I apologize and told him I honestly never gave it any thought assuming that the shoulder belt was enough. I tell him that the lap belt on the passenger side has never worked since we have owned the car and we had been pulled over before so an officer could let me know my taillight had gone out and he never said a word about the lap belt and never ticketed me for it. His response: "Well, I am a traffic cop, this is my specialized field of expertise. Perhaps the officer that pulled you wasn't specialized in traffic law and didn't realize that it was a necessity to wear both belts. But this is my area of expertise so I am aware of the laws." As for my sons belt, my son was holding the shoulder harness away from his throat because that's where it falls on him. Apparently holding it away from your body qualifies as not wearing your seltbelt.
Then he ticketed me for not having a booster seat for my son. I informed him my son was well over 40 lbs and hasn't been in a booster seat since he hit that limit. The officer informed me that a new law has come into effect as of August 1 that says weight doesn't matter, if they are under 8 yrs old they have to be in a booster seat. I apologize again and tell him I wasn't aware. He doesn't care and tells me that new traffic laws are put in effect every year Aug 1 and if I wanted to know what they were I should contact the police department every year on that date and they would inform me.
He then asks for proof of insurance so I give him my insurance card. He wants to know where my policy papers are and I tell him they are at home in the file. He writes me a ticket for no insurance. I tell him I just gave him my card, I have full coverage insurance. Once again he tells me that as of Aug 1 insurance cards are not acceptable forms of proof, you must have your policy on you when you are operating a motor vehicle. He then writes me a ticket for improper equipment because the lap belt on the passenger side is broken. Then, to top it all off, he walks around to the passenger side of the car and writes my daughter a ticket for not wearing her seatbelt because she didn't have the lap belt on.
Once he was finally done, 45 minutes later and we were permitted to pull away I had to fight desperately the urge to run his ass over. I already had $300 worth of tickets, he must have used up all his spare ticket paper....What the hell was one more charge?
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2 comments:
I'm all for the rule of law but what a jackass. Expert in traffic laws. Translation, he could not cut it as a real cop and this is as much responsiblity they felt he could handle.
Do I think people should wear seatbelts, sure. Should they make sure everyone is secure, of course. But in the end, its your choice. You are an adult and the one responsible for the wee ones. If something happens, it would be you having to live with it.
Argh...my kingdom for some common sense and more freedom, like we used to have!! I'm SO tired of being told its for my own protection (safety)
I so agree with you! I have always been an advocate of seatbelts and the safety of my children. They have never been in a vehicle with me without wearing them. Although my daughter finds this rule completely ridiculous, she has superman syndrome you know. But this guy was definatly on some kind of power trip.
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