I'm not needing advice at the moment, I'm actually a pretty conservative driver...mostly. I was just asking you for future reference
The last, and only time, I've ever got a speeding ticket was on 101S just after I entered Santa Barbara county around 2004. I vividly remember this experience since it was my first time being pulled over and I was so scared my heart was racing a mile a minute. I had been driving my wife's car (though we weren't married at the time) with some friends for a weekend in Santa Barbara. 3-4 hours on the road, and no cruise control, and you kinda lose sense of how fast you're going. Needless to say there was a CHP officer positioned at the bottom of this curving hill, such that you can see him until you're almost at the bottom.. which is obviously too late to do anything about it. I knew he was going to pull me over, so before I even got to him I had already got into the right lane and slowed down.
CHP: Do you know why I pulled you over?
Me: Yes sir, I was going to fast.
CHP: Do you know how fast you were going?
Me: When I saw you I looked down and saw about 83.
CHP: I clocked you at 84 (shows me the back of his LIDAR).
Me: Oh wow!
CHP: (Explains that he used a LIDAR gun, and that they're serviced regularly for accuracy)
CHP: Where are you coming from?
Me: (I tell him)
CHP: How long have you been on the road?
Me: About 3-4 hours
CHP: Please wait a moment.
(goes to his cruiser for a few minutes, comes back with the paperwork)
CHP: Well I can't let you go, but since this is your first offense I need to get my point across... so I'm giving you a citation for going 75 miles per hour, which is 10 miles per hour over the limit. This is going to be your fine (points to paper) and this is going to be your court date (points to paper). Do you understand everything that I've explained to you?
Me: Yes sir. Thank you sir!
Actually on another note, there was another time I was pulled over. It was around 11:30 at night and I was on the freeway going home from my friend's house. I was driving my dad's old minivan at the time, which had bad console lights.. bad enough that I couldn't see how fast I was going. It was late enough that there weren't many other cars on the road to judge my speed on. I was in the slow lane when I was pulled over. I expected the guy to come on the driver side, but he came on the passenger side. He used his flashlight to bang on the passenger window, which made me jump in my seat since I wasn't expecting him to come from there. I rolled down the window. He asked me the usual questions, where are you going, where are you coming from, etc. which I answered without hesitation. When he asked me if I knew why he was pulling me over I told him I did not, to which he replied that I was going too slow. Yes that's right, pulled over for going to slow on the freeway. It can happen people!
Anyway I apologized and told him that it was my dad's van and that the console lights are bad so I can't tell exactly how fast I was going. He then asked me if I was drinking because it smelled like alcohol in the van (which it did not). I told him I had not, and that I don't drink alcohol at all. Then he asked me if I had been taking any drugs because it smelled like that in the van. Again I told him I had not, nor have I ever. He then told me to look at him and he flashed his light in my eyes, probably to check for pupil dilation or something. Then he told me I need to drive faster on the freeway because someone could be going faster than me and hit me. I told him I'd take the next exit and drive home on the side roads, so he let me go.
Though I have to say, the next time I get pulled over on the freeway I want to sing the CHiPs theme song to the officer! Hahahhaha.....well probably not, but I sure would think real hard about it!
