posted on Dec, 23 2008 @ 12:41 AM
Long time lurker, first time poster. Just wanted to chime in on this one and say that I agree with the OP. Since we are sharing stories, here's
mine:
It's mid-morning on a weekday, after the morning rush hour on a "business loop" freeway. I'm in a rush, and at that age was always looking for a
rush, so I was clipping along at roughly 90mph in a 65 zone, keeping to the outside lane. As I passed a city bus trolling in the number two lane, some
idiot in a landscaping truck with a trailer full of mowers suddenly slides over from in front of the bus (no signal, of course!) and boxes me in.
Since I had roughly a 20mph differential in speed, a quick brake check was in order. Downshift, merge to the right behind the bus, drop around to the
number three lane and hammer the throttle. In seconds I'm back in the fast lane doing 120mph. Yep. That's when I noticed the black mustang closing
on me.
So I pulled over. When the mustang interceptor pulled up behind me he still had no "take-down" lights on. I had the engine off, the keys were on the
dash and my hands were resting on the wheel. The uniformed patrolman approached from the passenger side, and once he was looking in the window I
calmly hit the button and dropped the glass. "Good morning, Officer" were my first words.
This guy looked every part of a thug with a badge. Think Vic Mackey in a jumpsuit and knee high boots. His greeting was a bit less friendly - "Do you
know what the definition of reckless driving is, son?"
I said "No, sir" and he quickly responded with a forceful "Excess speed, unsafe lane changes and tailgating qualify, and I have you doing all
three. Do you know what happens to reckless drivers? They go to jail and their car goes to car jail, how do you feel about that today?
Still hoping to disarm the situation, my sincere reply was "I'd rather not go to jail sir, and although I can't speak for my car, I'm betting it
has better things to do today as well." This elicited the narrowest of smirks from the officer. "Do you know how fast you were going?" Now, I was
pretty sure that he didn't actually know how fast I was going, as in this state that speed can constitute felony endangerment. If he had a valid
reading, I'd already be on the hood getting patted down. Factoring this in, I replied "Honestly sir, when I'm going that fast I spend more time
watching the traffic ahead of me and behind me than my gauges." Another eye-narrowing smirk. "Good answer. So what's the hurry?"
Mind you, I was wearing a suit and had an open briefcase on the seat next to me. "Well sir, the consulting business I am in is very time sensitive
and when my clients call with an emergency they expect that I'll arrive promptly. I'm sure you know how whiney a client can get when you don't get
there quickly." This time he actually smiled and laughed. "Yeah," he said chuckling, "but my car has blue lights on it that allow me to go that
fast."
He finally asked for my ID, registration and proof of insurance. When I produced all three documents he glanced at each and asked "So, do you live at
this address, the one on this card, or the one on this card?" (Yes, each was different). I told him that the license had the current address, and
again I got a "Good answer." He handed the docs back to me, patted my window sill and said "Slow down and hopefully you won't be my next whiney
client emergency." With that, he walked back to his cruiser and waited for me to pull out before racing past me and disappearing down the road.
Thinking back on it today, I believe that it was not just the calm demeanor and honesty I showed the officer that got me out of what could have been a
very ugly situation. The one thing that started this all out right was that I had shown a high level of situational awareness by targeting an
approaching unmarked cop while blasting down the road at 120mph, then pulling over immediately. Yes, I was going stupid fast, and yes, I know you have
me for it. Let's go from there...