I was pulled over for the first time yesterday

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Saturday, I went to my parents’ house because they were throwing a birthday party for Zamboni Brother #3. He turned 8. I was going to go anyway because I’m a good son and I visit every weekend. And they have food. :slight_smile:

Anyway, I was on my way, following all the traffic laws in town. I only live three miles away, and the drive is all 35 and 25 MPH, so I wasn’t even speeding, which I don’t do in town. A cop was waiting in his cruiser in a laundromat parking lot that I happened to drive by. I made a few turns before I noticed that the cop was following me. I thought that maybe he happened to be going the same direction because that has happened before. It’s a small town with few streets. I drove for a minute, because that’s all it takes, taking the usual route to Zamboni Parents’ house. I turned to parallel park in front of their house…
and I am pulled over by that cop :eek: . In front of my own parents’ house! :o :eek:

Omigod! I’m thinking ‘What did I do? Did I not stop long enough at the stop sign? I wasn’t speeding.’ :confused: Of course I’m also thinking ‘Don’t piss your pants’; ‘I hope I don’t look like anyone wanted by the FBI’ :eek: ; My family is going to be so… Baffled, wondering why I have been pulled over?’

So I’m sitting there in my car waiting for what seemed to be twenty minutes, but it was probably one, for Officer Bigshot. He asks for my information, then asks me “Do you know Why I pulled you over?” I wanted to say something smartassey, but my mind had fallen to the soles of my shoes and all I could manage was a meek “no.” Officer Bigshot says “Your exhuast system is a tad too loud.” (I wish I could have responded: My car’s exhuast system is too loud. I can’t pass gas that exuberantly :wink: .) We passed small talk back and forth, but I can’t remember any of it. My brain had melted by then.

Officer Bigshot went back to his car and checked out my information. It was all good, as I expected. Thankfully, I got away with a Warning, and a new unfavorable view of The Man :D. Loud exhuast, my eye. :mad: I know the muffler is in the trunk, and some other parts of the exhaust system are missing, but I have heard Harleys that are louder than my lousy four cylinder, front-wheel drive. I think he was just bored. :rolleyes: I have passed so many other town cops before (all four or five of them) and all they do stare.

Meanwhile, as I was sitting next to my parents’ house, feeling like a crook, Zamboni Brother #2 came outside to get some firewood for the night. They still use a woodburner for heating help. He did something, got pissed, and started throwing around some firewood. He then started beating on the door! No one inside the house was bothered because he has a short temper anyway, but is harmless. As he was doing this he did not notice that I was sitting outside with a cop car behind me with its lights still flashing! I don’t know how he missed this. :eek: It is not a typical sight in the neighborhood. Maybe it’s because his view was blocked by a tree. Someone inside should have noticed! :rolleyes: Show some love and concern for the Firstborn and stare out the window!

When I finally made it inside, I had to tell everyone that I had been pulled over right under their noses. They were oblivious! If this is how little attention they pay to what is going on outside, then how soon will it be before they notice that the street has torn up and replaced by a conveyer belt, assuming something so insanely bizzare happens? :rolleyes:

2

Do you or one of your brothers aspire to be a firefighter? They get these neat things to put on their personal cars called union stickers, or “get out of jail free stickers”
My firefighter has never had a ticket* not even a parking ticket* because he’s been a firefighter since he was 17, and his dad was one before him.
When we were dating, we were out driving around, he stopped at a red light, and I guess he decided he’d waited long enough and ran the second half of the light. There was a police cruiser directly behind him. The cop, came to the window, said "You a firefighter? My honey said “Yes, sir, I am! (Big dumb bird grin) Cop says " Well, you have a safe night, I have a call.” Then he left.
I haven’t had a ticket since we’ve been together. I was stopped once, and the officer said to tell my husband I owe him…

3

So you are knowingly in violation of the traffic laws, you could have received a ticket that you deserved but only got a warning, and this gives you an unfavorable view of the police. I meet your multiple smileys with a :rolleyes:

4

I meet your :rolleyes: with another :rolleyes: . I was being sarcastic. I know I deserved a ticket, but the cop didn’t think I did, and, overall, I don’t have an unfavorable view of the police, at least not the force in this town. BTW, I’m getting the car fixed this week, if that makes you feel better, you busybody :stuck_out_tongue: .

No, nor do any of my sisters, ASFAIK. One brother does want to be in the service, most likely The Marines. He’ll skip that if he gets a job that was raised as a possibility for him when he turns 18.

5

guilty :wink:

6

Truthfully, I’m afraid to go into town now because I’m afraid of getting a ticket the second time I’m pulled over, if that happens. The cop promised I would be good for about a week, but after that, he promised I’d get a ticket.

I am looking foward to working on my car, though. I have grown in to liking automotive work, given that I have had to do a lot, with help from Zamboni Dad. If I had good cars the time I have been driving, there are many things I would have never learned.

7

I pictured you getting pulled over in your Zamboni:

Officer: Do you know why I pulled you over?

TGB: Uh… was I speeding sir?

8

Officer: No, you are grinding the asphault to powder and flinging it everywhere.

Me: So, I wasn’t speeding, then?

:smiley: Thanks for the laugh. I wish I owned a real zamboni.

9

I got pulled over for the third time yesterday. The end result was the car I was driving getting towed, about $800 in possible fines, and around another $500 in fees.

Want to trade?

10

Wow. I’m sorry to hear that. I was making light of my situation, but I see it gets bad sometimes.

Cars, or situations? Because I have decided to keep my car, and I think I’m fine otherwise.

11

It was my own fault and I’m glad your situation was resolved with nothing more than a warning. I just felt the need to share for some reason.

And I think my employer, whose car I was driving at the time, wouldn’t like me trading her vehicle in for yours. I imagine she’s annoyed enough at me as is, although she’s not said anything thankfully.

12

…and that obviously means I meant situations.

Sorry… I’ve been a bit out of it since yesterday morning. My brain’s only working at ten percent efficiency or so.

13

Your employer wouldn’t want an 18 year old car with nearly 190,000 miles on it and rust on the bottom of some of the door panels anyway.

Though she might desire an employee with a better driving record than your’s. :wink:

14

You’re better off than I was. The first time I got pulled over I stayed in the car, having been taught in NY that to so much as MOVE when you’ve been pulled over will cause the police officer to shoot you out of hand; apparently the rules are different in Louisiana, and after the officer got really annoyed at having to wait and yelled at me to step out of my vehicle, he spent a good fifteen minutes shouting very loudly at me about the apparent incongruity between my NY license and registration and my current existence on the side of a Louisiana highway.

15

Holy crap, are you kidding, you got pulled over for a loud muffler?

The first time I ever got pulled over I was 17 - over ten years ago. I was speeding, 20 miles over the limit on a back country road. I my defense, my college class had gotten over late and I was hurrying to pick up my mom, who really went *spare * if I was 30 seconds late.

The cop pulled me over, yelled at me a bit, scare the bejeezus out of me. Then he dropped the violation down to a seatbelt infraction, probably because it was first offense and I’d only gotten my license three months previously! But he was that lenient, and I was going pretty damn fast. I’ve not heard of cops being that anal as yours was.

I have to admit, he scared me good. I’ve only been pulled over once since, for expired registration*, in 11 years of driving. :smiley:

*them NY cops sure are tough on registration and insurance.

16

You missed :dubious: :cool: :smack: :stuck_out_tongue: :wally ;j :frowning:
:stuck_out_tongue:

17

If you don’t mind me asking, how does one go about getting their very own firefighter? :smiley:

18

I know quite a few firefighters. If you’re hot its pretty easy to get one. Hell, if you’re warm its not too hard, most of the ones I know aren’t too discriminating.

I joke because I love

19

Probably. Part of my job is driving her places and it’s a bit hard to do with a suspended license.

20

Muffler stories? You wanna hear muffler stories? Well, I’ve got one for ya.

I’ve been pulled over twice for bad mufflers. (What can I say, all I can afford is old cars.) The first time was in the city of Cleveland. The cop pulled me over, gave me a ticket for a loud muffler, along with a citation for not wearing a seat belt. He explained that if I got my muffler fixed, I should bring the receipt with me to court and all would be well. I went to court, showed the receipt, had the muffler ticket waived, and paid $50 for the seat belt offense. No complaints here.

The second time (different car, years later) was in a Cleveland suburb. This time, no other charge was involved. I went and had the exhaust fixed within 24 hours. (It ended up costing me $400 since I had to replace the headers at the engine.)

In court, I brought the receipt and was expecting the same treatment as in Cleveland. I haven’t had any moving violations in the last 10 years (at least), the other muffler violation by now was off the record (I think they only look back 2 years and there were at least 5 years between incidents). Imagine my surprise when they said that the fine would be $150, but since I had spent so much on the repairs they would “let me off easy” by only charging me $75! :eek:

When I went to the cashier, I tried to make payment arrangements. My checking account was almost depleted, and I only had about $20 with me. The cashier said that I had to pay right then, no exceptions, or I would be taken to jail until I could get the money! I don’t have only credit cards, only a debit card, so I took a chance that I wouldn’t be overdrawn, and put the amount on my debit card. I was sweating bullets until the card cleared.

I can understand that you are disturbing the peace with a noisy muffler. But I can’t understand being treated like a criminal when I was doing my best to comply. And I don’t agree with the uneven prosecution of muffler violations. I have never seen a motorcyclist pulled over for a noisy muffler. I asked a friend of a friend who is an officer if they ever cited motorcyclists, and he said that it “wasn’t worth the trouble”.