Tweet
I got pulled over tonight. I was coming home from a friend's house by myself at about 10:47, and I was in an area downtown (I live in a small town, so the downtown area is a 25 zone, and is very petite) and I was going 25 on the dot. There are four stop lights in a row in the downtown area, and if you miss one, you're bound to hit one of the other three no matter what.
So I was at the second one, and it turned yellow directly as I was halfway through the intersection.
There was a Michigan State Police jeep going the other way. Did a U-Turn in the middle of the road and followed me. After the third light turned green, he pulled me over.
I followed someone from here's advice and put my hands on the steering wheel, and asked him if I could get my information and specified where they were. He seemed to like that.
He said, "whats the hurry" and I said, "I wasn't speeding, officer", and he said, "I meant, why you didn't stop when that light turned red before you went under it. You had ample time to stop. In Michigan, a ticket for going through a yellow is a ticket for going through a red." He then looked at my registration, and said, "euh..." and went to point, and I foolishly said, "oh, crap, is it expired?" (I rarely check these thnigs, but I was almost positive it wasn't) and he said, "no, I just was giong to ask you to point out where the expiration date is, I can't find it."
I explained to him that to begin with, the timing sequence of those lights change from day to night time, and I had no need to "speed up" to avoid the red light, as there was another one less than 100 feet in front of me.
He seemed to understand this and said, "Thanks, I'll just jot your name down and give ya a warning." and within five minutes, we exchanged, "have a nice night, be safe's". to each other and were on our ways.
However, I can't tell if he didnt give me a ticket because I was polite and followed that procedure, or if because his wife and children are in the music department and drama department at school with me, and I saw him at the library (where I work) just the day before that.
Hard to say, really.
I was tempted to ask him if police officers are influenced by a car's appearnce to be pulled over, but I didn't feel like pushing my luck :D
So I was at the second one, and it turned yellow directly as I was halfway through the intersection.
There was a Michigan State Police jeep going the other way. Did a U-Turn in the middle of the road and followed me. After the third light turned green, he pulled me over.
I followed someone from here's advice and put my hands on the steering wheel, and asked him if I could get my information and specified where they were. He seemed to like that.
He said, "whats the hurry" and I said, "I wasn't speeding, officer", and he said, "I meant, why you didn't stop when that light turned red before you went under it. You had ample time to stop. In Michigan, a ticket for going through a yellow is a ticket for going through a red." He then looked at my registration, and said, "euh..." and went to point, and I foolishly said, "oh, crap, is it expired?" (I rarely check these thnigs, but I was almost positive it wasn't) and he said, "no, I just was giong to ask you to point out where the expiration date is, I can't find it."
I explained to him that to begin with, the timing sequence of those lights change from day to night time, and I had no need to "speed up" to avoid the red light, as there was another one less than 100 feet in front of me.
He seemed to understand this and said, "Thanks, I'll just jot your name down and give ya a warning." and within five minutes, we exchanged, "have a nice night, be safe's". to each other and were on our ways.
However, I can't tell if he didnt give me a ticket because I was polite and followed that procedure, or if because his wife and children are in the music department and drama department at school with me, and I saw him at the library (where I work) just the day before that.
Hard to say, really.
I was tempted to ask him if police officers are influenced by a car's appearnce to be pulled over, but I didn't feel like pushing my luck :D
Comment