It’s not every night you get to speak at church AND get pulled over by a cop. Last night was one of those nights.
As I mentioned earlier, I spoke at twentyfourseven last night and had a blast. Here’s a random shot of me hanging out in the bathroom a few minutes before I spoke.
The message went okay, I think. Always tough to objectively think back to how you did. I could have been smoother, I could have not let the kids goof around with me so much at the beginning of the message, I could have mentioned the name of the series Jake has been doing like I had planned. But otherwise I made it through and made my points and had a few kids thank me afterward, so I think it was a success.
I shot hoops with the guys for a few minutes after the service and then took off for home. Our church is in the middle of cornfields, and to get back to civilization you need to drive through the tiny borough of Christiana. You HAVE to drive slow through Christiana or you WILL get pulled over. Having been pulled over once in Christiana already in my life, I drove through the borough slowly as always. I pulled out onto Rte 41 and instantly there’s flashing lights behind me. You’ve got to be kidding.
You know that pit in your stomach you get when you get pulled over? Well, I didn’t have it this time. I knew I hadn’t been speeding. Wasn’t sure what I did wrong. The officer asked for my info and informed me that I had not come to a “complete stop” at the last stop sign. A “rolling stop” he called it. Whatever.
So while I sat there wondering if this was going to cost me any money I figured, why not take a picture? (trust me, that bright light behind me is the cop’s spotlight. Although it kinda looks like I’m parked in front of a nuclear explosion.)
Whether it was my clean record or the fact that I wept like a baby, I don’t know, but he let me off with just a warning. A slap on the wrist, but not on the wallet…so that was nice.
I think this was probably the 10th time I’ve been pulled over in my life in 16 years of driving. Most of those were from the first 6 years when I was living in Massachusetts. Lots of police on the prowl up there in New England. Of those 10 times, I think I’ve received 4 or 5 tickets.
What about you? How many times have you been pulled over (and for what)? And how many of those resulted in tickets?
Posted by Bryan AllainTags: Police, Preaching, Pulled Over
I’ve only been pulled over three times in my 10 years of driving…of course, all were for speeding. But, no tickets!! I did get a warning for not wearing my seatbelt once…I had taken it off in front of the cop to pull my information from the glove compartment (i’m short), and he gave me a warning for not wearing my seatbelt. He was an angry elf.
My best “getting pulled over” story is the one where I blew by an officer who already had someone pulled over. I was easily going around 90 in a 55 (I was late for work). My friend was following me at about the same rate of speed (we were both late), but by the time she got to the cop he was finished with the first traffic stop and caught her for speeding! I felt guilty, so I went to traffic court with her and split the fine (for wreckless driving). Expensive lesson learned.
@kristy – no tickets huh? sounds awfully suspicious to me…hope there wasn’t any flirting going on with the officers. oh and I was pulled over for speeding once in Connecticut and took off my belt to grab my info, only to have the officer write me up for no belt. I argues that I had it on before, and he said “would you rather me write you up for no seat belt OR speeding?” that’s when i realized he was giving me a break and i shut up.
OK, Kate and I want to know exactly what your trick is. We have in our life times been pulled over a total of 3 times, and guess what that matters not because we have recieved a grand total of 3 tickets. So what the heck! How do you so mr. slick manage to get out of so many?????? Since my wife will yell at me about it if she sees this I’ll pony up that two of those three are mine, but the most recent is hers in the lovely strasburg with and equally trigger finger happy (on the radar of course) police officers. So tell me your trick!
Ok…the first time was “failure to yield” which means in my language I ran a yellow light. I also got a ticket for not having current insurance but I got out of it because I did have insurance just no verification in the car. I think the next time I was pulled over was for a busted headlight and again with no verification. I think I got pulled over in a different vehicle for a headlight out too. Wait…once for speeding and I did get a ticket. Everything else I generally just got warnings or got out of paying fines.
I’d say over 20 times. doubt it’s been over 30. i had my license taken away three times before i got out of college. Pretty sure i needed 5 tickets to get it taken away the first time, not sure how many more for each additional. Lets call me a slow learner.
Some memorable ones…
Once driving in western MA on the turnpike, going very fast, got pulled over because it was my friends car and the windows were tinted very dark. Got a ticket for speeding and “obstruction of view” or whatever the legal term is for dark tint. Went to fight it, and because the cop didn’t say what was obstructing my view, the judge threw the whole thing out.
Then, one time a cop wrote me up and it totally wasn’t me she was following, (she told me she clocked me coming off an exit, i said, “m’am, i’ve been on this highway for about half an hour, i didn’t come from that exit”). she gave me a ticket anyway.
went to fight it, the judge almost seemed to believe me that she had the wrong guy, then he asked me, “well how fast were you going”…
Softball lob, but i strike out anyway…
“I don’t know, maybe 70″.
They all just laughed at me and said it was still speeding and gave me the ticket anyway.
I’m an idiot.
in partial defense, i honeslty think i’ve clocked more than 3 or 4 times the miles an average person does. Countless trips to PA and Canada from MA in my youth, and then driving over 25K just-work miles since ’05. I’m at such a higher risk.
My latest was with my wife and child, in a station wagon going to a church softball game.
Cop said, “you were going 40 in a 25. I said “sir, i just pulled on this road, there’s no way i got up to 40 yet.”
he said, “not this road, ironville pike”
“oh, yeah… ok” i replied.
been driving for 13 yrs. Now that i’m joggin my memory, maybe it’s in the 30′s. who knows. This is getting too long or i’d tell my first ticket story, that one was the best…
At last count, I’ve been pulled over a dozen times. About half of those have resulted in tickets. All for speeding, but few of them have actually been written up that way. A few have been for “not wearing a seatbelt” and at least one was for, I kid you not, a bent license plate.
I realize this makes me sound like an outlaw driver, but it’s been five years since my last encounter with a man or woman in blue pulling me over.
My favorite encounter of all time was when I was going five miles over the speed limit in the flow of traffic after leaving an Over the Rhine Christmas concert in Cincinnati.
I kid you not, I received a written “warning” after enduring a two-hour interrogation and search by police.
The police and the K9 dog they brought out were both convinced I had drugs – why else would a guy with Pa. tags be driving five miles over the speed limit with the flow of traffic on a Friday night? Of course, it didn’t help that I accused the officer of planting drugs on my car while he was interrogating me in the back of his squad car and a K9 was going crazy attacking the bumper.
I was pretty sure I had nothing to lose and that I was going to be spending the night in jail because some jerk cop wanted to play hero and make a drug bust. But fortunately, he let me go after his dog scratched up my bumper and he and his partner tore my car apart.
Byran – did you explain you are from Mass orginally and “rolling stops” are taught in driver’s Ed? If you do a complete stop up here you would get rear ended or flipped off. I go to PA every so often to visit family and I know what you mean about those small towns. It is probaly teh only time I really obey the limits.
I wish I could recall the number of times I was pulled over, but it is way to many. Majority where speeding (go figure) and I think I got off completely when it was suspected DUI and 2 warnings for speeding. I can say I have been ticketed in all of eth New England states
(oh wait is taht a good thing)
@Nathanael I’d like to hear the first ticket story.
I just went to court to fight a ticket yesterday. I think I was with you New Years 08′ when I got pulled over in Delaware for speeding…fun.
Never…not once. Yay for me! (Not quite sure how that happened though because I do speed). I did however get into an accident my senior year of high school and totaled a woman’s car. No ticket though because the woman had been speeding…lucky me. Daniel on the other hand is another story (don’t want to rat him out though).
Amazingly, I haven’t been pulled over in my WRX. Have I deserved to be? Yes.
First off, I’m going to apologize for my brother’s awful spelling/typing and then say, I’ve been pulled over three times in the past 3 months. Other than that I’ve only been pulled over four other times in 11 years. And only received one ticket for going “35 in a 30.” However, I was doing 56 in a 30. Good Ol’ Swansea cop let me off easy though!
I’ve been pulled over recently for my back head lights being out, my actual lights being out (suspected DUI) and failure to put my registration sticker on; No tickets issued.
twice.
once for having my headlight all messed up, thats a whole other story. he just gave me a warning for the headlight.
the other time me and my friend were bored on a friday night, when i was living in PA. so we decided to drive to ocean city MD. it was like november, we figured there would be no one there. anyways, at like 3:00 a.m. in delaware somewhere i get pulled over for doing 75 in a 55 i think it was. anyways, drove all the way back out to delaware for my court date and got it reduced by like 70 dollars. i think it ended up being 100 bucks, also didnt have my insurance card when i was pulled over, then i brought an expired one to the court and had to call my insurance company, and have them fax a new one to the court while i was waiting for my trial. got there just in time.
My one and only ticket…Driving on 195 in MA at 11:30pm and the guy in front of me decides to put his lights on. I guess he did’t realize it was night time. So I swerved to miss him and spun around a couple times, hit the guardrail and ended up facing oncoming traffic. Car was totaled, I went to the hospital, AND I got a ticket for “failure to stay within marked lanes”. Go figure. I fought that one and won. But my insurance bill still went up…
Matt Ralph, getting interogated for drugs… best story ever.
My first ticket ever was probably a month or so after i got my lic. My sisters ’86 Voltz Rabbit deisel was sitting out front when i happen to see a couple of her friends stop and squirt ketchup and mustard all over it. think they may have cracked a couple eggs on there too. (Somehow we thought vandalizing our friends property was good Christian fun back in the day). I ran outside and they were taking off so i hopped in her car and basically did the whole high-speed chase thing for a couple miles. I was actually side by side with them, (me on the wrong side of the road), when the cop lit his lights. i was terrified. My sister had no paperwork in her car and i had nothing on me cuz i ran out so quick. The cop told me he followed me from my street, the whole time, and said he could rip my license up right there if he wanted, (maybe it was good that i didn’t have it.). I explained the story, (left out the part about them being friends, as if someone was destroying my sisters car), and i’m pretty sure he just gave me a speeding ticket. (went through red lights, stop signs, crossed lines, yadda yadda yadda)
I walked in and told my parents and they both just said, “wow, you beat your brother”. As in i got one in a quicker amount of time since having my license than he did. they weren’t even mad. (they made me pay my own insurance).
@nate ahh how i love that story. it was an omen of bad things to come for you in the driving realm.
Since I’m reading this for the first time after the 2009 year-in-review, and since you posted this on my birthday last year, it’s clearly no coincidence of the subject at hand.
On my 18th birthday, I got pulled over for doing “around 43 in a 25 in a 1985 Plymouth Horizon hatchback. The cop asked me how old I was, and I sheepishly said I just turned 18 today. He said, and I’ll remember this forever, “Oh no, sh**! I guess we’ll have to give you a present.” The present was a ticket for “failing to observe traffic control devices.” $130 and no points. Good thing he wasn’t around when I got that little hatchback’s speedometer pinned to the max.
The oddest time was when I got pulled over after speeding over a bridge between South and North Bethlehem. I had no idea how fast I was going, probably 60 in a 35. The cop followed me all the way to my neighborhood before pulling me over. I got a speeding ticket, but no points. I must have had a really puzzled look on my face because he told me that there’s a Pennsylvania law that says that no points can be given to tickets on elevated roadways, otherwise it would have been 4 points. PA has some strange laws, and that’s one I’m glad about.
Two funny stories during my first real internship. I was doing a night-shift IT replacement at local supermarkets in western PA and eastern OH. One night I was alone and I got stopped at a police road block. Apparently a serial rapist and a murderer each escaped the state pen in that area, and they were just warning people on the road. That sure made me feel safer.
The other time I was with another intern and we were lost trying to find a store. I was going back and forth on a road with the cruise control on. Got pulled over for “speeding”, but I told him that I had the cruise on because we were looking for a store. He came back from his car and said “Do you know your registration is expired by 9 months?” I said, no, this is a company car. Apparently our boss forgot to put the paperwork through. He let us off without any warning, but he actually called my boss at 3am, which turned out to be pretty funny because he was really embarrassed. Then the cop said “Oh, and the store is 1/4 mile on the left. You’ve passed it 4 times.”