getmygoat

Last weekend I was pulled over on my way home after seeing a late movie. It was nearing 2 AM, and I was going a little bit fast because I was very much looking forward to going home and getting some rest. I knew the speed limit was 45 mph, but I set the cruise control a little higher because I also knew the police were out in full force trying to meet quotas. Apparently I did not know the speed limit in my own hometown as well as I thought I did, because the limit changed to 35, and I was stopped for exceeding the limit.

Somehow I got off with a warning. I was straight with the officer - I told him I just wanted to go home and get some rest. I didn’t cry or try to show him my boobs. I think he was expecting to find someone under the influence or perhaps under age because of the hour he pulled me over, and I was as sober as a judge. I was quite relieved that he cut me a break, because I can’t afford a speeding ticket AND next semester’s tuition. The kind officer also informed me that if I’m going as little as 7 mph over the speed limit, since I have a warning, I could receive a moving violation. As much as it sucks, I am adhering to the limit as strictly as I can - and in some places the speed limit is WAY too slow for the amount of traffic (as the people driving behind me have informed me via flashing their brights, honking their horns, and displaying certain appendages). I take it all in stride, because I know that I’m not going to be the one getting pulled over.

I would like to clarify that this is not a gripe about getting a warning. I got a really good deal there, and I was in fact breaking the rules. My ignorance is not a good excuse; I should have been more attentive. The warning is not my problem.

My problem is the fact that, since I have been pulled over and started doing EXACTLY the speed limit wherever possible, I find myself getting passed by a lot of police cars. These cars are not using their sirens or lights, but they are exceeding the limit and therefore breaking the law. It frustrates me that officers of the law frequently place themselves above the law.

Is it a big deal when an officer passes me on the road? Not at all. However I am also watching a case on television in which a New Jersey State Patrol officer is charged with recklessly killing two young girls. He was following a speeder, ran a stop sign, and struck their vehicle. Both teens died at the scene.

Some people join the police force (or the armed forces or find other positions of authority) in order to boss others around, make the rules, and consequently ignore those rules. I do not believe that all people in those positions seek them out specifically to have the means to break the rules. However, I do see a prevalent attitude of being above the rules among authority figures, and this must stop. It may seem harmless when police officers speed, but the family of those sisters in New Jersey thinks otherwise, I’m sure. Please, consider the wellbeing of the people around you - the people you were hired to protect.