digital pen, digital paper.

Articles of Confession

Mid-day. I am in the truck and traveling for work, going from one job site to another.

417. I am speeding along as I always do on this stretch of highway, music playing, sunglasses on. I approach and find myself behind a new-model, white Mustang GT in the left lane.

Speed limit. Odd that a white Mustang GT would only be going 65mph in the left lane of the highway.

Signal and change lanes. As I pass, I can barely see in through the heavily tinted glass.

Laptop. That explains it. He isn’t paying attention and would otherwise be speeding along like I am.

Toll plaza. I approach at 60mph and depress the brakes only at the last second, then resume my quick and steady pace down the road. I realize that my own laptop is sitting in the passenger seat and I could check my email as I drive.

Lean over. Keeping one hand on the wheel, I cannot quite reach the zipper to my laptop case. It will have to wait. As I sit up striaght and glance in the rear view, I see blue flashing.

Undercover. It is that same white Mustang GT. He had a laptop because he is Seminole County Sheriff. Now he is pulling me over.

I comply. This is not my first ticket, so I know the drill. Windows down, sunglasses and music off, two hands on the wheel, wait for instruction. He identifies himself, and mechanically comments that he is pulling me over for speeding. As if this conversation were being recorded.

81 in a 65. That was something he could ignore, but speeding through a toll plaza he could not. I hand over my license, registration, and insurance card. He makes a few notes and shares some brief comments on it being a company vehicle and how I am probably traveling for work. I confirm and he walks back to his white Mustang GT.

Oh, lucky day! Or so he tells me. He informs that a speeding ticket for 81mph is 4 points on my license and roughly $240.00. Tailgating him would result in an additional ticket worth 3 points and $190.00. There are three zones which double traffic fines. Construction, school, and also toll plazas. That third ticket for 57 in a 25mph toll plaza, $460.00 and 4 more points.

12 points in twelve months. Knowledge I already had, but a short lecture ensues to explain the law. That is what it takes to end up with a suspended license. He asks how many points those three tickets will total. Without allowing me to display my skills with basic mathmatics, he answers his own question before I can speak. 11 points. Only one shy of suspension.

Honesty, the best policy. Because I was honest and straight forward with him, even though I barely spoke thus far, he has written me only a single ticket for Violation of a Traffic Control Device, which carries a fine of only $141.00 and 3 points on my license.

Contest. I have that as an option, but he has video of my movements since Sanford, several miles back. It’s not meant as a threat, but I should know what I will have to defend against.

On the road again. Keeping the speed limit, I keep one eye on the rear view. Five miles down the road, the white Mustang GT is no longer in sight. Slowly I creep back to 75mph.

Damn lead foot.