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Don't go 82 in a 50


Well, we started our drive to Breckenridge, Colorado for spring break today. I hopped in my buddy’s car at the last second after my New York City trip was cancelled (which is a story for a whole different blog), and we hit the road. We were about 3.5 hours into the trip when we started to hit several small towns in north Texas. These small towns come out of nowhere and are a real test to see if the person driving is paying attention to the speed limit. Needless to say, my buddy was not paying attention to the speed limit and was cooking about 80 when the speed limit dropped from 70 to 50. As far as we knew, there was no warning sign about the drop in speed limit, and by the time my buddy asked—"wait did that sign just say 45”— there were sirens right on our tail. The Police officer introduced himself as Chief Michael Hopkins of the Chillicothe police department. He was wearing a polo shirt with a badge on it which looked like one that someone might purchase at a Halloween costume shop. He told my friend who was driving that he caught him in a speed trap and that my friend was going too fast. I expected the policeman to be mad because we were going 32 mph over the speed limit and were possibly endangering the public, but he acted like that type of thing happened all the time.
The strangest part of the whole thing was he wrote my friend a ticket for only $20. I asked my friend if it was $20 for every mile an hour over the speed limit, but he was convinced that the police officer said it was only $20. When he received the actual paper citation, it didn’t indicate how much the ticket would cost, and the only thing it said was the officers name and the speed that we were going. I even tried to do some research on the price of the ticket, and all I got to was I had to call the number on the citation. I decided not to call because if it turned out to be a $640 ticket, that would’ve changed the morale of the road trip crew.
All in all, I have learned not to go 82 in a 50 because you will get caught. However, if the police are only giving out $20 tickets, we might as well be flying around these highways. I understand that may be some flawed logic, but all I’m saying is if that ticket was closer to $500 or $600 (which it could be—I don’t really trust my friend), I think I would’ve learned even more out of this experience—like learning how to ask my parents for money to help pay for the ticket.  

Comments

  1. williams.dan76March 19, 2020 at 6:40 AM

    Thanks for posting. Having driven to CO dozens of time, I have learned to watch out for the sudden drops in speed limits when approaching small towns. Take care and stay safe.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eric H.April 12, 2020 at 7:21 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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    Replies
    1. Eric H.April 12, 2020 at 7:22 PM

      Amazing! I love stories that involve getting pulled over. They are always funny and entertaining.

      Delete
  3. Patrick's BlogApril 14, 2020 at 6:09 PM

    I sympathize with this post tremendously. I was pulled over in Hardeman county, TX on the way to Breckenridge, CO this spring break also. I was going 72 in a 55, the speed limit being 75 about 20 yards back from where I was pulled over. The police officer was from St. Louis and went to the same highschool as me. He still gave me a ticket.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kelley's BlogApril 22, 2020 at 6:20 PM

    I've never been pulled over before, but I can imagine how nerve-wracking it must be. When I'm home, my mom always tells me to "watch for speed traps" or "watch your speed limit," and I never really think about it when I go out, but this will help keep things into perspective for me for sure! Thanks for posting!

    ReplyDelete

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