Monday, December 22, 2008
Nearly Unscathed
We completed the bulk of our journey to the Northeast last night, pulling into Virginia at about 6:30 PM, Eastern.
Over 1400 miles to get here, and throughout the Southern states, the nice thing was the posted 70 MPH limit and the lack of traffic. The roads were largely empty as we cruised through Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. In Virginia, things got a little more hairy as the traffic thickened, but was still moving.
At about mile 1450 of 1457, I was on our last stretch of Interstate highway, I-66 approaching Washington, DC, where radar detectors are illegal. Of course, they're illegal in all of Virginia, which means when we entered the state from the Southwest corner, the trusty detector was taken down and put away. No need to chance a fine for using one.
Anyway, as we were approximately five miles from the exit into the neighborhood we needed to wind up at, I evidently blew right past a Virginia state trooper who was sitting in the darkness of the median. He came out, chased me down and, as he approached, I said to my wife, "Gosh, I hope he's not coming for me."
He was.
I looked down as he approached and I was doing about 70 MPH. I really wasn't sure of the limit, though I-66 is a four or five lane wide highway and most of the highway time in Virginia had been at a 65 limit. So maybe I was going a little fast, but at least it wasn't super-high.
He came up and was very polite and seemed pretty relaxed. I gave him my info and he asked if I knew what the limit was.
"Ummm, 65?"
"No, sir, it's 60 here."
Well, shit.
"Did you have any idea of your speed at all?"
He made it sound like I was doing 120 MPH.
"Well, I just said to my wife that as you approached, I looked down and I was doing 70 MPH."
"No," he replied, "You were doing 79 MPH.... all by yourself."
All by myself? As opposed to what? Drafting off of someone else?
"Any particular reason you're going that fast?"
Um, the fact that all the traffic is? The fact that 79 MPH on a wide highway isn't very fast? Because my car can do it? Because I wasn't doing 89? Any of these are legit in my opinion. But I went with: "Well, we're about 1400 miles into a 1450 mile trip." (It was actually closer to the end than that, but I was thinking as quick as I could.)
He then asked me if my record in Texas was clean and I said it definitely was. He had me wait that long time where you know he's doing more than just checking your record. When he came back to the window, he had a ticket for the full 79 in a 60 and a lecture, wherein he reiterated no less than 3 or 4 times that I was one MPH away from it being 20 over, which is automatically reckless driving in Virginia. And, to top that off, would have meant I would be required to come back to Virginia to go to court. Yeah, like hell, Smokey.
Like I said, he kept telling me that.... to the point where you almost want to say, "Yes, but it wasn't one more MPH, so give it a rest."
I also wanted to ask him why he asked me if my record was clean in Texas -- if you're going to write me for the full ticket anyway, with no break at all, then just go do it. I resisted asking that because it would probably do me no good, but I couldn't resist essentially making him admit it was a speed trap.
"Hey," I asked, "Is it 60 MPH all along I-66 here?"
"No, it was 65 back a mile or two and then it dropped to 60 and now it'll drop even more up ahead."
"Oh, okay."
Yes, so you basically sit right there where it drops to 60 MPH, an oddball limit, and pick people off who might be doing 80 leftover from the 65 and 70 zones further south.... and when they're doing 80, you get to not only give them a hefty ticket, but you get to tag them with an asinine "reckless driving" summons. Great work, Virginia.
Over 1400 miles to get here, and throughout the Southern states, the nice thing was the posted 70 MPH limit and the lack of traffic. The roads were largely empty as we cruised through Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. In Virginia, things got a little more hairy as the traffic thickened, but was still moving.
At about mile 1450 of 1457, I was on our last stretch of Interstate highway, I-66 approaching Washington, DC, where radar detectors are illegal. Of course, they're illegal in all of Virginia, which means when we entered the state from the Southwest corner, the trusty detector was taken down and put away. No need to chance a fine for using one.
Anyway, as we were approximately five miles from the exit into the neighborhood we needed to wind up at, I evidently blew right past a Virginia state trooper who was sitting in the darkness of the median. He came out, chased me down and, as he approached, I said to my wife, "Gosh, I hope he's not coming for me."
He was.
I looked down as he approached and I was doing about 70 MPH. I really wasn't sure of the limit, though I-66 is a four or five lane wide highway and most of the highway time in Virginia had been at a 65 limit. So maybe I was going a little fast, but at least it wasn't super-high.
He came up and was very polite and seemed pretty relaxed. I gave him my info and he asked if I knew what the limit was.
"Ummm, 65?"
"No, sir, it's 60 here."
Well, shit.
"Did you have any idea of your speed at all?"
He made it sound like I was doing 120 MPH.
"Well, I just said to my wife that as you approached, I looked down and I was doing 70 MPH."
"No," he replied, "You were doing 79 MPH.... all by yourself."
All by myself? As opposed to what? Drafting off of someone else?
"Any particular reason you're going that fast?"
Um, the fact that all the traffic is? The fact that 79 MPH on a wide highway isn't very fast? Because my car can do it? Because I wasn't doing 89? Any of these are legit in my opinion. But I went with: "Well, we're about 1400 miles into a 1450 mile trip." (It was actually closer to the end than that, but I was thinking as quick as I could.)
He then asked me if my record in Texas was clean and I said it definitely was. He had me wait that long time where you know he's doing more than just checking your record. When he came back to the window, he had a ticket for the full 79 in a 60 and a lecture, wherein he reiterated no less than 3 or 4 times that I was one MPH away from it being 20 over, which is automatically reckless driving in Virginia. And, to top that off, would have meant I would be required to come back to Virginia to go to court. Yeah, like hell, Smokey.
Like I said, he kept telling me that.... to the point where you almost want to say, "Yes, but it wasn't one more MPH, so give it a rest."
I also wanted to ask him why he asked me if my record was clean in Texas -- if you're going to write me for the full ticket anyway, with no break at all, then just go do it. I resisted asking that because it would probably do me no good, but I couldn't resist essentially making him admit it was a speed trap.
"Hey," I asked, "Is it 60 MPH all along I-66 here?"
"No, it was 65 back a mile or two and then it dropped to 60 and now it'll drop even more up ahead."
"Oh, okay."
Yes, so you basically sit right there where it drops to 60 MPH, an oddball limit, and pick people off who might be doing 80 leftover from the 65 and 70 zones further south.... and when they're doing 80, you get to not only give them a hefty ticket, but you get to tag them with an asinine "reckless driving" summons. Great work, Virginia.
Labels: on the road again, speeding, traveling
