Posted on 12/18/2018 7:18:21 AM PST by raccoonradio
To the 18 year old kid I stopped on SR 10,
You’re welcome. I’d like to believe that you were minutes away from creating an unspeakable Christmas tragedy when I stopped you. If not only killing yourself, you were well on your way to killing some innocent person who was minding their own business doing nothing else wrong but being in front of you.
You said you didn’t realize how fast you were going. That’s a lie. You may not realize when you’re doing 45 in a 35 but you are fully aware of every mile per hour at 100. You realize it with every bump you hit. You realize it as you pass cars so fast the wind moves your car. You realize it every time you drift over the line and when you move the wheel the car reacts a lot quicker than you’re used to. You absolutely realized it.
You were scared when I stopped you. You were visibly shaking and breathing hard. Unfortunately, you were scared one minute too late and for the wrong reason. You should have been scared that you were trying to kill yourself. I know you’re invincible. I know that you can’t even fathom your own death.
I can tell you dozens of stories of dead and broken 18 year old bodies that I’ve pulled from cars. Broken bodies that I’ve found in front yards after crashes. Unrecognizable bodies. They thought they were invincible too. They weren’t. They were gone so they missed the part where I had to tell their parents that they were dead. Part of your soul disappears every time you have to tell parents that their kid is dead.
I don’t KNOW your parents, but I know them. I know that when you leave every day they say “Be careful. Drive safe.” Those aren’t just words. That is the very last act of them pleading with you to come home safe. When they get a knock on the door, it’s not “Good afternoon ma’am. Your 18 year old son just had a massive heart attack. It’s “Can we sit down? Your son has been involved in a very serious crash. I’m so sorry. He’s died.” When you leave the house they know that, far and away, the best chance you have of dying that day is in that car. Sometimes you’re the innocent person hit by someone with no regard for anyone else and sometimes you’re the one with no regard for anyone else. Today you were the latter.
You seemed like a really nice kid who made a bad decision. I don’t feel bad about this ticket at all. In fact, I’m proud of it. I hope you’re paying it off for months and with every payment you think about how it wasn’t worth it. I hope you slow down. I hope that when your mom tells you to “drive safe” you make a promise to her, and yourself, that you will. I hope you can envision me sitting in your kitchen telling your screaming mother that you have been killed.
Slow down. Please. You are not invincible. I promise.
Or has another Duchess of Hazzard been created? There are a lot of presumptions in the old order that are no longer kept in the new, and this cop’s “hopes” may be viewed as mere fighting words to be opposed (with the support of a growing majority of the legal system) at every turn.
Rule #1 of a fight: Know the territory. Far better would be something that rings true where the presumptions are the exception rather than the rule.
I love this. Saw it on FB yesterday. Think it’s great. I can only imagine what cops see. I’ve seen things. If you have kids that are driving you can’t stop preaching to them. Good for this guy. I’m making my kids read it.
What in the hell are you talking about?
About truth and facts, not about a world that is rapidly ceasing to exist. Go ahead and presume on if you must.
Where was the officer’s urging to the parents “TAKE AWAY THAT CAR”?
Now this is one of the few things that would make sense. Most of this is virtue signalling of an old world against a crazy new one.
Excellent
If he said that, someone would criticize him for butt-ing in Nanny State style. And you don’t know that the parents won’t do that when they find out he got an expensive ticket and likely an insurance surcharge.
You’ve lost me on your old world new world dialogue. I just don’t get it. What this guy did has probably gotten parents to sit down and yet again reiterate to their kids that when they are driving they are in possession of a DEADLY WEAPON. You can never repeat it enough. Good for this guy for giving the reminder.
The more I thought about what could happen if a tire blew or something else.....I backed off.
My excuse if I had been pulled over.....had to try it once.
You tried, at least.
I once got up to at least 125. I had to slow down because the hood was rattling so badly I was convinced it was going to come off.
I’ve overheard a 17 year old bragging about this exact stuff. He truly believes he is a “superior” driver and could be in NASCAR. He’s enabled by having access to his rich parents’ powerful pickup and has already outrun the police on one occasion (or more likely they gave up the chase for safety reasons). He goes with his friends out on country roads and does “truck surfing” - standing up in the pickup bed at high speeds. I guess mere hill-topping is SO 20th century...
While we have lower speed limits here, and it’s the “speed delta” that kills, I find that laws seem to define what is “ethical” for many while in Germany I can go as fast as I want and nobody thinks twice about it.
What is strange is somebody driving YOU at 100mph, without a consideration for the fact that it is an unusual experience for some (in a minivan no-less) :)
When I was a teen, the Driver’s Ed teacher would play an old reel-to-reel film showing footage of car accidents and their grisly aftermath. I can’t say it made me a perfect driver, but it was always in the back of my mind, and perhaps kept me from some of the more egregious offenses.
If you aren’t willing to obey simple traffic laws then let’s call for open borders since following the law is unimportant
Come on ....100mph in a 45 mph????? That’s insanity
What about the guy on the motorcycle putting along right behind him? Yikes!
When one of them dies or is a quad for life we’ll see how he brags
If he didn’t realize how fast he was going he drives that fast a LOT.
I got a lecture like that one time when I got caught drag racing. I thought sure we were going to be arrested. The police officer didn’t even give us a ticket. It was a warning I took to heart. I never did a stupid thing like that again. Other stupid things, maybe, but not that.
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