Posted on 10/03/2013 2:03:10 PM PDT by lee martell
I admit it, I drove in the car pool lane as a single driver. I got in a hurry and started playing that game of seeing what I could get away with. I drove from the Veteran's Hospital in Santa Rosa, toward San Rafael, past acres of vineyards, past sleep cows, past car lots full of vehicles and tried to save some time.
All was well until some other driver peered out of her SUV to see me whizzing past, then and decided to join me in the express lane. That single driver was soon followed by another in one of those new electric cars shaped like a toaster. Soon this growing caravan of 'naughty children' passed by a police car, windows all blackened, was it one of those empty decoys? The headlights of the cop car blink on as the 'monster' awakens. Everybody got out of the car pool lane and back to the middle lane except for me. At the last moment, I saw the colored lights come on. London Bridges coming down! Damn. I gambled and I lost.
When I'm driving other folks around, I am much more rule bound. Sometimes I slip a little when driving alone. This was a good lesson for me to calm down, and stay out of that car pool bear trap. I imagine others have had similar experiences. I was advised to contest the ticket in case the officer didn't show up in court, but I didn't want to wheel and deal with the court system, not this time anyway. I will pay about $35. a month for X number of months. Oh well, 57 years old going on 15, sometimes it's that way.
CA is the only place I’ve driven where they tell you what the fine is right there on the sign.
Public Enemy #1
Them’s my old stompin’ grounds from the Sixties and Seventies, back before it got fully colonized.
Scfflaw! Next thing you know you’ll be ripping tags of pillows or using a toilet that uses too much water or buying a black market 100 watt incandescent bulb of lighting a fire in your now banned wood burner...it’s a slippery slope.
I got a speeding ticket yesterday. Megadeth doesn’t go well with 25 MPH streets.
CA is the only place I’ve driven where they tell you what the fine is right there on the sign.
Ya gotta remember this is Taxifornia, make sure you read the whole sign! It states what the minimum fine is, once you get to court you find out about all the little extra add ons like, night court , funding the CHP, etc., etc., trust me what you see on the sign is only the begining.
BUILD THE FREEWAYS OR STOP LETTING MILLIONS INTO THE COUNTRY, THEY ALL HAVE TO DRIVE TO WORK
Yeah, there's a whole industry around replacing those signs every year.
-PJ
just don’t speed
considering that your average trips are less than a half hour, and the most you can increase you speed by is 10-20 miles over the limit, for SHORT periods of time, the most you will save driving like crazy is 5 minutes MAYBE off a half hour, less for smaller trips
Is a $400 ticket and possible accident worth those few extra minutes?
Probably a lot of rear-enders occur because people are reading the wordy signs.
Life in the HOV lane, gonna make you lose your mind...
I assume it was 101 south. I have driven that route a time or two myself, from Santa Rosa, to 37, to Vallejo, to I-80, to Fairfield. I do not hardly ever remember seeing a CHP vehicle, but I guess they are out there.
It is actually. Because the averages work out in your favor. I speed every single time I get behind the wheel, 4 or more trips a day, I get caught MAYBE once every 3 years. 5 minutes times 4 trips times 365 days times 3 years equals a good chunk of time. And I never get in accidents, so that “risk” hasn’t proven real. Not driving like crazy, just not obeying arbitrary signage.
I once veered into the HOV lane in Franklin, TN to avoid a guy in the middle left lane that was slamming on his brakes to shift two lanes right (guess he just realized it was his exit - idiot on the phone).
I got pulled over and ticketed. The fine was $160. I went to court. Judge dismissed it and actually admonished the officer for not listening to my story and that I avoid a wreck.
It’s great living in the sane, real world.
I don’t understand your point. We are now giving illegals drivers licenses? So why can’t they crowd the freeways even more now that they are legal (to be on the street that is...)
Yes my tongue is firmly placed in my cheek!
I wish they had highways that you can pay a premium to ensure that you will NOT be in traffic. A few weeks ago it took 7 hours to make a 4 hour drive due to traffic. I was so pissed that I wish they had a lane that I could pay 100 dollars to drive on. Seriously with my EZ Pass, it should not be hard to set up. Let’s get this started. I know of no other way to ensure that it takes the time necessary to get where you need to go. Traffic is getting out of control.
I do not feel bad or sympathize with him. If EVERYBODY did what he did, he would have been stopped dead in the car-pool lane. The ONLY reason it moved him quickly was that others were following the law, while he was not.
I WOULD sympathize if the “law-breaking” was victimless. In this case, it is not really. It is like driving on the shoulder, which also is no problem until everybody does it and then an emergency vehicle needs the shoulder, or someone is parked on the shoulder and you run into them.
Well! That’ll teach you to endanger others.
Ah, Williamson County judges. Sometimes you get lucky, but it’s a crap shoot. At least there are some good judges left in Williamson County. Davidson is worse, but some of the circuit court (upper) judges are very good.
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