The other night, I was driving from downtown Gone West to the K.s' house. I stopped at the light to get on the freeway next to a police car, and when we accelerated onto the on-ramp, I was ahead of it.
That silly police car followed directly behind me for five miles before it finally took an exit, and I drove exactly 56 miles an hour the entire time.
Cars around me were passing me and passing the police car. I kept driving 56 miles an hour.
The rain fell harder. I kept driving 56 miles an hour.
And I kept staying steady in the middle of my lane.
It wasn't that I was worried about a crime. I had sipped about 3/4 of a drink over 2.5 hours before I left my friend's party. I could have passed field sobriety tests.
I just didn't want to pay for a speeding ticket, or a failure to stay within lane ticket. Traffic tickets in this state are incredibly expensive. My dad got one for $300 for something when he was here - what, he was never really sure. If you can get a ticket and never be sure what it was for, things are bad.
I refused to speed up because I refused to spend $300 of my paycheck on a traffic ticket.
Also, I have a perfect record so far: I have never been pulled over in this country.* I'm not going to ruin that now.
...
* Countries in which I do not have a never-pulled-over record: Rwanda, Uganda, Liberia.
That silly police car followed directly behind me for five miles before it finally took an exit, and I drove exactly 56 miles an hour the entire time.
Cars around me were passing me and passing the police car. I kept driving 56 miles an hour.
The rain fell harder. I kept driving 56 miles an hour.
And I kept staying steady in the middle of my lane.
It wasn't that I was worried about a crime. I had sipped about 3/4 of a drink over 2.5 hours before I left my friend's party. I could have passed field sobriety tests.
I just didn't want to pay for a speeding ticket, or a failure to stay within lane ticket. Traffic tickets in this state are incredibly expensive. My dad got one for $300 for something when he was here - what, he was never really sure. If you can get a ticket and never be sure what it was for, things are bad.
I refused to speed up because I refused to spend $300 of my paycheck on a traffic ticket.
Also, I have a perfect record so far: I have never been pulled over in this country.* I'm not going to ruin that now.
...
* Countries in which I do not have a never-pulled-over record: Rwanda, Uganda, Liberia.
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