95 in a 55? Hah.

Approximately 3.5 months ago (8/31/05) I was pulled over going north on route 3. I was driving the kids to Grandma's house, and was in the borrowed Diesel VW Beetle.

On this trip, I made a few mistakes:
* Thought speed limit was 65, rather than the actual 55. It's 65 on 93 north, the road I had been taking more commonly.
* Was being regularly passed on the right at 75mph, and eventually set the cruise to a reasonable 80 mph. (Again, I thought the speed limit was 65.)

A police car came up behind me. At first I didn't recognize it as such: I simply saw a car accelerating towards me at great speed, which then pulled up right on my tail. At that point, I realized it was a police car.

I moved to switch lanes to let him go by, at which point he flipped on his lights.

He told me I was going "95+". Now, this is a VW Beetle. A diesel one. It might be able to hit that top speed, if I had the pedal to the floor. And a wind behind me. And was going down hill.

He made both of the girls cry by telling me I should be put in jail, and that I had risked killing them.

I contested the ticket: even if I didn't win, with a $400 ticket, I didn't really have much to lose, and I knew full well that I wasn't going that fast. (These days, I'd be able to use GPS tracklogs to prove it, if it ever got to court. Although I have no idea if that would be acceptable as evidence. Would be interesting to see, although I'm not willing to get pulled over to try it.)

The hearing was today. I entered the magistrate's hearing room, the officer read the charge, and informed the magistrate that the officer had not delivered the citation.

I got off scot free, not having to answer any questions other than my name. Although I was told if I was ever in front of that magistrate again, I would not dodge the bullet he had been about to send to a very uncomfortable part of my body.

I got very lucky. Very lucky indeed.