daveSanborn
Active Member
Saturday afternoon I took my car out for a drive. There was an SCCA event aboard the local Marine Base and Saturday was reserved for active duty personnel, but figured I'd stop by to see what was ahead of me on Sunday. All went well as I sat and watched the cars run through some agressive driving on the closed course. I watched for about an hour and then left for home looking forward to Sunday.
Upon exiting the base there was "zero" traffic on the 4 lane divided highway (in either direction). A rare occurance around here and I decided to take full advantage of it. With Van Halen launching into "Unchained" at eardrum-shattering volume I nailed the gas, hit third at 5500 and picked up speed quickly.
And then I saw him coming towards me.
I immediately let off the gas, but the damage was already done. I put my blinker on and pulled off the road at the next intersection and waited for him to catch up to me. I was standing/leaning against the car door when he pulled in behind me.
I got one of those speeding tickets that can't be mailed in. The State Trooper was nice enough, but no amount of groveling was going to get me out of this. He admited that he couldn't blame me, liked the car and stated that he'd be tempted to do it himself. He did reduce the speed from 87 to 78 mostly because of my 100% spotless driving record dating back to the early 1980's.
Motherfucker. How could I have been so stupid? Okay, don't answer that. After I spotted him coming towards me I looked down at the radar detector and sure enough it was lit up like a fucking christmas tree, but the audible warning went un-noticed due to fuckin' David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen. I actually blame ALL of this on Dave&Eddie. It's got to be somebodies fault and it can't be mine so Dave&Eddie are taking the fall for this. I somehow doubt that they'll be summoned to appear though and I'll get stuck with this. Motherfucker. I am well beyond pissed off at myself.
I need a lawyer. In the State of NC 15 MPH over the speed limit is grounds for an automatic 30 day loss of driving priveleges. That isn't an option for me.
I have options... it's just that none of them are good ones.
- Lawyer = $$$, possibly $$$$.
- I've never been to "driving school", but I'm not sure if the excessive speed would allow me to pursue this route.... and.... driving school is a full weekend of sitting in a classroom full of other losers. Between now and MBBIII most of my weekends with losers are booked solid.
- NC has the "prayer for judgement" escape clause, but I'm not sure I want to play that card in this situtation.
- Faulty equipment? Not available, I've used it before and the judge wouldn't buy off on that one with the excessive speed.
- Fuck it. Do the time wearing Grabber Orange. Not just because of the color, but this really isn't even an option.... State Farm would butt-rape me for the next 3 years on the 5 vehicles we have insured with them, not to mention what will happen if Haggerty finds out.
I'll see a lawyer this week and let you all know how screwed I am.
Upon exiting the base there was "zero" traffic on the 4 lane divided highway (in either direction). A rare occurance around here and I decided to take full advantage of it. With Van Halen launching into "Unchained" at eardrum-shattering volume I nailed the gas, hit third at 5500 and picked up speed quickly.
And then I saw him coming towards me.
I immediately let off the gas, but the damage was already done. I put my blinker on and pulled off the road at the next intersection and waited for him to catch up to me. I was standing/leaning against the car door when he pulled in behind me.
I got one of those speeding tickets that can't be mailed in. The State Trooper was nice enough, but no amount of groveling was going to get me out of this. He admited that he couldn't blame me, liked the car and stated that he'd be tempted to do it himself. He did reduce the speed from 87 to 78 mostly because of my 100% spotless driving record dating back to the early 1980's.
Motherfucker. How could I have been so stupid? Okay, don't answer that. After I spotted him coming towards me I looked down at the radar detector and sure enough it was lit up like a fucking christmas tree, but the audible warning went un-noticed due to fuckin' David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen. I actually blame ALL of this on Dave&Eddie. It's got to be somebodies fault and it can't be mine so Dave&Eddie are taking the fall for this. I somehow doubt that they'll be summoned to appear though and I'll get stuck with this. Motherfucker. I am well beyond pissed off at myself.
I need a lawyer. In the State of NC 15 MPH over the speed limit is grounds for an automatic 30 day loss of driving priveleges. That isn't an option for me.
I have options... it's just that none of them are good ones.
- Lawyer = $$$, possibly $$$$.
- I've never been to "driving school", but I'm not sure if the excessive speed would allow me to pursue this route.... and.... driving school is a full weekend of sitting in a classroom full of other losers. Between now and MBBIII most of my weekends with losers are booked solid.
- NC has the "prayer for judgement" escape clause, but I'm not sure I want to play that card in this situtation.
- Faulty equipment? Not available, I've used it before and the judge wouldn't buy off on that one with the excessive speed.
- Fuck it. Do the time wearing Grabber Orange. Not just because of the color, but this really isn't even an option.... State Farm would butt-rape me for the next 3 years on the 5 vehicles we have insured with them, not to mention what will happen if Haggerty finds out.
I'll see a lawyer this week and let you all know how screwed I am.