I exited off I75 onto Highway 82 to Birmingham, Alabama. I had cleared the normal fast food and gas stations. I was traveling between two trucks, therefore, I was not really paying much attention to my speed. An ambulance (with his lights off) was passing me on the inside lane. As we all topped a small rise in the road, there was a police officer parked horizontally on the side of the road. The truck in front of me swerved to the inside lane so I followed. Moments later, the police car was behind me with his lights on. My thoughts were, surely not me. I was in between two trucks. So, I pull over, he asks me what year my Nissan is. I tell him. He asks for my license and tells me he clocked me doing 72 in a 55. I told him I wasn’t going any faster than the truck in front of me or the ambulance passing us. He said he didn’t see it that way. He takes my license back to his car. A few minutes later he comes back, tells me to take my license and proceeds to have me sign the ticket. Telling me it doesn’t mean I am admitting guilt and that I can look on the computer in 7 – 10 days for the court date or the fine amount.
Here’s the kicker. I had just bought the vehicle from my sister. It was still titled in her name. Kentucky license plate. (I had Alabama driver’s license.) As he came back to the car, my thoughts were, here we go. I began taking all the paperwork from the glove compartment thinking I was about to have to explain the whole situation to him. He never asked for insurance and registration. He obviously didn’t even run the license plates. Otherwise he would have seen the car was not even registered in my name. It could have been stolen for all he knew.
As I drive away, approximately 5 miles down the highway, someone has painted a cartoon sign of a fat cop holding a laser gun with the words, “speed trap” beneath the picture.
How can crap like that be legal and they obviously are know for speed traps and continue to get away with it. How do I know he didn’t have that rate of speed locked in from another time?
I just got car insurance in my name after being without a vehicle for over 1 year. I can only imagine what this is going to do to my rates!