Sorry, but like I said, I've never been a fan of going strictly by the letter of the law without taking into account other mitigating circumstances. I'm in favor of using your brain. And that goes the other way around, too. For example, my Dad likes to do cute little tricks to circumvent the intent of the law by claiming that he's technically following the letter of the law. Such as the seatbelt law, for example. Now I'm not getting into whether or not I agree with seatbelt laws, because that's irrelevant. But rightly or wrongly, it's the law in Illinois to wear seatbelts. My Dad's way of rebelling against that is to pull the seatbelt over his shoulder to make it look like he's wearing it. His defense, when questioned by someone about it, is that he's following the law...he's "wearing" his seatbelt. It's that kind of brainless adherence to the letter of the law without using a little common sense, IMO, that results in cops with a power trip waiting at the bottom of a hill to nail people whose cars have inevetably accelerated in the process of going down the slope. God gave us all brains...let's use them a little.
Several years ago, me and a friend of mine went out to eat after our late shift at work. It was past midnight when we were on our way home, and we were coming up on one of the towns on the way home. I misread the first "speed limit 35" sign, thinking instead that it was a sign telling us that the speed limit 35 zone is coming up. So I continued to go 55, slowing down in preparation for coming into town. When I came up to the second sign, which I thought was the first speed limit 35 sign, I slowed down to 35. There was a cop up ahead and he pulled me over and gave me a ticket. He told me that the 35 zone starts back there over the little hill, where I thought it said "speed limit 35 ahead". I thought he was wrong, so I filed to protest the ticket in court. However, as the court date approached, I saw the signs for myself again in the daylight and saw that the cop was right...the first sign DID say speed limit 35 and he was right...legally. I knew I didn't have an argument, so I just ponied up and paid the ticket. Legally, did I deserve the ticket? Sure. But I'm interested in more than just the letter of the law. While I did rightfully deserve the ticket in a strictly legal sense, I think the cop just had a power trip and enjoyed writing tickets just because he could. It was an honest mistake and it wouldn't have hurt him to cut a little slack just because of that. Secondly, it was past midnight, no one was out, so it's not like I'm hotrodding through a school zone while the bus is unloading.
Again, to all the cops out there...COMMON SENSE, FOLKS! Just because you're legally in the right to give a ticket, that doesn't mean you should. Don't walk around with a Barney Fife complex measuring cars to see if you can nail one for being one centimeter over the line, or seeing if you can catch one still in the process of decelerating as he crosses the speed zone, etc. Use your brain a little and take some other things into consideration.
Oh, and in case anyone wonders, I wasn't rude in any way to that cop. I think I politely told him that I thought the speed zone started with that second sign, but I didn't sit there and argue with him about it. I respectfully accepted the ticket, bid him goodnight, then mailed it in after checking the box indicating that I wanted to fight it in court. And yes, I admit that I am responsible for the fact that I apparently wasn't paying enough attention to those signs. So I don't deny my responsibility in all of that. I just think it would be nice if more cops would be willing to take other things into accout other than thinking "AHA! I've got another one to nail! Mwahahahaha!" :lol:
