Just some of the stupid things I see

If I get "lit up" I will throw my 4 ways on to indicate I am planning to stop,but not till I find a safe place to pull over. I am not stopping in a lane of traffic if there is no shoulder to get off the road.
I had a MO DOT instruct me over the CB to take the next exit and pull into a church parking lot. Of course there was a big sign at the entrance that said " no trucks". But, it was a safe parking spot,and lightening did not strike me down.

 

I used to do that....put on my 4-ways and look for a "safe" place to stop....used to think at the very least, the officer would take that into consideration in determining how heavy handed he would be with the citations.

Then one day, I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. Speed limit was 55, and my speedometer was showing 55...and the car ahead of me was pulling away...obviously going faster than I was. Cop lit me up, though, and I knew about a mile up the road around the bend, there was a large gravel lot...so I put on my 4-ways, reduced my speed, and eased on up the road into that lot.

It didn't do me a lick of good, though...cop wrote me a BS ticket for 62 in a 55 (and claimed the car that was pulling away from me was clocked at 57...STILL trying to figure out how that works...), and stated that he was not going to give me a warning because they have been receiving a lot of calls about speeding coal trucks going in and out of the local coal mine and it would look bad ON HIM if he didn't write the citation. I had never been to that coal mine, though, and the carrier had even received phone calls from locals in that area COMPLIMENTING my driving the speed limit, maintaining proper following distance, slowing down in town, etc... None of that mattered, though, just like the fact that I wasn't speeding didn't seem to matter to this cop. He wasn't concerned with the fact that it looks bad for ME when he writes that BS ticket....as long as HE looks good. In all honesty, I would be just as pissed if he had given me a warning, though, because I wasn't speeding.

...but how does a person prove they weren't speeding?

Since then, I have a "F it" attitude. If you hit your lights now, I'm stopping now. If there's no shoulder, I'll pull off as far as I can...but I'm not going to run off the road and possibly get stuck, so if I block the road so be it. I will not drive on up the road where I know there's a safe place to stop...if you wanted me to stop up there, you should have waited to light me up until we got there. I will not pull into a private parking lot that is marked "no trucks" because the property owner has certain rights (as in the right to control who or what comes onto his property) and you as a police officer do not trump that property owner's rights. I will not comply with any directions to trespass on private property where it is clear the property owner does not want me or my truck on the premises....because if my truck damages the property or the lot, it won't be the officer or his department that gets the repair bill.

 

Common sense would eliminate the need for a lot of laws, such as the headlights on when wipers in use, or foggy, etc. People should be able to realize that in such conditions, they can't be seen.

Now, to add to the equation, this morning I'm traveling south on I29, I turn my blinker on to pass a slower vehicle, look in my side mirror and see a blinking light behind me. I keep looking, because there hadn't been anything behind me. Then the blinking light stopped, and I was passed by a black car with no lights on. It was about 5:30 this morning, and I'm so glad I saw that blinking light before I pulled out. I turned my headlights off and on a couple times after he passed, and after passing a car and truck, he turned his lights on.

 

So having a black cloud over my head aint so bad after all.

 

I now have the same attitude and apparently we're not alone. Watched a DOT cop lite up a Wal-Mart truck just before a rest area. He drove right past the entrance and stopped on the side of the road. Apparently he feels the same as I do. "You want to do an inspection big boy, your going to do it in traffic." Seems every time I try to be easy going the badge pulls out an Eric Cartman attitude.

 

Well now, I'm really impressed. I don't believe my carrier ever received a phone call complimenting me on my driving. . .Wonder how many of us have had that really happen???????

 

The cigar smoke killed your chances for that to happen.

 

Cigar smoke is a fine replacement for clouds of black smoke from the stack of a diesel engine!

 

Be glad the church didn't catch you in there or you and the officer would have been in for it. Church parking lots are notoriously thin and both of you would have been liable for any and all damage, no matter what the officer said.

 

Didn't you know that the DOT is above God? The only thing above the DOT is an IRS auditor. Know your place!