New York State Troopers

Of course I do. I work and live in the general area, and you admittedly do not. I deliver off exit 19 frequently. I stop at that rest area since it's the last bathroom before Albany unless you want to mess with the Pee-lot in Rotterdam, or squeeze a rig into a gas station (or water the grass).

We see this a lot hereabouts. Large blue sign 5 miles and 1 mile previous that say "Rest area ahead", coupled with most of the other trucks suddenly either heading for the right lane or slowing down, followed by one or more jumping out in the left lane to blow by, usually followed by them either passing the station or diving right again all over the brakes. The typical setup for their inspection signage is on both sides of the interstate half a mile before the inspection station, then a quarter-mile or 1000 ft from the rest area, and again at the entrance to the rest area. Even if they were lazy putting out the signs, there had to have been something about the whole situation that triggered a WTF.

As @scythe08 mentioned, you're missing important visual cues. We've all done it, and doubtless will do it again. But this time it's you, and you solicited the opinions of the internet, which by the tenor of this thread, are not siding with you. C'est la vie, and all that jazz. I'm off to get my popcorn, since this thread is rapidly approaching the famed "arguing on the internet" trope.

 

He's arguing in circles. Threads like these should be locked after 4 pages lol

 

No, you messed up when you didn't enter like the signs had instructed you to.

The fact you stopped when you realized the mistake is in your favour. It's obvious you didn't see the signs in time, which you admit. DataQ it if you like. Explain what happened but don't deny you messed up.

 

Because you were able to stop. If you cannot remember the past mile, you are not paying attention. It's quite simple really.

 

The question of if you did anything illegal so why do you have to prove you are innocent is not so simple. You did not pull in where required. You admit that. In most states traffic offenses are strict liability crimes. That means you don't have to have any intent behind them. Even if you don't know what the speed limit is you can still be cited. It is likely this is one of those offenses so the fact that you didn't pull in is a violation.

Learn from it and move on.