I am so mad right now, I am in a rage.

Paralipomenon

This is a vent.

I just showed up at work and am livid.

The reason?

I was pulled over on the way to work.

I am not one to rant against the police, and even now I realize that this was the actions of one police officer, not all law enforcement.

I am driving along the 401, which holds the dubious distinction of being the busiest highway in the world. While usually it is up to 9 lanes wide per direction, at some point it starts out with 3. Incidentally I start my commute in this area.

The speed limit is 100 kph (65 mph?) but people usually go at least 115 -130. I am driving along going just under 120. Am I speeding? Yes, I will agree to that. I'm going with the speed of traffic though.

Up behind me comes a police car. I double check that he's not in pursuit, the lights aren't on and I monitor him in case the status changes. Usually if they are in a hurry, they will flip their high beams so you can move over. We drive for a while, then he starts to tailgate me and I look to move over but am blocked by the right handed traffic. So he turns on his lights and I yeild over at the next possible moment. Couldn't have taken more than 3-5 seconds. He follows me over.

I pause wondering. Is he pulling me over? It can't be for speeding. I have no fines, no accidents and the last ticket I got was over 4 years ago.

I keep crossing traffic to the other shoulder so I'm not blocking a lane and stop and put my hazards on. I have been having issues with my license plate bracket coming loose and dangling slightly so I wonder if it looks bad and he wants to warn me. Convinced that the officer has my best interests at heart, I relax and wait for him to approach. He waits a while the comes up to my passenger side window.

I hadn't even thought about traffic and had rolled down my drivers side, no biggie. I lean over and roll down the other window.

Officer: "Do you know what the 'fast lane' is for?

Wha? Am I getting pulled over for speeding? This threw me, where was he going with this?

Me: "I'm not sure I understand"

Officer: "Let me put it this way, why were you in the passing lane?"

Passing lane? I'm still lost to where he's going with this

Me: "passing lane? I'm sorry I don't"

He cuts me off.

Officer: "When people come up behind you, you should move over and let them pass, license and registration please"

I am in awe. I was pulled over for not speeding fast enough.

I hand him my license and go for my registration. My glove box latch isn't working properly so I'm having a bit of difficulty getting it. No matter, he takes my license and goes back to his car.

Fast lane? Yielding to traffic that is speeding dangerously? This can't be right.

After a while he comes back and starts off by saying he's not going to give me a ticket, but launches into a rant about the fast lane should be used for passing only.

I've had enough. I am not getting powertripped.

Me: "Excuse me, I was unaware the far lane was designated for passing only. Did I miss a sign somewhere along the way?"

Officer: "Oh I'll be right back"

He's gone for a while then comes back with the driving book.

Officer: "Here is a ticket for speeding, and look here in the book: 'Slow traffic should yield to faster traffic'"

Officer: "Do you see that there? You should yield to faster traffic"

Me: "Even if they are speeding?"

I hold up the ticket.

Me: "Does this have your badge number on it?"

Officer: "Do you need to have a law to be courteous?!?"

His voice is rising and it's clear he wants me to lose my cool so he can validate this infraction.

I fold open the ticket and read it: "Violation for speeding. 115kph in a 100 kph zone"

I can't help but laugh.

Me: "115kph ticket."

He starts up again saying something, he wants to keep arguing, he want me to incriminate myself by agreeing I was speeding or acknowledging his bogus "passing lane" theory.

Me: "I'm done talking now."

Officer: "Fine"

and he stomps back to his car.

From the time he came back I had my notepad out and pencil and was writing down information. Time, officer's description, location, reasoning.

I wait for him to continue on to grab the car number and I think he realized it. He waits there for about 5 mins then when I turned next to me to get my blackberry out of my workout bag I hear him speed by.

Planned or coincidence I don't know, but I missed the car number.

I am so annoyed. It is obvious he was having a bad day and wanted people to get out of his way just because he wanted to go faster. HE wanted to speed and abused his powers because I was catering to him.

I admit to speeding. He had legitimate right to pull me over. If he came up to my window and said "Did you realize you were speeding" I'm sure I would have grumbled on the forums here about getting a ticket for 15kph over the limit but I would have paid it nonetheless.

But this is a case of an officer trying to bully a citizen to offset his bad mood. I'm sorry, but he pulled over the wrong guy to run that line with.

I still have great respect for those that take up law enforcement, it's dangerous and largely thankless. But when individuals decide to go on power tripping runs abusing their power I will do everything in my power to nail him to the wall.

Grrrrr.....reminds me of a saying

IF EVERYBODY ELSE WOULD JUST DO WHAT THEY'RE SPOSED TO

I'D BE FINE......as if....

Life hasn't been fair since the Garden of Eden...and...

I'm beginning to rethink 'that' scenario

I am so mad right now, I am in a rage.

Paralipomenon

brinjen

IP_SEC

jgnat

Junction-Guy

IP_SEC

jgnat

Junction-Guy

megsmomma

BCberean

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