move over!

i would like to share something with you. it is something that i just learned over the holiday weekend. i like learning new things. especially if they will save me money and/or from getting a traffic citation. so, for those of you that don't already know, there is a traffic law called the steer clear law. you can read more

here
and here
or here

this law has been in effect since 2006 and it basically states that if a cop or emergency vehicle is pulled over on the shoulder of the road/highway you are required by law to move in to the next lane not adjacent to the shoulder, or wherever the vehicles are stopped. so, if you are traveling in the right-hand lane of a two lane highway and you see a cop or emergency vehicle on the right-hand shoulder, you have to move in to the left lane. if you cannot safely move in to the left lane, then you are required to slow down.

i didn't know this was a law. i. had. no. idea. but i learned it this weekend when i got pulled over for it and cited! now i have a fine i have to pay and i have this citation sitting on my - what used to be clean - driving record.

i'm very upset.

i feel i should have gotten a warning or something first; not a fine and a citation. i haven't been pulled over - oh - since i was 18! and i was honestly apologetic to the officer. who, by they way, was being loud and dick'ish to me. he should have known, by my teary-eyed face, that i was telling the truth. yes, i was about to cry. hormones or something must be effecting me. whatever.

the cops must not have had anything better to do that day other than pull people over for being innocent and unknowing of this law. it was a sting operation and they were setting it all up. here is what went down that day...



figure 1

laddy dady da - that's me driving in the black car.

i think to myself, "hey, look. there are two cop cars that have some one pulled over. i should slow down." so i did slow down. and i hugged the white dotted line as i passed the two cop cars and one civilian car...










figure 2

"hm. that second cop is pulling out. i guess he had nothing to do." you really only need one cop to pull over one car. right? ever wonder why, sometimes, you see two or more cop cars flashing around one car? i have. and on this particular day, i found out why they were doing it...

bastards!









figure 3

"oh shit - he's following me! what the... better pull over. fuck!"

first he asks if i knew why he pulled me over. to which i responded with a long pause and then said, "no. not exactly." and i meant that. so he proceeded to tell me about the steer clear law. this law makes perfect sense. i totally get it. i just had no idea that it existed. so i apologized profusely. then he walks back to his car to do his thing. meanwhile a bazzillion cars continue to pass us in the adjacent lane - breaking the law.





figure 4

so. my copper-copper-crime-stopper comes back with my citation and gives me the whole cop safety thing again. still being loud about it. i couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why he was so loud me. as if he thought that i thought it was bullshit or was giving him lip. i don't know. i just nodded my head and continued to apologize. and at some point during my scolding, the other cop who had the other car pulled over, comes up and parks behind us. i think to myself, "hm. that's interesting. doesn't he have anything better to do?" apparently not i figured.






figure 5

but just wait. not long after copper #2 is situated behind us, does a minivan drive by on the road. in the adjacent lane. breaking the law....













figure 6

and wouldn't you know it!

copper #2 pulls out immediately. so i watch to see what is going on. off in the distance, i could see it all. damn cop. he high-tailed it right up to that minivan and pulled it over!

i now see what is going on! a leapfrog style sting operation to get poor unknowing, unsuspecting people on the holiday for a law that i am sure the cops knew a lot of us had no idea existed.





i do see the problem. if there is a law like that and no one knows it exists, then we have to raise its awareness. and i suppose that the only way to raise awareness is to enforce it. that's fine. do it then. but i think if someone like me is pulled over - someone with a clean record and a nice demeanor and is honestly apologizing to the high heavens about it - that they should be given a warning and not a fine and citation. seriously. save the fines and citations for the people that are rude, lippy and have messy driving records. oh and if perhaps they have have been warned for this violation already. for crying out loud... douche bag coppers...

errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr


............jfk............