Speeding

Monday's Jacksonville (NC) Daily News has a story about speeding. And, who hasn't or doesn't... right ? Even a few miles per hour over the posted limit??? Yeah...you. And, me. And, just about everybody else out there. And, we all have excuses, right?

 “The one that I hear the most with speeding is that they have to use the bathroom. The thing is, when you just followed them past two or three convenience stores, that excuse just doesn’t hold any water.” — 1st Sgt. Kevin Martin, N.C. State Highway Patrol

“The sergeant stopped a guy last year. The guy had just stopped at the gas station, he had two dollars and was able to get a gallon of gas, and he lived about six miles down the road. He stopped him at 85 mph. He was doing 85, he said, because he wanted to get home really fast before he ran out of gas.” — Chief John Maiorano, Holly Ridge Police Department

Jacksonville Police Department spokesman Beth Purcell asked some JPD officers what they hear the most during traffic stops. They are:
I’m late for a funeral.
My wife is having a baby (when the driver was alone in the car).
I’m upset.
I was trying to get to the store before it closed.
I’m late for court.

Just keep in mind that police officers have heard pretty much every excuse you can invent. There was one state trooper, from many decades back. who told offenders: "if you can come up with an excuse I haven't heard, I'll give you a warning". He didn't give many warnngs.

Of course, there's the one about the guy who just bought a new car, and decided to "try it out" after leaving the dealership. He got up to 80, and noticed a blue light in his mirror. Figuring that he had a pretty hot set of wheels, he accelerated, reaching 120 MPH...with the state trooper right on his bumper. He figured he'd better pull over and take his medicine before things got even worse. The trooper, who had heard every excuse,  approached and said, "Ok, sir. Just why were you trying to outrun me"?
The driver replied.
"Officer, just last week, my wife ran off with a state trooper, and I thought you were bringing her back".
The trooper said, "have a good day, and slow down", then walked away.

And, speaking of speeding...
I'm not sure what it's going to take to make drivers understand that JPD officers are DILIGENTLY patrolling Henderson Drive. You would think that after seeing blue lights flashing, and sirens blasting away, EVERY day, that motorists would get the message. So far, it hasn't worked. Regardless of how many citations the officers write, there are more than enough speeders to go around. It's easy pickings, too. It would be interesting to know just how many speeding tickets are given along this stretch of road (which includes a school zone) in any given month. If the driver of every car stopped gets cited, then I would guess at least 8-10 tickets EVERY day are written.
Oh, well...the fines go to the school system, and they can use the money.