Maybe a Boycott??

I just had the dubious pleasure of attending traffic school in Lakewood. It wasn’t really that bad an experience. It was only an hour long and the police officer doing the class was fairly entertaining and told interesting stories. But it was definitely a scared straight kind of class.

It still makes me laugh that the police officer conducting the class was from Mount Juliet, not Lakewood. I think this was a good tactic on the part of Lakewood because it diffused a lot of tension. You see Imaginary Readers, Lakewood is mighty serious about their traffic tickets. I heard a lot of complaining about the circumstances of tickets from the people in the room. Now some of this you can chalk up to plain spite about being there. But between my own experience and the stories I heard, I’m convinced that they don’t believe in overlooking anything.

Personally, I was ticketed for doing 56 mph in a 45 zone. Now we’re talking nice, straight, 5 lane Old Hickory Boulevard. At 2 AM. I might be crazy here, but it seems like a little discretion is in order. Speeding through there at 5 PM when it’s rush hour is dangerous, and I don’t do it. But 2 AM when the road is deserted is a completely different story. The only thing that kept me from arguing with the officer is that it was two hours after the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve and I really didn’t want to end up taking a field sobriety test.

I have a great deal of respect for police officers. I don’t want to do what they have to do everday. And I think they should be allowed to exercise some discretion on when to write tickets. I also know a few of the people in charge of setting speed limits, no one likes them.

I just googled speeding tickets. It’s really amazing how much there is out there about how to beat them. Call me crazy, but I knew I was speeding and did it anyway. So I’ll take my lumps for it, even if I complain a little. I have less respect for people that try to avoid the consequences for their actions.