Ok... so this is my first journal entry... and I think I'm just going to vent a little bit here. Also... if anyone would like to add to my rant or put a little rant of their own (on the subject of course)... I would love to see other people's sides to this. Ok, here goes:
So tell, what is a police officer? Someone who upholds the law, no? Someone who of all people is supposed to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help him god" ... right? Well why then when it comes to a New driver... those rules seem to fly out the window. Do cops have a certain quota they have to fill pertaining to New drivers? It's bad enough I have to drive around with a big shiny N on the back of my car, but then I have a better chance of being pulled over because of having it there in the first place? I guess I better set the facts straight before I rant any further.
I got pulled over for "speeding" across the Overlander Bridge in Kamloops. First off, when the motorcycle cop pulled me over I was shocked. When I looked into my rear-view mirror half-way across the bridge, I noticed the lights on and I checked my speedometer. it didn't read over 50 km/h. So I pulled over and he came up to me and had the nerve to tell me that without any sort of radar or anything like that, he judged that I was doing 85 km/h over the bridge! 85? Where the hell does this 15 km/h discretion come from? Well, he proceeded to tell me that he himself had been traveling at 85 km/h and he "didn't run into the back of my car". First of all, there's no way someone can accelerate to 85 km/h half-way across the bridge right after a 90 degree turn... it's not possible. And for someone on a motorcycle to do that... it's practically suicidal. He told me that he was able to judge my speed because I had passed another vehicle. This was actually untrue. I was following an elderly driver in the left lane doing approximately 45 km/h... when we went into the turn to go onto the bridge, the man slowed down to 40 km/h. After the turn the man changed lanes into the right lane, and i accelerated to 50 km/h past the elderly man. Soon after the officers lights were flashing and I pulled over after I was off the bridge. So immediately after I was issued the ticket, I went to the Drivers Services desk in the court house and disputed the ticket. The lady said that a court date would be issued and sent to me in the mail. So, all I could do until then was go over the facts and wait.
December 13th, 2004 at 9:30 AM was the court date. I went in with several questions planned, but extremely nervous. I had never been in court before nor have I ever been charged with anything. When it came to my case, I stood and did all the formalities of the court, pleading innocent and swearing to tell the truth. During the officer's testimony, I noticed some inconsistencies with what I believed to be the truth. The officer claimed to have been following me since west victoria street, and at that time I was allegedly doing 70 km/h. He made no reference to the fact that I was following a vehicle... and actually said I didn't catch up to any sort of traffic until the turn. He then said I slowed down a little, and then after the turn, switched into the right lane to pass the vehicle I was following. He said at that time, I was doing 85 km/h which is when he pulled me over. It was then time for me to ask my questions to the officer.
The questions I had planned were based on what I believed to have happened that day, so when he didn't mention anything about the driver I was following, or the fact that he had said that he was doing 85 km/h through the turn, I got a little thrown off my mark. Being nervous already didn't help at all, and I had a difficult time coming up with questions on the spot.
After having little success with my questions, it was time for me to make my statement.
I explained what had happened, how I was following an elderly man and it was in fact not I who switched lanes, but the elderly man and because he was doing a speed of 40 km/h at the time, I accelerated to a speed of 50 km/h, which is when the officer put on his lights. I didn't switch into the right lane until I was preparing to pull over. I also pointed out the fact that I had not been traveling on west victoria, but lansdowne. With all factors considered, the short distance from the turn to the middle of the bridge (approx 20 m) and the low speed of the elderly man, it's highly improbable of even being capable to reach a speed of 85 km/h.
But in the end, the officer pulled out a trump card and asked if I knew the size of the tires on my vehicle. I indeed did not but assured him that my parents had made sure that they were exactly appropriate to the required size for the vehicle. He said because the size of the tires could not be determined to be correct, it also couldn't be determined that my speedometer was in working order.
I was unable to add a rebuttal and being so nervous, I didn't add anything else. I was unable to organize the facts in cohesive manner, and because of that, I was unable to prove my case. I was found guilty and forced to pay the fine of $196 within one week's time.
Leaving the courthouse I was extremely furious! How could someone of the law bend and misshape the truth like that? Aren't police officers the one group of people you're supposed to be able to trust in this world? If they weren't upholding the truth, who would? Now because of the dishonesty of one police officer, probably doing so to protect his pride, a 18 year-old college student is forced to pay an unjust fine of $196... and during Christmas time. Looks like I'll just have to tell my friends and family that their gifts and presents went to an unfair police officer bent on exacting revenge on N drivers.
Merry Christmas to you too.