Huh?

Various points at odds with the law

For those of you hopeful of finding a challenging exposition on the Old Testament; I'm sorry to dissappoint you.

Monday through Saturday, I've made it a habit to go to the gym and lift weights, which incidentally is one of the most futile things a person can do (in the sense that all that got done was you lost a little heat). Well to go to the gym, in Pullman, you have drive through the WSU Campus. It just so happens that the people that timed all the stop lights on the WSU Campus were so secure in their jobs that they didn't bother making sure that the main route was favored. This is to say that when you go through one green light, the light a half of a block ahead is just turning red. So, you're guarranteed to stop at every light.

On this particular day I'd had enough. So upon arriving at the second red light, I glanced quickly at the cross street, determined that there was in fact , no one coming (I suspected this) then proceded to drive through the red light. At this point, I surveyed once again to make sure that there were no cars, because we all know that cars can materialize out of thin air at any moment. Upon doing this second survey, I noticed that there was a friendly, helpful, kind and understanding WSU Police car watching me with no small amount of interest.

He made his move. He turned his lights on and pursued me with vigor, to which, I responded by stopping. So, I'm sitting in the pickup rehearsing what to tell the officer for an excuse. I had no idea what to say.

Before the officer arrived at the window, I took the proper position. If you're not familiar with this, it is putting your hands on the steering wheel and turning on the interior light. I was told that cops appreciate it when peope do this as they see more quickly that the situation isn't a dangerous one. So, the officer arrived at the window and asked why I had run the red light. I pondered for a second, at which point he interjected, "were you just impatient?". Before he let me answer this question, he asked me where I was headed. So I told him I was headed to the gym, and that, yes I was just impatient.

When the whole thing was over, the officer asked me if I thought it was possible to stay stopped at all subsequent red lights for the rest of the day if he let me off with a verbal warning. I thought I could, so I answered in the affirmative. So, the cop was cool about it, but it got me thinking about the unbending rules pertaining to stop lights.

Now I know there are certain people out there who need to stop and stay stopped at every light. But, there are those that will really look and make sure that they don't cause an accident. Why should I have to stop and wait for poorly timed lights at 6:00am in the morning?

Posted by aman at February 25, 2004 11:39 AM | TrackBack