I got pulled over for speeding in Prince William County, on I-95 North, just outside the beltway on February 8th. The state police officer, David Todd Shrewsbury (D.T. Shrewsbury on the summons) also gave me a ticket for expired Virginia tags. Since it’s such a pain in the ass to drive up there from North Carolina, I just paid it. Lame. But I did not appreciate the officer’s handling of it, and I wanted to represent myself, and tell the judge why the officer’s judgment that night was questionable. So I’m going to bitch my side here.
When he pulled me over, I was going a moderate speed. Yeah, I’m not going to lie; I wasn’t going exactly 65 mph, but was I going 80 mph? No, I don’t think so. I was going the flow of traffic – there were other cars around me – could one of them have been clocked? Who knows. Was his equipment properly calibrated? Who knows. In court, I could ask, but I don’t have that luxury now.
Anyways, he asked for my license and registration. My license is from North Carolina, because that’s where I live. I hadn’t gotten my new tags yet, and I had no freaking clue they were expired, otherwise I’d have gotten the new ones. That really irritated me. I know it’s my responsibility to keep up with that stuff, but I just didn’t realize. He was already citing me for speeding; couldn’t he have given me a break? So he asks me if I’m in the military. I tell him no. He says, “Well then why do you have a license from one state, and tags from another?” I reply, “I just moved.”
He then asked if the car is mine, and I tell him yes, that I have the title signed over to me in the glove compartment. He nods his head, and I guess doesn’t bother comparing the name on the registration (my dad’s) to my name on the license, because he asked why I was speeding, to which I replied I didn’t realize I was, and he walked back to his car.
When he came back 20ish minutes later, he accused me of lying: “I thought you said this car was yours.” Guess he finally realized the name on the license and the name on the registration were different. I told him the car is mine. I bought it, and I paid for it, and it was registered under my dad’s name, but the title was signed over to me – I just needed to make it official by getting my NC plates. He then proceeds to bitch at me for having two drivers licenses. By then, I’m freaking annoyed. I tell the guy, “Hello, I told you I just moved to North Carolina,” to which he replies, “You said you just moved to Virginia.” I say, “No, I did not just say that, because that is not true.” And he says, “Well, I wrote the tickets with your Virginia information, because I heard you say you just moved to Virginia.”
What I wish I’d thought to say to him is, “OH MY GOD – How could my fucking VIRGINIA TAGS be expired if I just moved to Virginia!!! And why would my North Carolina drivers license be dated two weeks ago?! He’s a freaking State Police officer. Are their standards that low, or was he just too tired or stoned to do his job? Anyways, I would have tried to use that idiocy as a defense in court, and say, “Given those mistakes, it’s hard to believe the officer was competent enough at that particular time to single me out as the offender,” or something like that. Seriously, I believe the cop screwed up, and I had to pay for it. Instead, I just told the trooper that he was wrong, and I no longer possess a valid VA license, and I no longer reside in the fair state of VA, so I wasn’t sure what he was going to do about the tickets. He just looked at me and said, “Well, it won’t be a problem if you prepay them.” That was what made me determined to go to court in the first place (even though I changed my mind after talking to a lawyer, a law student, and another VA police officer).
I think it’s so fucking retarded that they have cops who are solely focused on financially punishing people going over the speed limit instead of watching out for safety. I mean, I’m driving a post-year 2000 vehicle, the conditions (road surface, visibility, etc.) are perfect, there were cars around, but all going about the same speed, and traffic was, by no means, heavy – what if I am going 70, 75, or 80 mph? I don’t see how that is so much less safe than 65 mph unless I’m somehow impaired (drunk, super tired, etc.). Yes, it increases stopping distance, but any alert driver won’t be too affected by that. Driving fast and driving unsafely are two different things at least as often as they are the same.
One last thing. The next night, I got pulled over again. I wish I could remember the state trooper’s full name, but I got rid of the ticket. All I remember is Cline. Trooper Cline pulled me over for expired tags. Yeah, frustrating. What he did, though, was write the summons, and give me his phone number. He said if I take care of the tags in the next few days like I said I would, I could call him up, and he’d tear up the ticket. Of course I did get the tags taken care of, and I called him, and he asked me to please destroy the summons. So, thank you to Trooper Cline of Fairfax County. To me, that is fair, and police officers shouldn’t be encouraged to make the state/city/county money by citing every tiny issue they can find. That is not public safety. That is bullshit.