by Begle1 » Tue Sep 25, 2007 9:38 am
It's the last week of school. Thursday. Seniors got out early, graduation was the next day. I was driving home, northbound along Hillside Avenue in Norco, and get to the intersection of 5th, which is a fourway stop.
Mr. Hibbler hides in the bushes at this interscection four days out of the week, and about half the city of Norco has gotten a ticket from this motorcycle cop. Everybody knows better than to run the stop sign at the corner of 5th and Hillside.
So I'm rolling up to the stop, and this white 7.3 liter Ford dually with A-piller gauges and dual exhaust tips is coming to the intersection on 5th street. He sees that I'm slowing down to a stop, and so he drifts through the stop sign and turns onto Hillside in front of me.
This happened before I came to a complete stop; the modified Ford cut me off. Ohh, the bastard.
So I gun it through the intesection and try to catch up to the guy, and he's only going the 25 MPH speed limit, so I catch him after 100 or so feet of going 30 MPH and lay on the coals starting when my tailpipe is at his back fender, and about the time my tailpipe gets to the drivers side mirror I notice Mr. Hibbler behind me with the flashy lights.
So I pull over and the Ford pulls over in front of me. Then Mr. Hibbler dismounts and the Ford drives away. Mr. Hibbler walks up to my window.
Whoever was driving that Ford owes me, because I saved him a ticket.
And I should mention that my old Pastor Bob (not THE Pastor Bob, but a man nonetheless referred to as Pastor Bob) lived right on that street, and I was pulled over in front of his house.
Word of advice: when a cop is approaching your truck, don't reach under your dash and pull the manual shut off. The rapid movement, coupled with the shaking of the truck and belt squeel, tends to provoke drawn guns and the shouting of "HANDS! LET ME SEE HANDS! DON'T MOVE!", and then you need to get out of the truck.
So I have Mr. Hibbler patting me down against the side of the truck with a gun drawn. All the while my school buddies are driving by me. And my old pastor is on the porch watching all of this with his wife and daughter.
"Do you know what I pulled you over for?"
To which I responded, as a car full of my buddies drives by honking, "hopefully not reckless driving or exhibition of acceleration".
He kind of smirks at me down his nose... "License, registration, proof of insurance please."
My truck had been rear ended and totalled on the freeway a month before this happened, and I had my insurance and registration information on my desk at home working on the claim. So I give him my license...
End Result:
Code and Section: 22450 (a) VC Stop Sign - Infraction
Code and Section: 27153 VC Excessive Smoke - Infraction
Code and Section: 16028 (a) VC No Insurance - Infraction
Code and Section: 21650 VC Driving on Wrong Side of Roadway - Infraction
Code and Section: 22350 VC Speeding (35.8 in a 25) - Advisement
Code and Section: 4000 (a) VC No Evidence of Current Registration - Infraction
Total cost: $451.00, 1 point on the license, and no traffic school for another 18 months. Had I done it a week earlier it would have been 2 points on the license, and had Mr. Hibbler been in a bad mood it would have been 3 points along with an arrest and impoundment.
1990 D-250 Regular Cab: Tweaked injection pump, built transmission, a cataclysmic charlie foxtrot of electronics, the most intense street-ran water injection system in the country, and some more unique stuff.
