Why I almost went to jail
I was driving home late one night, around 11:00, on I-244 in my Eclipse. I had just added a variable boost control, so I had the boost pressure cranked to about 25 psi. The highway was desolate, there was only a Camaro in front of me, so I floored it. I quickly left the Chevy in my wake & was screaming down the road when…
I looked in my rear view & saw the lights which were pretty far behind me. I took my foot off of the accelerator & glanced at the speedo, where the needle was dropping to 130. I was screwed! I pulled over & pressed the hazard button, got out my license & insurance, put my hands on the wheel & waited. And waited. And waited. It took the cop a little while to get to me, but he finally did.
“Have you ever had dealings with the law?” I will never forget those words he said to me. My mind went blank, “Dealings with the law?” I muttered back to him. He said “I clocked you in excess, AND I MEAN EXCESS of 85 miles per hour!” I told him that I knew exactly how fast I was going. He glanced around the inside of my car, took my license & registration, then told me to wait right there while he went back to his car. I sat there for what seemed like an hour, sweating, nervous, no sounds except the occasional car & my breathing. I knew I was going to jail, I just new it. And why not, this was a clear case of reckless driving. How could there be any other outcome?
Then came the other outcome.
I almost went into shock when the next set of words came out of this guys mouth. “I’m going to let you go with a warning, but slow it down.” A warning? Not even a written warning, a verbal one. What the hell? I was counting my blessings & wondering if this was some sort of dream, and then it hit me. He was a gear head! He was looking around my cockpit at all of the cool white gauges, red trimmed panels, control switches & he was thinking, ‘this car is really fast, this guy has an awesome ride’. Yea, he was thinking that. As he looked the car over again he asked me “You have this thing tuned up pretty good, huh?”, and I replied “Maybe a little too good”. And that was it. He gave a little smirk and drove away. I almost went to jail? No, I was off the hook.
I drove home at 50mph.