Chiefs/Rams game: Part 3.........

My wife will not be happy after she reads this blog entry. I'll explain later.

After the Chiefs' big win, TW and I headed back to his place where my car was parked. I grabbed a Coke from his fridge and headed out for the drive back to Kansas City.

I drove out of TW's driveway and headed over to Highway 141. It's a state highway in St. Louis that has about 4-5 lanes of traffic in both directions. Newly paved, really nice highway.

I had just got on the highway and went over the top of a hill. I see a cop car on the right hand side of the highway. OK, have no idea what the speed limit is because I haven't seen a sign since I got on the highway, so I should probably slow down. Cop starts moving. Uh oh. What the hell is the speed limit here? Dang, I just realized that I haven't renewed my Missouri license plates since I moved back to Missouri!

The cop pulled in behind me. I initially pulled over on the shoulder, but noticed that it was a pretty skinny shoulder, so before I stopped moving completely, I pointed over to a larger shoulder and drove over to it so the cop would have more room. I always thought that if you're going to get pulled over, it's best that you pull over in a safe spot to avoid any problems where the cop might get hurt and you end up feeling even more guilty. I also notice a big sign right next to me that says 'Speed Limit 45'. That would have been much more handy to see before NOW! He comes up and I've already taken off my seat belt and pulled out my wallet with ID and insurance card at the ready.

Cop: How do you pronounce your name? (I tell him.) Mr. Lime, I pulled you over for doing 65 in a 45 MPH zone and you also have expired plates. Do you still live in Independence, MO?

Lime: No, I actually just moved to Kansas City, MO.

Cop: Do you have a reason for why your plates are expired?

Lime: Actually, I just relocated back to Missouri.

Cop: Where did you move from?

Lime: Baltimore, Maryland.

Cop: OK, sir. I'll be back in a minute.

He headed back to his car. I started running through the scenarios. None of them were good. First, I was wearing a Chiefs jersey and was just pulled over in St. Louis after the Rams were beat by the Chiefs. That's not good. Second, I have an expired license. While I did that intentionally because I didn't want to register my car in Kansas (they make you pay your yearly car taxes when you renew), I should have found time to renew my plates since I've been in our new house in Missouri for a few weeks. Third, I had no idea that the speed limit was 45 on this stretch of road that looks like a superhighway with 4 lanes going either way. Guess I should have looked for a sign sooner, though I'm honestly not sure that there was one for me to see since I just got on the road.

I looked back in the mirror. Uh oh. He looks like he's writing a bunch of stuff. That's never a good sign. Either he's sketching my picture so he's able to identify me in the near future or he's writing out a ticket. I'm guessing it's the latter. He hops out of the car and heads back up to see me.

Cop: Alright, Mr. Lime. Here's what I've done. You were wearing your seat belt, correct?

Lime: Yes, I took it off to pull out my wallet once I stopped.

Cop: OK. I stopped you for doing 20 MPH over the speed limit and you also have expired tags. What I've done is write you a ticket for a $10 fine for not wearing your seat belt and I've decided to give you a warning for speeding and driving with expired tags. I feel I'm being very generous here given that you are a Chiefs fan.

Lime: (chuckling) Yes, you're honestly being way too generous. I was just thinking as you were back in your car how all of the Rams fans were probably driving by saying, "Hey, that cop pulled over a Chiefs fan! He nailed that bastard!"

Cop: (laughing) Yep, I've decided that the embarrassment of getting pulled over in that red jersey in St. Louis was probably punishment enough.

Lime: I honestly didn't know the speed limit here was that low. As soon as you started moving on the shoulder, I had the sudden realization that maybe this was not a freeway. I didn't speed the whole way here this morning just because of the expired tags.

Cop: (laughing again) Yes, it has a lower speed limit because of the stop lights, but it certainly looks like a freeway. We catch a lot of locals going way too fast on this road, but I assumed that you had no clue how badly you were speeding.

I signed off on my $10 ticket.

Cop: Drive safely. No more speeding on my roads, you hear?

Lime: Yes, thank you very much.

I shook his hand while thanking him and drove off, making sure to drive the requested 45 MPH on his road.

Now you may ask, why would Mrs. Lime not be happy after reading about her husband getting out of a ticket with only a seat belt violation? Well, Mrs. Lime has always insisted that I have an extraordinary knack for getting out of speeding violations. I've done it two other times. The last time, Mrs. Lime was with me along with her grandmother. I told that officer that I was busy talking to Mrs. Lime and her grandmother and didn't even notice that the speed limit dropped in that area.

Here's what I would suggest.....be nice to the guy/lady who pulls you over. Last time, when the cop came up, I initially asked him if he wanted me to move my car over to the side road so he wouldn't have to worry about traffic. He said no, but thanked me for asking. Sunday, when I was pulled over, I went out of my way to pull over further out of the way so he wouldn't be in the line of traffic. I really think that cops appreciate when people don't give them any grief AND look out for their safety. After some of the people that they have to deal with on an everyday basis, they probably appreciate the fact that someone goes out of their way to assist them to some degree.

One of my friends mentioned that he had a friend who was a cop. The cop said that he often would pull over people for speeding and would go into it with the intention of warning them if they were nice to him. He even mentioned that there was one lady who he pulled over who gave him grief from the moment he walked up to her window. He ended up giving her a ticket and specifically telling her that he was going to give her a warning, but since she was raising such a fuss that he was giving her a ticket instead.

It pays to be nice to people, even if you're not happy to see them at that time.