The correct choice, head or gut depends on the situation. I read a news article "Tips from a Police Officer" and just in time, too, cause, this morning on the way to being late for class(again)a policeman pulled me over.(hhtp://autos.aol.com/article/what-to-do-when you-are-pulled-over#comments) "Officer Tom" not his real name, who wrote the article, had a few simple rules to make the situation less unpleasant and to avoid a ticket.
1. First pull over to a safe place for you and the policeman. If it's unsafe for him to get out of his car, he will use a loudspeaker.
2. But, if you coast along passing up safe spots, he's going to think you're up to something, trying to stash something or drunk.
3. Keep your hands on the wheel.
4. Don't even think about getting out of the car.
5. Don't disrespect the officer.
Of course today, when I saw the red flashing lights, my 'gut' reaction was to coast to a safe spot because of heavy traffic and the policeman pointed out that I didn't stop soon enough. My 'head' told me to be extra polite at that point. Because my 'gut' told me to get out all my ID and be ready for the officer, oops, didn't have my hands on the wheel, when he came to the window, but it was okay, he was a nice officer. I don't think he thought I was doing anything dangerous. He took my ID, etc and said I was speeding in a school zone. We had a nice talk and I showed respect (again 'head' was doing the thinking here) and explained about being late for class. He let me off with a warning about speeding but instead gave a ticket for driving with my head lights off and my wipers on in inclement weather. My 'gut' wanted to argue the point that I didn't have my wipers on, but it was better than getting the points and a ticket for speeding. Whew!
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I always forget to put my lights on when it starts to rain, it usually takes me a while to realize why everyone is driving around mid-afternoon flashing their lights at me every 500ft.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I never have an issue with remembering my lights/wipers combination. Either way.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds similar to what happened to my mom last month. She was caught rolling a stop sign, and the police officer told us that she could plead "Not Guilty" to get it downgraded to a headlights off ticket.
I guess the thing to do is just not complain, because you aren't getting points, etc.
I will definitely check that article out. I've never been pulled over (knock on wood!), but those are definitely good tips to know for when it inevitably happens. Thanks! :)