Yup ... you guessed it. Plano PD wished me a happy freakin' anniversary by gifting me a speeding ticket. I'm not saying I didn't deserve it, but of all days?!?!? Oh, well. There are a couple of things worth mentioning with respect to this traffic stop:
I was way overdue. For the amount time I spend on the road and the proportionate amount of time I spend speeding (hey, let's be honest!), it's a small shocker that I haven't gotten a speeding ticket since something like 2000. For that, I'll be grateful.
I was pulled over in the exact same spot a few months ago. Yes, I am an idiot. The spot where I got pulled over is one of the biggest speed traps in all of Plano (for anyone interested in learning from my mistakes - the trap is on the south bound access road of 75 coming off the Parker Road exit where they sit in the parking lot of one of those businesses, usually the CitiBank building). If you just let off the gas coming off the highway, it's not enough to slow down before they pop ya'! In my case, this ticket was for 58 in a 45 - this time. Last time, I think it was something like 62 in the same 45. Oops! Here's the interesting part … notice I said I hadn't had a speeding ticket in 8+ years. I wasn't lying. I didn't get a ticket that time … at least not for speeding. You see, I was driving Chris' car. And, homeboy hadn't gotten around to renewing his registration OR getting his car inspected (of course, in his defense, he was only 3 days past due on the inspection, so I didn't get a ticket for that). I think my genuine frustration with Chris was enough to convince the officer that I was innocent of deliberately trying to defraud Collin County & the State of Texas. So, instead of the speeding ticket, he wrote up the registration which is easy enough to take care of (if still a little annoying!). Sweet! But, I suppose that today was all about Karma coming back to bite me in the a**. Of course, there was nothing else for him to write me up on, so I suppose the speeding ticket was all he could do, and he couldn't possibly have let me off with a warning. Oh, NO! Karma was having nothing of that.
So, sometime in the near future, I'll be spending 6 precious hours learning how to be a defensive driver and hearing all of the "cops are pigs" stories that are inevitable when you get 20 driving delinquents into the same room. Yippee.
On a related note - I am very excited to report that construction has begun on the main lanes of Hwy 121 between Custer & 75 (right by our house)! The construction is scheduled to be completed in 2 years. BUT, here's the catch … with the very active construction zone, Allen & McKinney PD have started staking out that corridor. Since the opening of what are to become the access roads (3 lanes both north & south bound) almost 3 years ago, each stretch between traffic lights (which are a mile plus apart) has essentially become a glorified drag strip. The speed limit is 60. However, go 60 on this stretch of road, and you'll feel like the tortoise getting passed by a whole lot of annoyed hares. So, now that it is a construction zone with all of the associated construction workers, the fuzz is out in force. This afternoon, I saw THREE Allen PD patrolmen on the north bound side between Custer and Alma alone (a stretch of about 1.5 miles). For anyone who drives this stretch on a regular basis … you've been warned!






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