I think the most defining moment in my life would have to be when I got my first ticket.
I had just turned 17, which means I had had my license for about a year at the time. It was a little past midnight and I was "racing" a friend along different routes on the way to Wal-Mart, I thought for sure I had taken the faster route. Because of the late hour absolutely nobody was on the road and I felt completely free, I had a nice little sports car at the time and I could just feel the speed increasing as I slammed the final gear into place and let off the clutch. I could see the speedometer steadily rising as I made my way down the empty street towards my destination, the power I felt at that time was undescribable. I was on top of the world, I felt as if a brick wall couldn't stop me, than the worst thing happened, those pretty lights appeared in my rear view mirror, he must have been very well hidden just waiting for a slub like me to come cruisin down the street. The thought crossed my mind to go faster, to take a different route but that thought was quickly replaced by logic and I slowly pulled to the side. As I sat there, blinded by the spotlight in my side mirror, my heart missing in action thumping somewhere in the pit of my stomach, I began to think about so many things; I began to think about jail and about the cost of the ticket and what my parents would think. It felt like I sat there for over an hour before he finally came up to the window (when in reality it was about two minutes), than he said those four words that nobody ever wants to hear, "license and registration please". I gladly handed him my information along with my insurance card, he never asked why I was going as fast as I was nor did he tell me the reasoning behind the stop, he knew, and he knew I knew. I sat there in silence for about five minutes while he ran my information, when he finally arrived at my window he gave me the pad to sign and told me all the stuff he was required to tell me and told me to slow down. You would think after that night I would have learned my lesson, I would have slowed down, if thats what you thought you are dead wrong, since that night I've gotten three more speeding tickets and a redar detector.
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Your story rings ever so true. I also got my first speeding ticket at about 17. I'd had my license for less than a year. A friend and I were driving from St. George to Ogden and wanted to get there before dark. Who knew a little 4 banger Mazda could do 96 mph? This was back when the speed limit on the freeway was 65. That ticket alone took enough points from my license that it should have been suspended. Fortunately I was able to meet with someone from the DMV and I was basically put on probation for a year. Any ticket, no matter how small would result in a suspended license. Since then I have been a little more careful. a year under threat of suspension will do that to anyone. Every time I catch myself going excessively fast I find myself thinking "can I afford a ticket" of course the answer is always "no". Somehow though I always seem to be in a hurry to get everywhere I'm going, and I always seem to get caught just often enough to keep my insurance rates up.
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