This is Part-2 of my previous post "AND I finally did IT" Not long ago I was narrating the heroic attempts to cross 100mph on US roads...I was pretty proud of the fact that I escaped all those watchful (cops') eyes and drove at such high speeds. I had realised towards the end I was getting more and more arrogant about the same.. had been driving quite fast on all roads...I am not a rash driver and even my worst critics have praised my driving but As they say.. someone up there was watching....
I went on a trip to Washington DC recently... had gone to Connecticut to a friend's house and drove to DC from there... it was a short but nice 3 day long trip where we made halts @ Univ of Maryland and Baltimore. The "IT" above happened while we were driving back from DC to Stamford, CT on the last day of our trip. I had a flight back to Chicago the next day morning.
We rented a mini-SUV Pontiac Vibe.. Initially I was very excited to hear the name SUV (it has been a dream of mine to drive one) but when I sat in it... I felt more like driving a Maruti 800 or a small car in India... Average pickup and below average traction control.. the whole car was shaking at around 85 mph.... Anyways it was during one of this attempt of mine to test the vehicle's performance (read max speed) that the "Oooops" happened!!!!!
For people scratching their heads - I got a speeding ticket of (a freaking) 290 US Dollars (thats around 15000 INR).... in Maryland... The cop who caught me said I was at 87 mph (Speed Limit - 65 mph) and the first question he asked after pulling me over -" Why are you going so faaaast?" I didnt know what to say.. I am definite I was between 75-80 @ the instant he saw me but arguing doesnt help in these cases...
I am yet to pay my fine.. maybe will do so in a day or two.. am so so so inclined to contest this in a court but have to go to Maryland for that...which is impractical... people say that cops esp fine higher amounts to out-of-state people as they know they will not bother travelling to the state just to contest a speeding ticket...
What you see above is the "sadu" car (err.. mini SUV) and next to it is the "famed" Oooops (speeding ticket)... must say I have started driving within limits now... only yesterday I saw a cop (full camouflaged) with his radar gun waiting for few more preys.....
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