I warn you, this post is long and boring. And written mainly to myself!


I had not had a speeding ticket in over 20 years. One day last Sept I was driving alone back from Custer South Dakota to Lynnwood Wa, about 1250 miles. I figured I would just stay at 7 over the limit. In Wyoming the limit is 75 so 82 seemed plenty fast, I had never ever been stopped for less than 10 over, and even though I had all day get home, it is a long drive. At 7 over in that part of the country you are just going with the flow, you can find a big gap in traffic (like no one within a mile or two, sometimes more) and have the road to yourself. So I set the cruise for 82, turned up the stereo and was in my kind of heaven. Just east of the Montana border on I 90 in the middle of nowhere I start down a steep hill, the car picked up 2 MPH and before the cruise control could correct, I see a Stater make a wild u-turn through the medium, pull behind and pull me over. He walks up to my window and says, "Do you know how fast you where going" (real original guy) I said 7 over Sir, he said, "NO YOU WERE GOING 9 OVER" this guy looks about 12 years old to me and he is screaming at me for no reason that I can figure out, but he has a gun and badge. So I say ok 9 over if you say so, so what? Well, Doogie tells me that Wyoming has a zero tolerance law for speeding and that I was getting a $90.00 ticket. He then takes my license and registration and goes back to his car, for nearly half an hour. Must have been checking the terror watch list. He comes back, hands me the ticket and tells me "he is tired of rich guys in their fancy cars speeding in his state" and brags about putting a guy doing a 109 in a 350Z in jail. At this point I admit he had gotten under my skin. I say Sir I just took a ticket from you. Did I try to lie my way out of it? He said, "No". Was I putting anyone in danger, (on an empty interstate on a sunny morning) he said, "No" I asked if I could ask a question he said,"ok" I asked if he new of any other state that wrote tickets for 9 over? He said, "Wyoming has a zero tolerance for speeding" and showed me that on his ticket book, it said 1 over was a $25.00 dollar fine. ONE OVER! I told him with all-do respect Sir that law is chicken ****. That Wyoming may have no tolerance but his radar unit did, it is not that accurate, and that is why other States will not ticket you for under 10 over if that is all you are doing. Well, he really got defensive and said, "The State needed the money for schools" I responded by saying that he then was nothing more than a tax collector with a gun and a fancy uniform. I, in my life have never met a State Patrol Officer that I did not respect, if they wrote me a ticket or not. The best cops ever in my book. Until last Sept in Wyoming. I told him in my opinion he was less than a man (twelve year old looking cop with a big gun and what look like some kind of cavalier for a patrol car would probably be touchy on the subject of his manhood) a man would not write another man a ticket for 9 over going down a steep hill, on an empty interstate. Or work for a department with a zero tolerance policy. That a zero tolerance policy meant his boss did not think he was smart enough use his brain, and that I was in complete agreement. I ran up my window got in gear, and left Wyoming as fast as I could, really pissed. A couple hundred miles later, I calmed down and started to think about the situation. First I was not proud of being goaded into losing my temper by Duggie, next I thought about Doogie's situation. He is in a State that has a very well armed civilian population and he is having to enforce a zero tolerance speeding law among some of the most, not going to be pushed around by the Government folks, you ever met. So Doogie, if you are still alive. I am sorry for what I said to you. I am not a rich guy and my fancy car cost lest than $20,000.00. And Doogie Please tell your boss, that I live in Washington and own property in South Dakota so I travel through your State a couple times a year. My wife and I go to Yellow Stone every other year, we like to hang out in Cody, and up till now we have spent a lot of money in Wyoming. No more. I will buy gas and snacks In Montana and see if I can make it through your state without stopping. If I can't make it, I will buy as little gas as possible, to get to SD. No more lunches, no more motels, no more dinners, no more drinks, no more t-shirts, no more tourist traps. We will still drive through your State, just to use up your infrastructure. Even though the big winners will be my insurance company, I hope that $90.00 will help the schools there allot. Maybe you could teach economics, to whoever came up with Zero tolerance for speeding as a way to raise revenue for schools. You know if you had put a tole both on I 90 and charged to drive across your beautiful state I would have paid it happily. Instead you mess with my driving record for a lousy 90 bucks. Not to mention the danger you are putting your troopers in, making them enforce a totally asinine law. They have no way of knowing the mental state of the person you are forcing them to extort money from. But then it won't be you that gets killed now will it. Doogie please tell your boss this and be careful.

Sorry for the rant but for some reason this ticket and Doogie have really been bothering me for a long time and I had to get it off my chest. It changed my attitude about cops, and that is not fare to the rest of them and not reasonable of me. So I took advantage of this post to vent. I really have always been treated more than fairly by the State patrol officers I have met especially in this part of the country. When I was younger I met a lot of them.