I wake up to a bright, sunny, fall day. The air is fresh, the day is clear from any worries, I start a anew as I took the day off from work. Knowing well I had a number of errands to run, I was determined to get them all done.

And so my day began…

With a speeding ticket.

It’s a speed trap really, and I should have known it given the rather obvious signs of the two vehicles ahead of me. It didn’t occur to me that them going so slowly down the hill was not because of the ineptness of the driver, but rather because they were observant enough to realize that they were being “radared” by the police up ahead.

Wanting to forge my own path down the hill, I took to the next lane to pass the two vehicles in front of me. As I was going down the hill, underneath the bridge, and driving back up the hill, I see up ahead a man standing in the middle of the road, waving his hand at someone as if he had the authority to stop traffic with his bare hands. I take a closer look as I slowed the car down, only to realize that he was indeed pointing at me, ushering me to pull over to the side.

By that time I knew that I was caught red-handed and really, there was nothing more I could do but to roll down the window and hand the officer my driver’s license, registration, and insurance cards.

I was pressed for time as I had a 10:00 doctor’s appointment. I look at the clock and it says 10:01am. “Urgh!” I think to myself, as I know well that I had to buy my Twinrex vaccination doses before even heading to the doctors. I wait patiently in the car as I look around and see two other officers attending to two other cars that had been stopped.

I see my officer coming out of his card with a slip in his hand. He approaches my vehicle and hands me the slip.

But wait. It’s not pink! It’s beige! Did they change the colour of the ticket? No. I read the top of the slip and it says “Traffic Caution.” I sigh a relief as the officer tells me that I was going 87 in a 60 zone, and that would normally be a $125 fine plus 3 demerit points. However, he continues, “you have a clean record so I will let you go with a warning. Keep this in your car as a reminder to not speed again.” He hands me my papers and lets me off the hook.

Yippee! I think to myself. But that thought quickly diminishes as I realized that I have now used up my one and only warning to a stupid speed trap that I should have known better to avoid. From now on, I must be more conscious of the vehicles around me and think to myself, “Why is he going so slow?” and not, “%#$!@!!! Can he go any slower?!”

But then again, I should have thought that to begin with shouldn’t I?

You’ve been warned. Don’t speed!