A little run-in with the cops…

Posted by Rashmi Tambe on Feb 1, 2009 in Motorcycling | 0 comments

I left work at 4:30PM today to beat the traffic, but caught up with it around the 405 exit where it was backed up for as far as I could see ahead. I puttered along for a bit, switching lanes, trying to get the hell out of the gridlock and ended up behind a K1200S. We were really, really close to the point where we could get onto the carpool lane.

I guess he was thinking what I was trying *not* to think about, and got onto the shoulder, zipped along it for a few seconds and merged through the traffic coming from the on-ramp into the carpool lane. I saw a police car far behind me on a bridge but I guess I wasn’t thinking at this point, and got on the shoulder too, and made my way to the carpool lane. A few seconds later the police car was right behind me, lights flashing, siren going off and everything.

You know those occasions that you encounter so rarely that it takes a few seconds to realize what the proper response is? This was one of them, so it was a little while before it dawned on me that I should probably pull over to the right. The cop went past me, and I heard a booming voice – “The fine for riding on the shoulder is around $124 these days.”

YIKES.

No, he didn’t nail me. I probably got lucky in that he had worse fires to put out. And that it’s not the end of the month.

That’s the last time I’m doing something that stupid. At least when I know a cop is around.