Speeding tickets. Eventually everyone will get one. My first one just happened to be Sept. 4. I was eating at Olive Garden with a friend and her brother before the tennis match against Rogers Heritage. The day was going great until we left the restaurant.
Everyone knows not to speed in Johnson. Johnson’s cops are known for pulling people over for speeding. I was following my friend out of Olive Garden and I passed Petsmart, Khol’s, and Target. I was in line to turn onto the interstate when I saw the blue lights.
When I looked in my rearview mirror, I expected to see a cop car, not a cop on a motorcycle. I got out of the turn lane and awkwardly was followed until I found a place to pull over.
I rushed to have my license and registration ready before he got to my car. I rolled down my window and gave him the papers. Then he went momentarily to his motorcycle and returned with a bunch of papers in hand. He asked me if I knew the speed limit.
I did. It was 25 mph. Then he asked me if I knew how fast I was going.
I knew I was speeding, but I was not expecting the number he read off.
42 mph. I was going 17 mph over the speed limit!
He handed me the ticket and asked me if I had any questions seeing as this was my first ticket. We exchanged some words, and then he drove off. A local man came out to see if I needed a drink of water. I declined and drove away.
I did not end up going to the tennis match. I went to the one place I knew could relieve stress, my cheer gym. I had to face telling my mom. Thankfully, she was not too mad and just said to use this as a learning experience.
That’s another thing I was not expecting. I figured I was going to be car-less.
From this, I learned two things.
One, everyone will get caught speeding at some point. The second thing I learned from advice the cop gave me, “Slow down.”