of the long arm of the law
I began learning how to drive during my first year of uni. Why so late? Simply put, I was too lazy to get my license, in which it could be said that I also learnt it illegally. About a year of laziness (and also filled with small heart attacks caused by brushes with the officers of the law) made me finally get my provisional license. One of these brushes still stands out vividly after so many years.
I won’t get into the details of how I got my parents into letting me take out Rei (a 1986 Mitsubishi Magna GLX dubbed so due to her license plate), but there I was after a night out driving General Hobo home when I noticed a car rapidly approaching me with eye-searingly bright headlights. I wasn’t too sure if it was due to the angle as I just went over a hump. I mentioned quite tersely about “the idiot” behind me to General Hobo. After a moment’s study, she quickly turned to me and said, in her usual eloquence, “Holy shit! They’re coppers!”
What was I to do? Me, an L-plater without her plates displayed and sitting next to her is not the required experienced, full-licensed driver but another L-plater. There was only one thing to do: Keep Driving (as my partner in crime kept repeating like some sort of mantra). I also panicked, an onset of cold sweat ensued as the cop car aggressively tailgated me, so much so that I could hardly see their headlights. I didn’t notice that I was also slowing down as I chugged up the hill. General Hobo snapped, “Speed up, they might pull us over for going too slow!” I made a distressed sound as I urged Rei up the hill and deviated from our normal route. Thankfully, the cops went the other way and we both sank into the seats like a glob of goo. Wiping our sweaty palms on our pants and feeling quite shaken, we drove on with heightened senses and utmost caution. The rest of the night was most thankfully uneventful.
The end of last week saw roads peppered with police cars. I think it was Thursday night that i was driving home down Reilly Street (or one of the many times I drive down that blardy street), when I noticed a car turning out from Kookie’s street. I believe that you can tell if it’s a cop car by the headlights (somehow, I don’t know how or why). I looked at them and thought, Nar, it can’t be the coppers. And continued at my law-breaking 60km/hr in a 50k zone. I noticed that as I went through a round-a-bout that the car took a left, which clearly displayed “P O L I C E” and the markings of a police car. -_-
The second incident with the police was when I was on my way to Womble’s place. The lights at the intersection of Hoxton Park Road & Hume Highway takes ages to turn and so seeing it turn yellow made me think, “Screw this, I’m gonna floor it.” (Are you guys happy now?! You can quit yer bitching about me not running yellow lights!! =P) And so I did… And 5 seconds later, a cop car pulls up in the lane next to me. All I could do was feign nonchalance and radiate innocence of someone who didn’t almost break the law. Womble hypothesized later was that they turned out from a side street, which was highly probable. Wouldn’t put it past them, sneaky buggers. It kind of gave me a suspicion that these incidents served as a warning, which of course made me cautious of doing something illegal whilst driving.
The third incident was an early 10:30 on a Saturday morning. I decided to go 60 on a 50 road, following suit of 2 other cars in front of me. From the other side of the road, a siren went off and all the cars slowed down to 50. LOL =) It was from an unmarked cop car. Sneak buggers!!! Another unmarked cop car had pulled over a truck on my street the day before as well. As Major Myle noted, “They’re on crackdown or something!” I was truly convinced that it was a sign and that I should be a stickler to the road rules. And so I did, and Womble was late to his meeting. Oops. -_-
And finally, on the way home (on the same day, mind you, of being wailed at by a siren), I turned into Busby Rd and encountered a paddy-wagon that wasn’t quite parked by the side of the road – it was still rolling… ever so slowly. Naturally, I stopped, unsure of what to do and what was the right thing to do in this situation. They rolled stopped. After a moment’s hesitation I overtook them, where they promptly fell behind me. Not 5 seconds had gone by when they turned on the siren.
Panic flowered in me. I cursed my stupidity thinking that the overtaking was illegal and I shouldn’t had done it. I looked into the rear-view mirror and saw him holding a black notebook looking like thing. Almost moaning from dread and anxiety, I wound down the window and watched him approach. He looked in, a ripple of shock came over his face as he managed to say, “Oh … Hello.” It was like he didn’t expect me to be there… but then if I wasn’t, then who else did he expect? *drily* Probably someone who didn’t look like she was 14. *shoots dirty looks at Womble and Joe* In response, I blurted out, “I didn’t do anything wrong did I, Officer?” *looks at him pleadingly* Another surprised look went by. “Oh no, no, no. You’ve done nothing wrong, this is just a random breath test. *tactful pause* Though I’m quite sure that you haven’t been drinking.”
“I just woke up,” I replied a bit plaintively and embarrassedly, remembering that I had rushed out of the house without brushing my teeth. -_-
Anyways, he was heaps nice and I was in the clear: “See, this is what I like to see *shows me the machine* three zeroes.” I smiled wanly at him and chuckled dutifully. Finally, after wat seemed like ages, he let me go and I drove home with watery limbs and a pounding heart.
By starting out as an illegal driver, you can never seem to shake off the slight onset of panic when you see an officer of the law and frantically do a mental check to see if everything is in order and legal. *sighs* Neh.
