So on my way home, I see flashing lights behind me. I think it's an ambulance or fire truck so I changed out of the inner most lane. It follows me. So I go out another lane. Then it goes out another one and a half lane. Now I'm trying to figure out if it wants to pass or if it's the police (it was only red lights). Then a few seconds later it turns on it's siren and, yeah, police, so I pull over at the curb.
The first thing he says to me is, "did you not see the flashing lights, you're supposed to pull over faster." Why yes, I did see the flashing lights, I saw you turn them on and I changed lanes right when you did. If you wanted me to do a 5 lane merge immediately, I'm sorry, I do try to check if it's safe before I merge. Consider using your siren if you really wanted to pull me over 10 seconds faster.
Then comes the fun part. He asks me, "how close were you following the car in front of you?" Err... 3-4 car's length, cause that's how far away I normally follow cars, its close enough so people don't merge in front of me, but far enough for me to react. So I respond, "about 3 car's length." His response? "Oh....... license and registration please. Did you know how fast you were going?" Yes, I did, it was about 70-75, cause that's how fast the car I was following for the past 10-15 minutes was going. But hey, I responded with, "No, how fast?" and the rest of the conversation went like this..
Is this your current address?
Yes.
Walnut?
Yes.
Where are you headed?
Walnut.
Ok.
So he goes back there, and 5-7 minutes later, he comes back and goes, "Well, you have two moving violations, you were following too close to be safe, and, you were speeding, but I only wrote you up for speeding." So I ask him, "How fast was I going?" His responce? "Oh.. a little over 80 back there for a little bit when you tried to pass a car in the second lane".
Was I going a little over 80? Yes, probably for a few seconds at some point in time. Everyone on the freeway goes about 80 and I passed the car going 60 in the fast lane. What the hell. So yeah, I get pulled over for traveling the same speed as 10 other cars near me, and the guy next to me was tailgating the guy in front of him trying to pass me and the car in front of me. Thanks for BSing some reason to pull me over just to meet your month end quota. I'll see you in court, after I make you write an essay 2 months from now trying to defend your case against with me without use of a radar gun. Oh, and of course, if I have to appeal, I'll appeal to a court near Santa Barbara, or Walnut. It's a 1.5 hour drive either way.
If all else fails, traffic school fun.
