3 Tickets in 1 day!

This is John. You know, Allison and I are pretty safe drivers. We're not very ticket prone. But today, Allison and I got 3 of them--all in 1 day! It started this morning around 7:30 as I was riding by bike, going for what I had hoped was a long bike ride. About 1 mile into my ride I was approaching an intersection. I slowed down but did not fully stop at the stop sign. I saw a lady in a car pulling up to the intersection as I was entering it. If she stopped, she stopped quickly and started even quicker. She hit me and knocked me off my bike, sending me flying about 10 feet into the other lane of traffic. It took the wind out of me, cut my knee, arm, hand and bruised my shoulder. I laid on the ground in pain. A doctor stopped at the site and told me to stay in that spot. He called Fire Dept. paramedics, an ambulance and the police. They also called Allison.

The paramedics cleaned me up and I was feeling better. I canceled the ambulance because I didn't feel like I had broken anything. The police came and decided I was at fault because I admitted that I only slowed down at the intersection and did not stop completely. I don't think the lady who hit me admitted to a rolling stop or she would have been cited. So I got a ticket for hitting a car with my bike. Really. The scratch on her car was nothing compared to my messed up bike and body. Aren't cars supposed to yield for pedestrians on foot or on bike? That's how I always drive.

What made it worse (for Allison, not for me) was that she forgot her camera, so she couldn't get a photo for her blog. I could have been badly hurt, but the only pain Allison had was that she wished she had her camera.

Allison has never had a ticket. In 24+ years of driving, she's had 0 tickets. None. Perfect record. Until today.... Ticket Day!

This afternoon, Allison was driving up Westcliff Dr. and thought the speed limit was 45, when it was really 35. She says my car makes her go faster. Hmmm. She was trying to call me in the process. The cop clocked her at 49 in a 35 and gave her one ticket for speeding and another for talking on her cell phone while speeding. Really. He was the type of cop that did not give her a chance to defend herself--just wrote out the ticket and handed it to her. Westcliff Dr. is wide enough to be a 6 lane highway. The wider a road is the faster most cars go.

What a memorable day this was. We felt like victims of wide roads and unwise cops. We may need to cancel our kids' college funds to pay for these 3 tickets. Anyone know a good lawyer?

JB