Wednesday 20 November 2019

Adventures in visiting mom

I left work a little early to visit mom today. Mom had a mild stroke on June 2 of this year and was released after undergoing rehab on August 8. Mom is making progress. I mentioned earlier in the week that I would visit her today. She said she would make dinner. Mom has been doing better lately and I was looking forward to this visit. I brought her a poinsettia because I am a wonderful son.

From where I live to mom's place it is about an hour of driving time. It was a nice visit. I did a few chores for mom and took out her garbage when I left. It gets damn dark early this time of year. About halfway home off in the distance I noticed a set of flashing red and blue lights off in the distance that then vanished. I was doing the speed limit, not that I do not speed, but because the deer are a menace around here and a number of people have totalled vehicles in encounters with them. 

I could see the cruiser sitting on a side road idling with its lights off. It was hard to miss. As I passed by on the highway he turned off the side road and followed behind me. I got about a mile down the highway with him behind me and was lit up by a member of Canada's finest, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I found a place to pull over, threw the car in park, hit the hazard lights and dug out my insurance, registration, and license.

I waited. And waited. And waited some more. I was not sure what was taking so long. I know getting out of the vehicle would be a major mistake. Finally the officer walked over and asked if I had anything to drink or smoke. I have never smoked and had nothing to drink tonight. I was then told I was going to be given a breathalyzer test. 

Seriously? My driving cannot be that bad.

Whenever I have been pulled over by the police for anything I am polite and do not answer any more than what is required. By being polite I have gotten off a few times with a warning when I was clearly speeding. I am reasonably well behaved behind the wheel, I have one speeding ticket on my current record from November 2017. Note to self, do not speed near Medicine Hat, Alberta. I blew and came up with a zero reading. Then he took my information back to his cruiser. I remembered that I heard rumours that random checks were being done in rural Alberta. I do not have a problem with it, I just never expected to be pulled over and tested for being impaired.

I was caught and released with the only inconvenience being to my time. About another ten miles down the road another vehicle was pulled over with a different RCMP cruiser lighting up the sky. I am home being no worse for wear. Time for a beer.

6 comments:

  1. Must have been a slow night for them.

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  2. Here in the states, that's technically illegal, but no-one stands up to them, so they get by with it.

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  3. I never had any problems with being pulled over, but then I lived with two separate CHP's across the street from me, a sheriff deputy lived around the corner, and a city LEO a block over. Safest neighborhood in town.

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  4. I wouldn't sweat it. The RCMP are fond of PR enforcement. If there are continual problems on the Whitemud with speeding they will 'crack down on it' and hand out tickets by the bushel until people slow down. If they see a problem with impaired driving on another road, they will set up check stops and make a show of arresting the perps and violators. Guys like you help too - the first thing you do after getting stopped is tell everyone about it - and if there are any drunks among them (like Yours Truly) - they will hopefully take note and change their behaviour and driving patterns.

    Glad to hear your Mom is doing well BW!

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  5. Glad your mom is doing well. As for getting pulled over, I'm happy to know that they are out there helping to make the roads a little safer for the rest of us.

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