Account from the Driver's Perspective, written after I bit the bullet and took the $210 course as my least painful way out of this mess which had already cast a cloud over our vacation which started like this:

I was driving west on 89a between Jacob Lake and Fredonia, AZ on Tuesday April 21, 2009. There had been no one but us in sight for a long time but about 5:40p.m. a white SUV appeared behind us and was gaining. We prefer not to have anyone close behind us so I put on my right turn signal, slowed, and pulled over on the shoulder so that the SUV could pass without having to go into the oncoming lane. To my surprise the vehicle pulled in behind me, and when we were both in the shoulder he suddenly turned on his police flashers! I had no idea what that was about, but since we had a rental car with a paper license plate taped to the back window, which seemed to me non-standard, I thought maybe that was what it was about. The officer approached and asked for the usual license and registration (in this case rental car papers), which I provided. He said, “I clocked you at 32 miles per hour.” Immediately in front of my stopped car was a sign that said, “Speed Limit 50,” The officer said, “That's almost 20 miles below the speed limit. You could get rear ended.” I had the feeling he would have liked to say “more than” instead of “almost”--there had been a moment of hesitation before the word,--but there was that 50 sign right in front of us big as life, so he had to go with “almost.”. The officer went away with my licence and rental car papers for a couple of minutes. When he came back, having gathered my thoughts, I explained, “I was slowing down in order to pull over so you could pass me.” The officer said “That may well be.” but he still handed me the ticket he had just written out. We were trying to make Kanab by 6:00 so I believe at that time we were probably driving close to the speed limit until we slowed to pull over It is my opinion that the officer clocked me at 32 during that period of slowing down to pull over. During the slow-in-order-to-pull-onto-shoulder period we were on a straightaway so always in sight of that 50mph sign.

It is also my opinion, and that of my husband who was sitting in the passenger seat, both of us experience drivers, that we had not done anything imprudent or unreasonable in that vehicle all day. I realize this conflicts with the officer's opinion, but we are willing to swear to our opinions, and it is two opinions against one, Between us my husband and I have 100 years of driving experience, and neither of us has ever been accused of driving too slowly or of driving unreasonably or imprudently before. We had passed on Rt. 89A about four signs that warned us to beware of ice. It was about 50 degrees, so we did not really think ice was a danger, though there was snow in sight, and the next day at that same altitude we did see ice on pavement so I photographed it in support of the reasonableness of heeding that warning to be cautious. Furthermore, shortly before I was stopped on 89a there had been a graphic sign warning that cattle could be in the road. My husband commented “Now it's cattle,” because a bit earlier we had been warned with a deer silhouette. Had anyone been driving somewhat below the speed limit on 89a, I feel it could be justified on the basis of these signs. I however was certainly never going a lot slower than the speed limit except when I was preparing to stop.

I was always aware of who was behind me. I don't like tailgaters. There was nobody on that road that day but the unmarked police car and us. The police officer told me he had been coming the other way and had seen us momentarily slow and then speed up, had done a U-y and followed us at a distance ever since. Waiting for us to do it again so he could catch us red-handed, I suppose. I remember when we slowed and why we slowed—it was right outside Jacob's Lake, I'd say aroound 5pm, and it was on a straightaway in daylight and there was no one behind me. I had asked my husband if he wanted me to pull over to the shoulder but he said no, he wanted to get to Kanab by 6pm, so that's why I speeded up again.

The policeman had nothing else to do but watch his only “customer,” and he had a pre-conceieved idea of the violation he was going to catch us in, going slower than was prudent. Unfortunately for him we were using cruise control set at exactly the speed limit. Then I played right into his hand by putting on my signals and slowing! He shoots off the radar gun. If he passes me then there will be nothing to do. So he pulls in behind me and turns on his flashers. That's the way I imagine it happened in his vehicle.

There is a mistake on the ticket as written. It says the posted speed limit was 55. It was 50. The officer was interviewed (due to my husband having sent in a letter of complaint) and asked about this. He said “When she was going 32 it was in a 55 mph zone.” Sounds like a lie to cover up his exaggeration on the citation. If I was clocked in a 55 mph zone he would not have said “almost” 20mph below the speed limit in our conversation. I would have said “almost” and he would have said “No, when you did it we were in a 55 mph zone, so you were more than 20mph below the limit” The 32mph on his radar log is either time-stamped around 5:40pm where we both agree the speed limit was 50mph, so or it is at some completely different time when we'd have to take his word for the speed limit and ask him why he did not stop me at the time of the infraction. I did not think to ask him for the time stamp on his radar gun. Heck, I was too upset to read the ticket in detail to see the speed limit mistake until after he'd left.

Most of the way on 89a I was in cruise control set to exactly the speed limit. I adjusted the cruise control each time the speed limit changed.

According to the Arizona National Safety Council Safe Driving Course which I just took, one is supposed to slow down and pull to the right to encourage a driver tailgating too close for comfort to pass, exactly what I did.

In the unlikely event anyone is wondering what caused me to momentarily reduce my speed slightly on an empty road and then resume cruise control at the speed limit about 5 pm Apr. 21 just west of Jacob's Lake, it was that some woodpeckers flew across the road. I am not a birder, but my husband is, so I said, "Do you want me to pull over?" He said "No." It could just as plausibly have been, instead of woodpeckers, that he said. "It's time to take my medicine." and I could have said (after, of course, checking my rear-view mirror and noticing the straightaway was still devoid of all traffic), "Would you like me to pull over." and he could have said "No." I might add that the police officer by his own admission was travelling east at this point.At 5:40 he was travelling west. Even though I don't have a radar gun to prove it, the lawsof physics suggest that at some point in time between 5 and 5:40pm he too was travelling at well below the speed limit on 89a. I don't fault him for it. Nor should he fault me for it.

Birding Arizona and Utah
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Last revised: July 2, 2009