PULL OVER!
I am the first to admit that I am not a very good driver. I have had my fair share of car accidents, speeding tickets and flat tires. The flat tires I can not take any blame for. Nor can I take blame for sitting at a red light and getting rammed in the rear by a guy who wasn’t paying attention. Or for driving in rainy/stop-and-go traffic and the 16 year old behind me falls asleep and hits me.
This morning, I was riding along in my automobile and noticed a police car was about 3-5 car lengths behind me. I got into the right lane so he could pass because I was 100% certain that I was driving EXTREMELY well. I was not speeding, nor was I going too slow; I was driving at the same pace as everyone else on the road. My lights were on (despite it not being dark), both hands were on the steering wheel and the radio was at a low level. I hadn’t even looked at my blackberry since leaving the house.
The cop car passes me on the left and then gets in front of me and I think he’s going to get off at the next exit. Instead, he slows down and drives into the shoulder on the right. I pass in on his left and I see him pull back onto the road right behind me. It wasn’t 30 seconds before his lights came on. I was dumbfounded! I kept saying out loud, “I am doing NOTHING wrong!!!”
I kept my composure and pulled over to the side of the road. I fumbled in the glove box for my insurance and registration cards and kept going over the last 5 miles in my head–what could I have done wrong???
The police officer was out of his car in a matter of seconds and before I knew it, he was standing by my driver’s side door. I rolled down the window and said good morning and he proceeded to tell me that my tags had expired.
For those of you who do not know, I purchased a new car on Nov 23 and as a result of the DMV taking their sweet ass time in sending me my new plates/tags, I am rocking a great 2009 Nissan Murano with expired tags. Awesome. He proceeded to grill me on when I got the car and I have to admit, I was pretty composed. I was lucky it was a dude and not a chick-cop–those are the worst. How am I supposed to use my smile and girly eyes on a chick!?
The officer told me to call the DMV on Jan 23 to check on the status of the new plates/tags. Just add it to the list of things that I simply do not have time to do!
When I got to work, I took a close look at the dealer paperwork and read the DMV website; I discovered that the DMV states that you need to give them up to 8 weeks to process your registration and send you updated tags. Now I get to drive around for 2 more weeks and chance getting pulled over. Love it.
