The ticket...

I got a ticket a couple weeks ago. And although I had long since forgotten since I paid the silly fine, I just came across the ticket on my desk and it made me angry all over again. If I was in the wrong, I would suck it up and be angry I got caught. No, the ticket wasn't for speeding. That's a pretty hard one to argue. No, my ticket was for running a red light. Arizona has these fancy cameras at many of the intersections and if I was caught on camera, once again, I would suck it up and be angry I got caught. But no camera caught me. A police officer pulled me over. A police officer who was in front of me at the intersection. I was sitting at the red light, as the third car, and when the light turned green I waited my turn to go through the light. A large bus was the first in line and blocked my view of the light as it turned. I relied on the traffic next to me, who were also turning, to gauge the light turning red. I went through, not rushed as cars sped up behind me in the next lane and also made it through the intersection. The police officer in front of me pulled over to the side of the road, let me pass and then pulled me over.

The kind and humble (read sarcasm) police officer puffed up his chest as he proceeded to give me my ticket.

"But I'm sure my wheels were over the line by the time it turned red - the cars next to me were still going through."

"No, you ran the light."

"There's no way you could even know that because you were in front of me."

"I could see in my rearview mirror that your wheels were behind the line."

(steam blowing out of my ears)

"Thats a joke."

"No, that's my job."

AAHHHH!!!! I could've screamed. I wanted to yell at him - "You have no idea if my wheels were across the line at the time the light turned red because neither one of us could see the light because of the bus you idiot. Not to mention as you turned into the intersection I'm pretty sure your rear view mirror wouldn't even be able to see my wheels because I was no longer in your mirrors line of vision. Not to mention your uniform is too small, especially if you're going to puff up your chest like that."

I should've fought it. But it would've taken time and energy that I wasn't about to waste on this. Instead, I paid the $170 ticket and then forgot to throw the evidence away.