Speeding Ticket

My family and friends have made fun of me from time to time because I drive the speed limit. It doesn’t really bother me too much. My Dad was the same way so I guess I take after him in that respect.

I did get a speeding ticket once. That was all it took for me to learn my lesson. The consequence of that incident was severe! I was driving 88 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone.

It was a sunny but cool Thursday morning in November of 1969. I had a morning class at Southeastern Community College in Burlington by 10:30 I was headed back to Mt. Pleasant to go to work at the print shop. Coming out of Middletown I fell in behind a woman driving about 45 miles per hour. I swung my White Dodge Dart convertible out to pass her and she sped up. Annoyed I pulled back into the westbound lane. She slowed down and I pulled out again. She sped up. I was getting mad! This happened several times and finally, timing it just right, I pulled out to pass her. She sped up again and we were going side by side down the highway. I floored the Dart and was up well over 90 miles per hour. After getting around the other car I slowed down to 55, the speed limit.

As I neared Danville I could see something going on. There was a guy standing out in the middle of the westbound lane. When I got closer I realized there was a highway patrol car on the right shoulder and the guy in the road was a patrolman.

The conversation was short! He said I was going 88 miles per hour. That was 33 miles per hour over the speed limit. They had caught me with the airplane. He wrote me a ticket and I took it and thanked him. I don’t know why?

When I told my friends about it they told me I was in big trouble. Not only would I have a big fine, but also I would lose my license for at least 180 days and have to file an SR22 form and buy high-risk car insurance. I was devastated! I didn’t have the money to pay the fine much less afford the insurance. How would I get to school without a license? Becky was disgusted with me when I told her about it.

I took my checkbook when I went to the Des Moines County courthouse to appear before the judge. It was short but not so sweet. The fine was sixty dollars plus costs. The total was seventy-seven dollars. That was more than a weeks pay for Becky and I. I went to the clerk and asked if they would take a check. She said “no” and said I could have 60 minutes to come up with the cash.

I went to a bank in downtown Burlington and waited in line for what seemed like twenty minutes. At last when I got to the teller I asked to cash a check. She said I had to have an account in the bank or at least know someone there. My first piece of luck came when the teller two windows down said, “Hi Perry! What are you doing here?” She was married to someone I knew in Mt. Pleasant. I cashed the check and made it back to the courthouse in time.

The clerk took my money and said I would be receiving a letter with an order to surrender my driver’s license and car license plates. That letter came about two weeks later. At the bottom of the letter it said I could request a hearing with the highway patrol if I wanted to appeal the suspension.

After talking to friends on the police department they said I didn’t have much of a chance. They said the hearing officer was Sergeant Steffins of the Highway Patrol and he was as tough as they come. I had to try it, so I officially made the request.

Sergeant Steffins met with me at the City Hall in Mt. Pleasant. His office was on the second floor. He gave me the most thorough chewing I have ever had! He said, “ What makes you think you are any different than anyone else?” I tried to make a case for a struggling college student with a young family to support.

He, at last, very reluctantly agreed to restrict my license to driving to school and work but I would still have to have the high-risk insurance. He asked me when my classes were and he wrote it down. Then I gave him my work schedule for Glanzman Printing Company. He wrote that down, too. Then I gave him my schedule for working at the Mental Health Institute. He started to write it down and then stopped and asked what the weather was like the day I was speeding. I told him it was sunny and clear. No ice or snow.

He looked down at his desk a long time and finally looked at me and said, “Ok, I’m going to check on the weather and road conditions. If you are lying to me this deal is off. I am going to rescind the suspension order.” I thanked him and left the building as quickly as possible.

I couldn’t believe it! No suspension, no high risk insurance! Luck was with me! When I told my friends of my luck they were speechless. They couldn’t believe I had gotten off so easily. Even thinking back on it now I can’t believe I got off with just the fine.