Cops and bandits

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As mentioned in my Pirates of the Caribbean entry, me and Armin decided to go diving on Sunday.

I started out at approx 7:30, hoping to reach Armin by 8. I arrived, and since all the equipment was ready from the night before, we got in the car and proceeded south on the 101 heading for Monterey. We hadn't gone far before we spotted a police car. I slowed down, but too late, he had already spotted us.

He came up behind us, lights flashing and told us to head to the Marsh exit over his speaker.
I proceeded to the exit and pulled over. He approached the car on the passenger side, and informed us that he had stopped us for speeding, proceeded to ask for my drivers license, insurance papers and registration. I handed him the papers from National(the rental company). I also handed him my norwegian drivers license, and then quickly gave him the international one. Strictly not mandatory, but it makes his life easier.

The officer then proceeded to ask if we had just arrived from the airport, I told him we had been here for a short while. He then asked us how long we were going to stay, and I informed him I was staying another two months. He also asked if we knew the speed limit, and I had to admit I knew it was 65mph. He then asked us how much we were doing, and I said "Around 80". So was everyone else by the way, but we were unlucky. If you're actually doing 65mph on the highways here, you're really slowing things down.

He thanked us for beeing honest, and said he would give us a citation for going 75+mph, sending us to traffic school. He informed us that I would have to go to this traffic school in order to avoid problems if I ever visited California again. He went over to his car to start the paperwork. I guess on the way he found out that sending a driver with a foreign driver license to traffic school didn't make any sense, so when he came back he told us he was going to let us go with a warning.

He told us to keep the speed limit, or at least go with the flow....Pheeew

A few tips regarding encounters with the law:

-Do as you are told
-Don't make a fuzz, he is only doing his job
-Make his life easy
-Smile and be courteous, it makes his day better
-Getting pulled over is not worth risking arrest, or worse jail, by escalating the situation

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Photos

CHP Officer making a traffic stop
California Highway Patrol Officer making a traffic stop. Picture from Wikipedia.