Failure to Brake

This afternoon I had one of those situations happen that was a complete pain, totally frustrating, and it was only minimally avoidable.  I was driving down Golf Road in Schaumburg approaching the intersection at Higgins when the light turned yellow.  Now, most drivers know that if you're within 20 feet of the white line of the intersection when the light turns yellow, it is better for everyone if you keep driving through the intersection.  The driver in the vehicle in front of me did not do that.  She decided to stop.

Now . . . I'm quite certain that if she had continued through the intersection, not only would she have safely passed through the intersection before the light turned red, but so would I and the car behind me without even sweating the prospect of running the red.  I'm also quite certain that if she had simply decided to brake very quickly, I would have had plenty of time to brake my own vehicle before colliding into her.

I was, however, completely unprepared for the "speed up then slam on your brakes" fake out.  It was like trying to tackle Devon Hester in the open field.  She hit the gas as if to indicate that she was going to go through the intersection.  My brain told my foot, "She's trying to go through the intersection."  My foot came off the brake pedal.  Then suddenly, the "fake out" came as she slammed on her brakes as if she was about to hit a box full of kittens.  My brain yelled to my foot "OMG!!!  SHE'S BRAKING!!"  My foot responded ... I braked ... but not enough to prevent me from sliding into the back of her black Subaru, dinging up her back end and crunching up my front end.

So, we pulled into the Starbucks parking lot to assess the damage.  I hopped out of my car first, and shook my head as I looked at the dented front end of my truck.  She jumped out next and said, "I guess I shouldn't have stopped, huh?"  At this point I was getting alittle angry.  I didn't yell at her, but I gave her a heavy dose of the stink eye . . . ALOT!  I know people make mistakes, but the fact that this accident was going to be considered my fault in the eyes of my insurance (since I was the "rear-ending" offender) even though she and I both knew the accident was caused by her ridiculous driving, was causing my blood to boil.

Then she asked me, "Should we call the police?"  I said, "They're going to say it's my fault and I'm going to end up getting a ticket for this if you do.  So it's up to you."  I was trying to appeal to her conscience and inner sense of stupidity.  She said, "I think we should call the police."

Great.

"But" she continued, "I don't have a cell phone.  Do you have a cell phone?"  I could've lied. . . I could've told her to shove it and find her own dang phone.  But no.  I called the cops ... on myself.

The cops came, assessed the damage, issued me a citation for "failure to brake before intersection," and then left.  "Great . . . now I gotta call my insurance, and take my car to the shop . . ." I thought as I gathered my stack of papers issued by the officer.  And just then I realized. . .

He didn't give me my driver's license back!

I looked again.  No license.  He gave me my insurance card, the ticket, an envelope, but no license!  Well . . . as it turns out, I had just been introduced to the wonderful world of traffic violations in the state of Illinois.

For you non-Illinois residents, let me paint a disturbing picture for you.  In Illinois, when you get pulled over for even a minor traffic offense, the police officer has the right to confiscate your driver's license and hold it as bond until your court date (2-3 weeks after the citation) . . . that is unless you're willing to pay the $75 bond fee to retrieve your driver's license ON TOP of the cost of the actual traffic fine.

If you've never lived in Illinois and you're reading this right now, you're likely thinking, "Wow!  that's crazy!"  And you're right.  If you ARE an Illinois resident, and you've been believing that this is normal, trust me. . . it's not!  Most states don't do that!  You shouldn't allow your state to do that either!  I found this Chicago Trib article from last year where they're talking about the fact that some people are actually trying to change those rules and catch up with the rest of the country.  

So to make a long story shorter, I drove straight from the scene of the accident to the police station to try to recollect me license (you gotta have a driver's license to do just about EVERYTHING these days . . .from using a credit card to flying on a plane . . .), and after another half hour wait for the officer to arrive, I got my license back.  So . . . it was a pretty rotten day.  Thanks for listening.

Comments

[Raymond Harris]

I feel for you David! Thank goodness you are ok from it though. But I have to tell you, this was the funniest thing I read this week! Take care friend.