Banff Schadenfreude

[jamesq]

Banff was good. We hiked up to Grassi Lakes, thebrucie took some cool photos of me being ravaged by unseen forces. We had dinner at Timber's and we all grabbed assorted sweets. The only downside was that we got to the hot springs 5 minutes after the last time for entrance (basically their open until 10 p.m., but they don't let people in during the last half-hour - note that during the summer they're open until 11 p.m., which is what screwed us up).

So we decide to drive back to Calgary. It's dark, I'm driving and miraculously none of the passengers are sleeping - we're actually engaged in conversation. Aside: conejita_diabla and othelianna will occasionally sing along to whatever music is playing, which I've discovered is fun and entertaining.

Anyway, we're driving back and I'm speeding a little. I whiz past a cop hiding on the side of the road. Seriously, I did not have a hint he was there until I was going past. I also wasn't expecting cops because we had just past emergency vehicles a few minutes earlier (I was a good boy and dropped my speed down to 60 K for that).

About the same time as this happens, I come right up behind a truck doing under the speed limit (some of them have corporate limits of 100 K and this was a 110 K zone). I pass him and some dick-lick in a mini-van comes right up on my ass. He tailgates me the whole time I'm passing this truck.

I clear past the truck enough to safely move over to the right and change lanes. Mini-van passes me. A quick scan ahead sees that for a brief moment, there is neither oncoming traffic, nor anyone else in front of me. So I flash my high beams at him just to let him know that I didn't appreciate being tailed.

That's when I realized that there was a third car in our little formation. Third car is also passing me and was right beside me when I flashed mini-van. It was the cop!

The cop is now following close behind the mini-van and I'm backing my speed back to the speed limit. BTW, the most I was doing during any of this was 120, so I wasn't really speeding a lot. But still, I was speeding, and a cop just witnessed me flashing someone with my high beams, which is not legal. Whoops. My heart is pounding and my three passengers are all talking about the cop pulling over mini-van. A few moments later, he does just that.

As we passed the cop and the mini-van, I dutifully, and happily, slowed down to 60, then resumed a normal, legal 110 back to Calgary. No ticket, but grateful to see some instant karma.

Comments

[ishansonofbrand.livejournal.com]

I have always been curious of this. I tend to be the one at the head, or at least trying to get to the head, of a traffic group. I try to do about 10-20km more then the limit, but I haven't been pulled over by the cops yet. The only time I really saw them was on the highway around Banff at the end of our trip. On the way back into Calgary is some of the most frustrating traffic. There are a lot of people who don't comprehend highway driving. Reason one why I like taking the back roads highways.

I have been taking to waving in front of my rear view then waving back and forth. That tends to alert the person that I am not comfortable with their distance behind my vehicle. Works about 75% of the time.