This week heralded in the last of our summer orientation events. Monday evening, I was driving to the dinner section of the event across campus, and was distracted by the car in front of me almost turning into (and smooshing) a man crossing the street in the wheelchair. Concern for the close call is the only explanation I have for what happened next.
When I got to the stop sign after the near accident, I noticed an Oregon State Police (OSP) officer car across the street at the stop sign. I tried to see if the driver was one of the officers I knew before turning. Soon after I turned, I had a brief concern that either my blinker had gone off too soon, or I hadn't actually used it. Whoops.
I didn't think about this again until later at dinner, when one of my friendly OSP officers comes into the dining center, and asks me to read a page of his rule book. I was more than mortified when I saw he was pointing out that the fine for not using your blinker at a stop sign is $94.00. Looks like I forgot to use my blinker after all.
The officer laughed at me, and told me I was lucky that he liked me and chose not to notice my blatant disregard for the law right in front of him. I tried to humbly laugh off the event, and graciously thank my new BFF for letting this slide. One thing you should know is that people not using their blinkers is one of my biggest pet peeves in driving. Seriously, how hard is it to indicate to others which direction you are going? I always use my blinker, so I really have no idea how I forgot this time. Naturally the time I forget is when law enforcement is there to witness the whole thing.
Thankfully, I have a good rapport with OSP. If I didn't, I would currently be $94.00 poorer.
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