I had to laugh

As I was traveling on Route 93 South this morning, on my way to Everett, I was stuck in some traffic. (Big surprise if you frequent this road, eh?) But it was 9:30 and the morning rush hour traffic should have subsided, right?

Well indeed it had. The back-up was for something else.

At this juncture, Route 93 is four lanes wide on both sides of the highway. As it turns out there was a truck that broke down in the second lane from the right. Right in the middle of traffic. Right in the lane I was in. A Massachusetts State Police Cruiser was behind the truck, flashers going and we all were trying to get around the obstruction. Once we did, the traffic thinned out nicely.

Anyway the funny part of the story is this:

Once I got onto the highway and merged into my lane, I noticed a State Police Cruiser in the far right (slow) lane. Traffic allowed me to pass him when my lane was moving faster than his. He passed me again eventually and not more than two minutes after he did there was a person who was trying to be a smart-ass and beat the traffic by driving in the break-down lane (or shoulder, depending on where you're from.)

Can you guess what happened next?

Yup, you guessed it...


Unaware of his presence, as soon as the unlucky driver passed the state trooper, the blue lights came on and BAM!!! Instant traffic ticket! Instant bad day!!

Now I know it's not nice to laugh at the poor person's misfortune. But I did.

Do you want to know why?

Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn't have read this far.

I've been known to be impatient when sitting in traffic. This is just the kind of dumb-ass stunt I would pull, if I were impatient enough. And you guessed it, normally I would be the guy to get pulled over, considering the kind of luck or karma that I lack in these situations...


So {insert evil grin here} I was laughing because, for once, the traffic "gods" weren't out to get me. And I did nothing to incur their wrath, either.....

On a side note - I've noticed that the New Hampshire State Police have moved away from the standard, ugly, Ford Crown Victoria as the Cruiser vehicle of choice. They are now replacing the Fords with the remodeled Dodge Charger. Those snappy NH State Troopers are definitely driving much cooler looking vehicles with a lot more power under the hood.

Apparently New Hampshire is not the only state whose police departments are changing vehicles...

Look out, they may be coming to your state!

[photo: Barry Chin, Boston Globe]