Passing on the Right

Mondays tend to be pretty full for me, and often I find myself running from activity to activity without a lot of free time in between. Yesterday was no exception and although I planned carefully for it, I had a hard time leaving at the 4 pm target I had to hit if I had any hopes of making my Emmaus Accountability group meeting near home at 5:30 pm.

Prior to my departure, I texted the ladies to tell them that I would be about 20-minutes late and then I set off for the big commute. It was predictably rough, but things were pretty much as expected until I looped around to the 23...traditionally the shortest and easiest stretch of my drive home. The restaurant we were meeting in is only about 4 exits away from home, so I thought that I had it all sewn up.

Not so much. I forgot (mostly because I am rarely in my own neighborhood at 5:45 pm) how backed up things get on this freeway, so this last stretch of traffic was killing me. I was in the right lane, creeping slowly along and just feeling over the whole commute.

The first exit past my house is a nice long on-ramp and no one was on it. It seemed like such a waste of open road, so I opted to utilize it. You know, doing my part to help ease the traffic burden in the exit lane (it is true, Ebe, I know better than this!). As I merged back in and claimed my 15 or so car advantage, there it was, the most dreaded thing in the rear view mirror...THE LIGHTS.

The answer was easy when the officer (who was apparently 4 or 5 cars behind me but I didn't see in the dusk of sunset) asked me if I had any idea why I was pulled over...YEP! I wanted to tell her that I wasn't actually clear on what the EXACT violation might be, but I decided that being a smart-alec was not in my best interest. I took my ticket like the polite little lawbreaker that I am.

For those of you playing along at home, the official violation is "unsafe passing on the right". Pricey, not priceless, is what I predict that one to be!