On Sunday I decided to take a drive to King of Prussia via the Schuylkyll Expressway westbound which gets really bogged down with traffic on a nice day. It was the perfect sunny spring day for a drive anywhere. I wanted to be part of the grand opening of my favorite supermarket, Wegmans in King of Prussia. The kids and I were half way to our destination when I noticed a PA State Trooper riding next to my car. There was so much traffic on the expressway it was difficult to reach the speed limit. Shortly after noticing the Trooper’s car, he changes lane and is now riding behind my car. Once I heard the sirens there was no mistake he was pulling me over and proceeding to ruin my Sunday! I have to applaud him for strategically pulling me over right after the Gulph Mills exit on the Expressway.
He exits his vehicle and taps on the passenger window, I already knew what he pulled me over for my- 9 day expired registration. My intention on Friday was to go online and print out the paperwork but one thing led to another and I forgot. Ok, back to Mr. Trooper he proceeded to inform me that he was indeed pulling me over for my expired registration. He was nice enough to tell me that an expired registration in Philadelphia county is an automatic tow of your vehicle and lucky for me I was on the Montgomery county side of the Expressway….Yes, lucky for me would be a warning and I drive off, Mr. Trooper. Another snafu is I remembered my insurance card was the old one and all I was thinking is another going ticket….I guess he forgot whether he informed me that our conversation was being recorded and I did inform him “no you did not”. I asked whether I was going to be fined for the insurance card and he told me no I will just give you a warning, oh lucky me! Lastly, (which was the icing on the cake) he looked in the back of the car and asked me what were the ages of the children and the comment that he was glad to see I had the kids in the proper seats, really Mr. Trooper! I wondered is this normal procedure? He was kind enough to let me know I would receive a citation for the registration and when I asked how much was that going to be, his response “I don’t know”. I thought, wow your customer service skills are stellar!
He returned to his car to process my necessary paperwork and I felt like I was sitting there for longer than necessary. After the paper work was processed, I was handed a $110 citation and an he instructed me to be careful pulling back onto the Expressway…really Mr. Trooper! I attempted to pull off the shoulder and back onto the road but the traffic was speeding up expressway to the point there was no way to pulled back onto the road. Mr. Trooper pulled out put on his siren and instructed me to pull out. I was thinking really Mr. Trooper! I proceeded up the expressway and not even one minute after I pulled off the shoulder Mr. Trooper was pulling over yet another car.
I understand there are rules to follow while driving however a 9 day expired registration warranted a $110 citation???? There was no presence of reckless driving and to ask me the ages of my children after you see one sitting in a booster seat and the other in his seat belt was overboard. I felt like he was looking for more fines to impose as if he had a quota to reach for the day. Oh I forgot he did tell me I have an opportunity to plead not guilty, thanks Mr. Trooper. Somehow taking a day off from work for this is not very appealing. My law enforcement consult felt this officer was extremely rude, overboard in terms of the questioning on the ages of the children and discourteous. Lesson Learned: Keep your paperwork updated and law enforcement courtesy does not apply in all cases!