Northern Lights . . .

I was driving to work the other day which happened to be the winter’s solstice. It was about 7:00 am so there were still several hours of darkness before the light of a new day would be peaking over the Chugach mountain tops. It was a colder morning with the outside temperature of minus five below zero and overnight on my side of town there was ice fog so everything was covered in that beautiful crystal white look that sparkles as any light shines on it.

I had warmed my rig and left the house making my way down the Glenn highway and past Merrill Field on 5th Avenue. Traffic was normal for this time of the morning as there were many vehicles making their way into downtown at a speed of about thirty miles per hour. The several coffee stands were crowded as usual with four or five rigs waiting for that much needed cup of coffee.

Peggy’s restaurant looked empty but there was the current list of Peggy’s Pies that were available that day. Hopefully her pies sell as the several times I had stopped in to try the food I was quite disappointed and not gone back the last couple of years. I drove past the Holiday station and noticed the gas prices had gone up a penny since the day before and not the nickel or more like many times over the last few months.

I approached the intersection of 5th Avenue and Karluk where one of Anchorage’s more popular restaurants, Lucky Wishbone sits on one corner and my friend’s office of Far North Supply on the other across the street.

The ice fog had risen to about 100 feet above ground level but the streets still had a glazed icy sheet all over everything. I was about 50 to 75 feet from the intersection traveling about 25 mph when the light started to turn yellow and I could see that there was one of Anchorage’s finest sitting on Karluk waiting to turn left.

That split second decision had to be made on what to safely do with regards to the yellow light. Do I quickly put on my brakes and probably slid through the intersection on the icy roadway as I had seen several lights back? I can see the intersection on both sides including the patrol car as I slow down to safely cross the intersection. As I pass the light signal on the far side it is still yellow as I continue on my way to work.

I see the patrol car pull in behind me and we travel over three blocks before I see them this morning . . . there they are . . . the Northern Lights. They were really pretty ones glowing so bright this morning. I look up and see those rare colors . . . reds . . . blues . . . and white. White?

Where did the white come from? A spotlight . . . from the patrol car, after three blocks? You’ve got to be kidding. I have not been stopped for any kind of traffic incident in a very long time. It would be hard for me to remember the last time.

He walks up to my door and asks for my driver’s license and proof of insurance. I ask what I was being stopped for and he told me that the light had turned red before I entered the intersection. He proceeded to write me a ticket . . . two actually as the insurance card had expired three days before. The new card was sitting on my bosses’ desk with all of the ones for our 12 other vehicles.

I guess with all of the Christmas spirit and cheer going around during these holidays there were no pleasantries or second thoughts of the icy conditions. Only the matter of fact way of writing the tickets up in the darkness of the early morning is all that seemed to matter. He told me if I wanted to take the proof of insurance down to the station within 5 days that ticket would go away and I could contest the other one if I wanted to.

I drove on to work and after arriving sat down to look at the citations he had given me. I saw a couple of strange things that gave me pause to ponder. The failure to stop for a traffic light carried four points and a fine of $ 220.00 if you plead “No Contest”. Failure to show proof of insurance was a fine of $ 160.00 and 2 points for that offense.

That would be $ 380.00 and 6 points for trying to be safe and not sliding through the intersection. Merry Christmas!


I looked a little closer and noticed on both tickets a $ 10.00 surcharge. Is this a little extra those who receive tickets pay for the officers to drive around and write tickets? Almost like that little extra you would pay for concert or theater tickets at TicketMax . . . well not quite but it gave me fuel for thought of this process.

Christmas Eve I took the new copy of my insurance papers to the station and that charge was dropped and I made an appointment for a court appearance so we will see how this saga ends shortly.

In the meantime . . . I guess there are people getting this nice little surcharge added to their tickets.

Bah Humbug you say?

Nah . . . It’s still . . .

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Ice

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