After more than three and a half years of road tripping, I received my first ticket. Come to think of it, I’ve not had a traffic citation in more than a decade. Yeah, I’m a good driver. This ticket however, was absolutely bogus and I do plan on fighting it if circumstances will permit.

Here’s the story…I was visiting Hoover Dam the other day and was parked at an observation area. From there, I walked to the middle of the Pat Tillman bridge to get a vantage point of the dam from high above. As I left the parking lot, I stopped at a stop sign and rolled down the passenger window. As I waited a moment for traffic to clear before proceeding, a bee flew into my truck. There was a car behind me, so I pulled out and turned into a dirt area to open my door and let the bee escape. Just as I stepped out of my truck a police officer pulled in behind me and said, “what’s going on here?” Not sure what the officer was implying, I simple said, “I’m not sure what you mean?” “What are you doing,” he said in an accusatory tone. As I began to explain he interrupted and said, “This is a no parking area!” I again tried to explain what I was doing when he once again interrupted and said, “I’m sure you can come up with a million excuses, the fact is, this is a no parking area.” License and registration,” he said. I didn’t bother to say anything further.

As he looked at my info he said, “Is there anything you want to tell me about before I call it in? Arrests, warrants, etc.?” To me this seems like such a stupid question…what’s the point? I mean, as soon as the officer calls it in, he’ll know if I’m wanted for anything, so what is there to gain or not be gained by this question. Perhaps it’s a tactic to gain feedback as to whether to be further suspicious of the person in question.

The long and short of it is, this officer felt the need to write me a citation for illegally parking. Mind you, I was at the side of my vehicle with the door open and the vehicle running, so does that really constituent “parking?” I could see if I had left the vehicle unattended and had gone to the restroom or something, but that was not the case. This guy was just a hard ass. Furthermore, as I sat there waiting for the officer to finish writing the citation, I scanned the area for “no parking” signs…not a one was visible…not from my vantage point that is. After further review, I did notice a few no parking signs, but again, none of them were visible from where I exited/entered.

Any guess what the fee is for illegally parking? You might say $40-$50…try $125! In my mind, these traffic fines have nothing at all to do with punishing offenders, but more to do with taxation. Is $275 for going 8 miles over the speed limit, or $125 for stopping along side a road to let a bee out…just? I think not, but would love to hear your thoughts.