Saturday morning I was headed to the hunting property to work on the duck blinds and drop boards in the water control structures. I was following a hunting partner, Patrick, when he went around a barrier that read "Road Closed No Thru traffic". I felt uneasy going around it, because as my friends and family put it, "I'm a rule follower", but decided to rather than split up. The barricade was blocking one lane and the yellow tape was broken and lying on the ground. Clearly people had been going around. My thought was they closed the road when we got 9" of rain the other night and had failed to take down all the signs when the flood waters receded.
Not too far after going around the orange and white sawhorse a police car came racing down the road from ahead of us and hit his blues. He jumped out and it was very apparent he was PISSED OFF BIGTIME. I mean pissed off like I had never seen a cop in my life. He was so amped up you would have thought he was responding to an ongoing deadly crime. Patrick said "Good Morning Officer." His first words to Patrick were "You are getting a ticket!!" He next walked up to me and in the same agitated state told me he was sick of the public going around the blockade and was giving me a ticket too and demanded my license. I told him it looked like the barricade was left over from the flood a few days ago and that is why I went around. He informed me the bridge (a 36" culvert under the road) was unsafe from the rain, and they always take down signs just as soon as roads are safe to travel (more on that bogus claim in a second). He asked us where we were going and we answered the question telling him we were not going to the next intersection or onto the highway. We were staying on the road taking us straight to the hunting lodge next to the Flint River where we had a day full of work.
With our licenses he goes back to his squad car and proceeds to write both of us a ticket. While waiting a group of a dozen bicyclists rides past us going around the barrier. He tells them to turn around but does not issue a single ticket. They have to follow the same rules of the road as we do, do they not? His actions were now were inconsistent on top of everything else. Now I'm the one getting pissed. When he comes back I tell him once again I thought the road closed sign was left over and that a bridge closed sign should have been put up. He told me they don't have any bridge closed signs but have them on order. He also tells me the reason for the road closure is on their Facebook page. Since when is Facebook the official place for police information? He was still agitated but against my best judgment I told him that the reason the public was going around the barricade was they had no idea a bridge was out and that was another matter entirely than recently receded flood waters. He said he wasn't going to argue and I could plead my case to the judge. I told him this was the pettiest ticket I had ever seen and was not arguing with him but rather explaining why people were going around the barricade. Not for the sake of my argument, but because he's pissed and the reason is so damn clear that the haphazard barricade and signs are misleading. Doesn't "No Thru traffic" mean traffic that isn't connecting to another road is permissible?
The fine and court costs may not even be worth my time to fool with, but I have to tell you, that guy was such a jerk it almost motivates me to fight it. Oh, his "they always take down road signs" claim was clearly wrong. On the way home on a connecting road there was a sign in full view that read "Road Flooded Ahead." Maybe I should send it to him on Facebook letting him know he missed one. BWAHAHAHA.
Eric
Not too far after going around the orange and white sawhorse a police car came racing down the road from ahead of us and hit his blues. He jumped out and it was very apparent he was PISSED OFF BIGTIME. I mean pissed off like I had never seen a cop in my life. He was so amped up you would have thought he was responding to an ongoing deadly crime. Patrick said "Good Morning Officer." His first words to Patrick were "You are getting a ticket!!" He next walked up to me and in the same agitated state told me he was sick of the public going around the blockade and was giving me a ticket too and demanded my license. I told him it looked like the barricade was left over from the flood a few days ago and that is why I went around. He informed me the bridge (a 36" culvert under the road) was unsafe from the rain, and they always take down signs just as soon as roads are safe to travel (more on that bogus claim in a second). He asked us where we were going and we answered the question telling him we were not going to the next intersection or onto the highway. We were staying on the road taking us straight to the hunting lodge next to the Flint River where we had a day full of work.
With our licenses he goes back to his squad car and proceeds to write both of us a ticket. While waiting a group of a dozen bicyclists rides past us going around the barrier. He tells them to turn around but does not issue a single ticket. They have to follow the same rules of the road as we do, do they not? His actions were now were inconsistent on top of everything else. Now I'm the one getting pissed. When he comes back I tell him once again I thought the road closed sign was left over and that a bridge closed sign should have been put up. He told me they don't have any bridge closed signs but have them on order. He also tells me the reason for the road closure is on their Facebook page. Since when is Facebook the official place for police information? He was still agitated but against my best judgment I told him that the reason the public was going around the barricade was they had no idea a bridge was out and that was another matter entirely than recently receded flood waters. He said he wasn't going to argue and I could plead my case to the judge. I told him this was the pettiest ticket I had ever seen and was not arguing with him but rather explaining why people were going around the barricade. Not for the sake of my argument, but because he's pissed and the reason is so damn clear that the haphazard barricade and signs are misleading. Doesn't "No Thru traffic" mean traffic that isn't connecting to another road is permissible?
The fine and court costs may not even be worth my time to fool with, but I have to tell you, that guy was such a jerk it almost motivates me to fight it. Oh, his "they always take down road signs" claim was clearly wrong. On the way home on a connecting road there was a sign in full view that read "Road Flooded Ahead." Maybe I should send it to him on Facebook letting him know he missed one. BWAHAHAHA.
Eric
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