April 24th 1999

That same trip in the United States.
This was the end of week two and we were on our way from San Fransisco back to Los Angeles. We had decided to take the nice route, down the coast on Route 1 and take it in two days. It was absolutely beautiful, we were in no hurry and we stopped a lot of times to take pictures. Also at this part of the route. We had just got back on the road, cruising with our Chevvy on cruise control, set just a bit under 65 miles per hour, windows open and enjoying the view around us.
We closed in on a truck just at the foot of a hill and I pulled over to the left lane (I was driving) to overtake it. That didn't go all that fast with the cruise control on 65, but what the heck... like I said: we were in no hurry. We crawled past it slowely and then all of a sudden, out of the blue there was a car on our bumper. And I mean ON our bumper. It was obviously in a hurry, because it got so close behind us that I couldn't see the head lights of the car anymore in my rear view mirror.
Basically, approaching me in that way works the exact opposite way, you won't get me to drive any faster. Actually, if you do that to me in Holland, I will gently hit the brakes and start driving slower and slower, because that kind of behavior annoys me big time. But I didn't really feel like making a fuzz in the US, so I just kept it on the 65 cruise control and crawled on past the truck.
And right at the top of the hill I was past the truck and I pulled back to the left lane, so that guy in a hurry could pass.
Which he did, really fast, because as soon as the road ahead of him got free, he pushed the gass pedal and wooshed past us. From his reaction he was actually already annoyed, even if I didn't stamp my brake (he probably would've killed me had I done that *grins*), but owwell... I didn't really care. It was our holidays and no impatient bumpergluer would spoil that. Yet...
But the guy must've been majorly annoyed, because he hadn't past us just yet, and he went to the right lane already, cutting off our way. I had to dodge all the way to the right, almost into the sand, but by that time the guy in the other car was already back on the left lane.
And at that moment Dimitri noticed the police man on his motorbike standing at the foot of the hill some 400 meters ahead of us. His first reaction (mine too, I guess it's an automatism if you tend to drive a little bit too fast every now and then in your own car *g*) was to look at the meters on the dashboard to see how fast we were going and the pointer still pointed straight on 65 miles an hour.
The guy in the other car had noticed the police man, too, and he actually DID stamp on the brake, because he was driving way too fast, and then he let himself fall back all the way behind us again. It was a really strange situation and Dimitri and I were both wondering what the hell he was doing.
The police man gassed up, passed us both and directed us to the side, parking his bike in between the two cars.
I opened the window when he approached and he told us not to go anywhere, and that he would come to us in a minute and then he walked back to the other car.
We checked in the mirror what was going on, and it took the police man quite some time to talk to the guy, but in the end he finally came to us.
"Do you know why I pulled you to the side?" he asked us.
And I replied: "Yeah, I think so. Probably because that guy over there (pointing with my thumb over my shoulder) pushed us almost off the road just now."
And then the police man answered: "No, that's not the reason. I pulled you to the side, because you were driving too fast."
You can imagine that both Dimitri's and my mouth dropped open in astonishment and I was like: "WHAT??"
Dimitri hit my elbow as to hint not to make any scene, but I was majorly pissed. I asked the police man where he got that and he told us that he had measured it with his lasergun when we came down the hill. I told him that he had probably measured the guy who was driving next to us, overtaking us, but ofcourse the police man was so sure of his case, also because the driver of the other car had told him that him and us had been driving up that hill together with some 80 miles per hour.
If possible, both Dimitri's and my mouth fell open even further when he told us he was going to book us for 80 miles per hour.
This situation suddenly had got a weird scent... Actually, it stank big time! And the stupid thing was that there wasn't anything we could do about it. The police man didn't say ANYthing about that the other guy had pushed us off the road, and I wonder if the guy even got a ticket. But well... We were booked at least.
Court date was 28th of May, I was supposed to appear in court to do my story. That wouldn't be possible anyway, because we were going to leave May 2nd.
So... When we got home I waited for the letter from the courthouse which had the fine on it, and I right away wrote a complaint letter to Santa Barbara Municipal Court (including a cheque for the 87 $ of the fine, otherwise the complaint wouldn't be accepted), explaining the whole situation and suggesting that something had gone in a severely suspicious way. Some two weeks later I got a letter back that my letter was received, but that they couldn't make my cheque payable, so I had to send cash money to get everything done. After that I got a letter back, that my letter wasn't valid, because it wasn't on the standard complaint paper from the courthouse, nor did I sign every single sheet I typed (here in Holland you sign only the last paper, where you put your name). So I had to do that all over again. Printed everything on the courthouse paper, signed every single sheet and sent it again.
Then some weeks later I got a letter saying that my complaint was filed and that I could come to court to give my opinion and to hear the police officer's reason and experiences.
Ofcourse I wasn't going to fly back there to appear in court, so I wrote a letter again, telling them that I was living in Holland and that I had my work here and that I couldn't "just" fly over to appear in court for this and so everything was done without me.
All of this had been going on for three months or so and in the meanwhile it was end of July already and I had planned a trip to Finland to meet Anna for a week.
And just in that time, it must've been the day I left, I received a letter from the courthouse, saying that I hadn't appeared in court and that I had 5 days to react to this case. I came back from Finland and I saw the letter, but it was too late already to react and basically I was so fed up with the whole situation that I didn't do anything anymore. I thought: "Well... I paid the fine, so please... shove this whole thing..."
And then... to my surprise... Some weeks later I received a letter from the Santa Barbara Municipal court. I was wondering already what the hell this was again, until I opened it.
In the envelope was a money cheque in value of 22 $, with a letter coming along saying that the court had found us guilty for the accused, but we still got refunded this amount of money.
Now, can ANYone give me the definition of hypocrism and bureaucracy?
I'm found guilty, but I still get money back?
That made this whole case even more suspicious...