Blind Spot

Since I moved back to Pennsylvania I have driven over a million miles throughout the state. Most of those miles have been in various vans to service small stores and bodegas in the state. Thankfully, most of my travel has been uneventful in spite of a lot of situations and unpredictable weather.Noteworthy exceptions are two traffic violations. I remember them both vividly although they were many miles and many years ago. The first involved a speeding ticket—I think for going about fifty some miles an hour in a thirty-five mile an hour zone. I must have been day dreaming. I had no clue what was happening until a local policeman finally had to turn on his siren. He said he’d followed me out of town with flashing lights blazing for about three quarters of a mile. I was extremely rattled and couldn’t remember any thirty-five mile an hour zones and had to accept his word for it. Once I got to my motel, I couldn’t sleep and returned to the area by moonlight. Sure enough, even though I was unfamiliar with the area, I found trees partially hiding an obscure thirty-five mile an hour sign. I “borrowed” a yellow page listing of local attorneys from my motel room and started mentally preparing my defense to clear my record. Even though the site was about two hundred miles from home I sent the ticket back saying that I wanted a court date and would have, in fact, some pictures to prove my innocence. On a subsequent visit to the area I took pictures of the partially hidden sign but didn’t have time to get an attorney. I actually negotiated a very reasonable price with one from the yellow pages once I returned home. We had an understanding that to save money on the day of my hearing I would meet this attorney for the first time and give him my pictures.I knew I was in trouble the day of the hearing when he asked me to pick him up at his home because he didn’t have a driver’s license! I think if I mention his frayed bowtie, rumpled suit and cardboard briefcase you’ll soon get the picture. After I paid him the required advance payment, I made room in my van to take him to “the scene of the crime.” When I confidently took him to the site of my prized pictures and he in turn reviewed the court summons, he just shook his head. I had pictures of the wrong area and our “air tight” potential defense vanished! As I walked into the courtroom I felt like a fool ready to be thoroughly humiliated. Little did I suspect that, for a reason I never understood or questioned, the judge would dismiss the charges without even looking at my pictures of the wrong site or hearing from us.The other violation was rather straight forward. As I re-entered a ramp onto Interstate 80 in a remote area of north central Pennsylvania, I merged immediately into the passing lane of a seemingly empty highway. In my driver’s side mirror I glimpsed a brief flash of white descending into the grassy area between the four lanes. I had no idea what it was until the startled State Trooper in the white police car recovered enough to turn on his lights and siren. I don’t think there is any defense for running a State Policeman off the road, at least in Pennsylvania.What have I learned? My otherwise “good driving record” and plea of ignorance had no relevance to the officers involved. As much as I hate to admit it, I am responsible for what I didn’t see and I have a record to prove it. Turns out I can’t always trust my visual perceptions for the complete picture. I have some real “blind spots” that leave me vulnerable even when I am not driving. Perhaps “walking by sight” isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.