Civil disobedience

I was happily speeding through Kentucky in my new car. I wasn’t worried about getting a ticket because I had a radar detector. As I topped the hill I saw a policeman with a radar gun. He gave me a ticket. I complained bitterly that my radar detector did not go off. He said that I didn’t have the latest and he did. (He said that with a wry smile that only cops can muster).

I learned a valuable lesson from that experience. I was in an electronics shop the next day. “Give me the best radar detector known to man. Money is no object.” He obliged with a state of the art laser/radar detecting marvel. The salesperson told me proudly that his company made the police detectors too and it was sure to warn me of any
electronic detection devices.
“NOW”, I said, “I’m ready.”


The very next day I was coming home from Athens Georgia with my new detector detecting. I topped the hill doing about 95 and my detector went off. The problem was, so did the police car’s unit. Another ticket and he kept my license.


I learned a valuable lesson from that experience. You don’t top hills in the fast lane speeding. You need to take stealth maneuvers such as slowing down before you top the hill and stay in the slow lane where possible, as this lane doesn’t get scanned as frequently.


A few days later I was in Alabama heading toward Mobile. I filled up with gas and the gas attendant was rude to my wife. I was in a foul mood because of that, which made me speed even more than normal. I got on the expressway with a vengeance. There were no hills, no cops in sight, my state of the art detector was not chirping and the pedal was to the medal. All of a sudden my detector started chirping. I slowed down but saw nothing ahead of me. That is because he was behind me.


“Could you please step out of the car and follow me”, the trooper said.


“Sure”, I said.

“What is your hurry?” he snarled.

“Oh no hurry”, I innocently said.

He said, “You passed ME!”

“I did?” I sheepishly responded.

“Yeah and you were doing over 100, I practically couldn’t catch up with you”, he fumed. I pointed to the radar detector that was locked in at 89 and before I could argue the point, he said that he had been chasing me for a while and he knew that my fancy detector had gone off to warn me to slow down. He said he knew that I slowed down and it didn’t matter, he could still ticket me for going faster.

I was beginning to think that he might lock me up, but he mellowed somewhat as I explained that I was thinking about the incident at the gas station and didn’t pay attention to the speedometer. That almost worked, but then he again remembered and mentioned the fancy radar detector I had stuck on my window. If I wasn’t a professional speeder, why did I need a radar detector? There was no denying it anyway, because I had to give him a speeding ticket for my license because the other cop had taken it away from me. I eluded jail, barely, but got the ticket for doing 89.


I learned a valuable lesson from that experience. I had received three tickets in three weeks. I was well over the speed limit with all of them and it cost several hundred dollars to pay them. My insurance was sure to go up and worst of all I had my secretary call in and she said one more ticket and I would have to go to “dumb” drivers school. “What is next?” I asked myself, “wearing an orange vest and picking up trash along side the road for community service?” The lesson I finally learned was to quit speeding. I gave my fancy radar detector away and slowed down.



That was three years ago. Now that those points have dropped off my driving record, I’m speeding again. My wife jerked her arm violently this weekend when we were driving home from the lake. I asked if she had fallen asleep and she replied, “No, I’m scared. You are driving this thing over a 100 miles an hour weaving in and out of traffic.”


I smirked, “This ‘thing’ is a Porsche and that is what Porsches are for. She looked at me like she thought I was an idiot. Then it hit me. “I haven’t learned anything, I am an idiot”.

Believe it or not, I did not slow down. I don’t know why I’m so stubborn; there are consequences for my poor behavior, none of which I want. Tickets, high insurance, dumb driver’s school, picking up trash on the side of the road and God forbid an accident to name a few.

Is this human nature? I don’t think so, I think that it is just plain old rebellion. I have always had a rebellious streak in me.


The Bible teaches that we should obey all authority as it is an extension of God’s authority.
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Romans 13:1

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

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