Turn Your Radio Down
Last night or should I say early this morning, on my way back to Raleigh from a weekend with my boyfriend... I came across some road construction.
Let me set the stage for this before I go any further. The time is 12:20 AM, I've been up and going non-stop all weekend and with kids around it was hard to get enough sleep, and I'm cruising with the AC on (even though I'm cold) and my radio up...not too loud but loud enough that it booms my brain awake. I left Wilmington a lot later than anticipated because as I was getting my stuff to leave Nate and I got into a serious relationship conversation that ended up lasting an hour and a half. It was worth it though, to get to talk about our concerns with one another among other things. As I left I couldn't help but think, good lord I'm not going to make it back to Raleigh without falling asleep at the wheel.
So this is how I got to where I was at 12:20AM as I see a sign that says to merge into the left lane because there is road work ahead...nothing says slow down, nothing tells you a speed, it just said to merge. I keep going 75, the speed limit is 70 on this end of I-40, my thought process here was, well it's late at night/early in the AM so they usually aren't out doing work right now. I moved over and kept going and then came up on one of those arrow signs that blinks at you to move over. Now being an employee of DOT I've had a certain amount of roadway safety training and they remind you that it's important when there's construction to slow down. So I start to. As I'm slowing down from the usual speed limit I pass some guys putting down or picking up cones...I'm still not sure if they were cleaning up or getting ready to start working. Anyway, by this time my car is slowing to about 50 then down to 45 as I see a man in a vest with a flashlight flagging me down. What the heck?!? So I stop in the middle of the highway and lean over to roll down my passenger side window...my car doesn't have power locks or windows...so that a State Highway Patrolman can tell me that I need to slow down and turn down my radio. My only response was Okay.
As I kept driving my brain began to get a bit furious...why the hell was he telling me to turn my radio down? Does the man not realize it's freaking 12:30 in the morning and I'm exhausted and need my loud music to keep me from flying off the road into a fiery car crash?!?! Obviously not so I should have told him so...why didn't I tell him so? Why is it that it's always after the fact I think of these things?? Luckily the trauma of this experience kept me more awake than my loud music and cold AC. Okay so it wasn't really traumatic but you know how when you think you see blue lights in your rear view and you're going just fast enough for it to be a problem and your heart starts pounding and you get that OH CRAP feeling?? and then you realize there aren't any blue lights it was something else entirely and you try to calm down but you can't help but go about 10 miles slower than you were going? Yeah that's how I felt.
Nate and I have had many a debate about what laws are ridiculous and how stupid it is for the government to have a say in what you do inside your car, etc etc (him not me). Nate feels that wearing a seat belt or not should be up to you as a person and there's no reason whatsoever for a cop to pull you over for not wearing one. Except, I tell him, it's the law... I mean if it was optional yay for you but it's not it's actually a LAW. So they have every right to pull you for not wearing it. However, there is no law as far as I'm aware that states you can't listen to your radio loudly while driving down the highway at night. If I'm wrong please point me in the right direction so I can get the exact wording on that.
Let me set the stage for this before I go any further. The time is 12:20 AM, I've been up and going non-stop all weekend and with kids around it was hard to get enough sleep, and I'm cruising with the AC on (even though I'm cold) and my radio up...not too loud but loud enough that it booms my brain awake. I left Wilmington a lot later than anticipated because as I was getting my stuff to leave Nate and I got into a serious relationship conversation that ended up lasting an hour and a half. It was worth it though, to get to talk about our concerns with one another among other things. As I left I couldn't help but think, good lord I'm not going to make it back to Raleigh without falling asleep at the wheel.
So this is how I got to where I was at 12:20AM as I see a sign that says to merge into the left lane because there is road work ahead...nothing says slow down, nothing tells you a speed, it just said to merge. I keep going 75, the speed limit is 70 on this end of I-40, my thought process here was, well it's late at night/early in the AM so they usually aren't out doing work right now. I moved over and kept going and then came up on one of those arrow signs that blinks at you to move over. Now being an employee of DOT I've had a certain amount of roadway safety training and they remind you that it's important when there's construction to slow down. So I start to. As I'm slowing down from the usual speed limit I pass some guys putting down or picking up cones...I'm still not sure if they were cleaning up or getting ready to start working. Anyway, by this time my car is slowing to about 50 then down to 45 as I see a man in a vest with a flashlight flagging me down. What the heck?!? So I stop in the middle of the highway and lean over to roll down my passenger side window...my car doesn't have power locks or windows...so that a State Highway Patrolman can tell me that I need to slow down and turn down my radio. My only response was Okay.
As I kept driving my brain began to get a bit furious...why the hell was he telling me to turn my radio down? Does the man not realize it's freaking 12:30 in the morning and I'm exhausted and need my loud music to keep me from flying off the road into a fiery car crash?!?! Obviously not so I should have told him so...why didn't I tell him so? Why is it that it's always after the fact I think of these things?? Luckily the trauma of this experience kept me more awake than my loud music and cold AC. Okay so it wasn't really traumatic but you know how when you think you see blue lights in your rear view and you're going just fast enough for it to be a problem and your heart starts pounding and you get that OH CRAP feeling?? and then you realize there aren't any blue lights it was something else entirely and you try to calm down but you can't help but go about 10 miles slower than you were going? Yeah that's how I felt.
Nate and I have had many a debate about what laws are ridiculous and how stupid it is for the government to have a say in what you do inside your car, etc etc (him not me). Nate feels that wearing a seat belt or not should be up to you as a person and there's no reason whatsoever for a cop to pull you over for not wearing one. Except, I tell him, it's the law... I mean if it was optional yay for you but it's not it's actually a LAW. So they have every right to pull you for not wearing it. However, there is no law as far as I'm aware that states you can't listen to your radio loudly while driving down the highway at night. If I'm wrong please point me in the right direction so I can get the exact wording on that.
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