“I wasn’t speeding!” The driver shouted. “I checked my speedometer, mate, three times! Your machine is wrong. I’m not paying your damn fine!”
Bill Wallace was doing a quick run to the grocery store. Eggs, milk and bread. It was supposed to be a ten-minute round trip. He saw the mobile camera while on the way there and smiled. He was familiar with the camera. It’d been set up there many times before. It wasn’t a worry. Bill knew to drive slowly.
He paid for the items and returned to his car. He wasn’t expecting to be flashed by the camera at the checkpoint when he went through it, but that’s what happened.
“That can’t be right,” he said, looking down at his gauges. “I’m under the speed limit. The camera must’ve trapped a different car.” Bill suspected it was the white sedan beside him.
Bill decided to go around the block and pass the camera again.
His second pass was slower and, just like the first time, the camera flashed. No cars were near his, so it couldn’t have been a mistake. His car tripped it.
“One more time,” he said, “just to make sure.”
He made his third pass at a snail’s pace.
It flashed again.
That was it!
Bill had to pull over.
He reversed his car until he was in line with the camera operator. He wound down his window and called out. “Your camera is wrong. I was under the speed limit!”
The officer took his eyes off his equipment and turned to Bill’s car. He shouted something back, but Bill couldn’t hear him through the noise from the road.
Bill gave him another spray. “I checked my speedometer, mate, three times! Your machine is wrong. I’m not paying your damn fine!”
Again, the policeman spoke, but the sound didn’t reach his ears. Bill wasn’t even sure if he heard him. He’d have to go up to the man to be sure. He got out of his car and slammed the door.
“I said I wasn’t speeding, buddy. I was under by five, easy.”
The policeman pointed at his screen. “The camera captured you, driver.”
“I know, I saw the flash! That’s what I’m saying! I wasn’t speeding, mate! You got it wrong! I was under by five, maybe more! Don’t bother sending me a ticket ’cause your camera’s broken!”
“Dispute them in court, sir. The tickets will arrive in the post.”
“Tickets? What do you mean, tickets? At no time was I speeding!”
“You weren’t speeding, sir. Yours is a seatbelt offence. Would you like to confirm it was you driving that car?”
Bill went silent. His wife constantly reminds him about it all the time. “One day, they’ll catch you,” she said.
The policeman pointed at the screen in front of him. “Is that you at the wheel, sir?”
Bill ignored him. “I thought you were a speed camera.”
“We check for all offences, sir. You weren’t wearing your seatbelt three times.”
Bill glared at the man. He wanted to say something about the deception he felt. Nobody told him speed cameras could be used to photograph other offences.
His face softened. “Thank you, officer. Have a good day.” He walked back to his car and muttered to himself.
“I’ll never hear the end of this from Mrs Wallace.”
Discover more from Michael Forman – Author of Dark Fiction & Drama
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