just got another speeding ticket. Illinois. I didn't earn this one, either. I was cruising along at about 60 mph (admittedly in a 55 mph state) and passed a cop. I saw him turn around in my mirror, but thought he was after one of the 4-wheelers that had passed me. Nope, he pulled me over. He claimed that he clocked me at 69 mph. This in a truck that's governed at 65 mph, on a flat straightaway.

God, I hate cops. People cringe when you say that. Then they get preachy about how you should respect the authorities, etc, etc. To those people, I say kiss my ass. You obviously have not spent your whole life being preyed upon by the authorities. My already shakey respect for police has been shattered irrevocably by truck driving. Since we came out in 1999, I've gotten around 6 speeding tickets. Of those, I was guilty only once (in Ohio). Each and every other time the cop has claimed that I was going faster than I was, several times as rediculously high as this current cop in Illinois. They claim they clocked you going 10-15 mph faster than you were and then pretend to give you "a break" by lowering it to something that's still higher than what you were really doing.

I can understand this in regard to truck drivers. Most truck drivers simply pay the ticket. It's easier than arranging to show up in court in some distant state. It's easy money for the cops. But this corruption is so wide-spread that I'm actually in a difficult position here. I've been preyed upon so many times by the cops that I'm on probation with my company. If we can't get this dismissed, I may lose my job. This because of the corruption of police. And yet you people in your insulated lives will still tell me that I should respect The Law. Show me where they've ever respected me.