A Young Man

He just graduated from college and got his first job in a prestigious hospital research lab. He was young and he had his whole life ahead of him.

The asphalt below him felt good under the seat of his brand new pick up truck. He was in the countryside about an hour from the heart of the city of Chicago. On his way back home he passed through a little sleepy town of about 15,000 people.

It was hot and humid outside, but inside the cab he was in the comfort of his new car with the air-conditioner blasting and his radio pumped up. It was late at night and there wasn't a car on the road. He was feeling groovy.

In front of him the traffic light was green and at this rate he would be home in twenty minutes, or would he?

As the pickup splashed through a puddle he noticed that the light had already turned yellow.

The radio was playing Bob Marley,

"Lord! You gotta keep on moving"

He remembered what his friend told him in high school,

"Red light; stop. Green light; go. Yellow light; go faster."

Then he pressed on the gas lightly and crossed the empty intersection and passed the empty shopping center on the corner.

A minute ago he was on top of the world.

Now everything had changed.

He saw red flashing lights in his rear-view mirror.

His first thought was,

"I wonder who is getting pulled over. There is no one out here."

As the flashing lights got closer, his heart sunk.

"Oh. It's me."

You know the feeling of getting caught by a teacher for not having your homework? This is like a thousand times more debilitating. It's like there was a heavy weight in his throat that dropped to his stomach the moment he saw the sirens flashing behind him.

He slowly pulled the car over to a safe place on the side of the empty road. He was going to have to completely entrust his life to this total stranger walking toward him in the dark.

He turned off the radio and put his driver's license, registration and insurance card on the top of the dash board.

The officer shone a flashlight around the car.

"Driver's license and registration please."

One look at the young man in the car and the police officer smiled.

"Why didn't you stop for the red light?"

Guilt

It was yellow when I entered the intersection officer. I thought it would be safer to proceed."

Then would you like a speeding ticket in addition to the ticket for running the red light?"

"No, officer. I understand the severity of the situation and appreciate your concern."

"Yes. I thought you would understand."

He wrote up a ticket for running the red light and said,

"Have a nice evening and see you in court."

He knew exactly what that meant.

A couple weeks later he was in the county traffic court hoping the officer wouldn't show. The court appointment was 10:15 AM.

As he watched the time tick down, he noticed the officer walk into the room and give him that smirk smile again. If that officer didn't show up, he wold have pleaded not guilty. Now the officer was standing right next to him and he had no choice.

Guilty

The judge took a look at the ticket and said,

"It says here you went through a red light. How do you plead?"

"Guilty."

That was the only answer he could come up with. He was sure the light was yellow when he entered the intersection, but it was his word against the officer.

"That's twelve hours of driver's education and a 120 dollar fine."

Back then 120 dollars was kind of steep for a fine, but that county was notorious for collecting fines.

A couple weeks later he found himself spending the weekend at a community college watching safety videos. The 120 hour fine and the twelve hours of safety training should have talked some sense to him, but he wasn't changed much. He basically thought it was a waste of a Saturday afternoon and he was out some lunch money.

A month later he was at it again. The light was green and then yellow. This time he was on his way to work on a rainy afternoon. The vehicle coming from the other side was going through the intersection at the same time. Because of the rain she couldn't stop and she collided righted into his new car.

They exchanged insurance papers, but that was it. He liked her British accent and wanted to talk to her again, but that never happened. What happened was structural damage to his new car. His insurance paid for it, but his rates went up. He could also never get the car fixed the way he wanted to. It lost its resale value and he saw the true severity of going through yellow lights.

It's more than a ticket and some hours in driver's education class. It's a matter of life and death. He began to understand the police officer that night and the smile on his face. He didn't feel so bad about paying the fine and showing up in court. He was in fact glad he went through the experience.

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