On the edge of town, I made a turn on a public road. The "PIG" was going north, I was going south. I saw him, turned to the east and headed into the country. I caught a glimpse of his lights and I am sure it was me he wanted to flag down. I was merely crossing onto the road instead of a planted field in order to avoid some hazardous debris in the ditch where I was driving. I have a lot of courtesy for farmers with my ATV.

My thought was this: I would plead ignorance if I got caught saying that I did not even see his lights go on. And if I said I did see the lights I would say I assumed it was for the car in front of him.

The climax to my story is this: Not a climax really. I just hammered down like VeryPicky said and tore across a field section line and into the tree rows never to be seen again. Its great where our ATV's can go and how fast they get there.

Daryn

P.S. That night I put on my rack extenders and mossy oak camo coverings so as to not be noticed for a while. Call me the "Cameleon"!

 

Let's not make this a cop bashing thread. These guys work long hours for little money.Like the rest of the general population, there are bad apples.
Dustanko,FYI,ignorance is not a defense in a court of law.

 

paid little money, yes. But most are overpaid for the kinda job they do.

 

I have two friends who are cops who get paid $50,000/year in Fargo, ND. That is great money here for the low cost of living. These two friends maintain that they cannot believe how well they get paid for the fun job that they have. We are not inner-city in this neck of the woods.

Daryn

 

In my town, Gillam, the cops don't even care if you ride your ATV, trike or snowmobile on the paved streets or dirt roads. The reason they don't care is because everyone has one and the town population is only about 1,200 people. Also its a company town. Manitoba Hydro pretty much keeps the town going, thats who I work for. We also live in an remote area, the closest town is 3 hours away. So its not in the cops best interest to **** off everyone, so they give us all a little leway when it comes to this stuff. We still register our machines and wear helmets but they are very forgiving. I like my town.

 

Whats funny is people will bash on cops and say they are worthless and overpaid, but they are the first to call them when they need help.

 

And when we do finally NEED their assistance- and we get put on hold- treated like a number- or treated like a criminal instead of the victim- we get attutudes towards certains areas POOR policing. Especially when we put up with the crap some often deal us during our daily routine.

 

The bottom line is you have the letter of the Law, and the Spirit of the Law. I think most Police Officers go by the Spirit of the Law. However, like above there's the one's that go with the letter of the Law with no common sense or gray area, just the Law.

 

Problem solved. The wife and I got to thinking, If this guy thinks that I am setting a poor example… what about the way he treated me in front of my Nephew. Got in the ole pick up, drove to the police station and ask to see the chief, got right in. I explained what happened and the chief’s reply was; I am sorry about that you know how “green horns” can be, I will have a talk with him and take care of the problem and yes you can ride your ATV to the mail box. This is the kicker..after shaking hands he walks me out to my truck and ask what kind of ATVs do you have? I tell him and he says you know I’ve been thinking about getting one for hunting and fishing, and I say come on out and test drive one of mine down to the mail box and back [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Way to go Hausdog,

Everyone here made some valid points. There are cops AND ATV riders or pedestrians or speeders or criminals who all can and do make bad judgements. Maybe I should not have used the term "PIG". I only meant it in the sense that the cop in my situation was probably being very nit-picky as was the one in Hausdog's case.

They have a job where their lives can be on the line daily. One bad situaion or A-hole speeder giving them a hard time can put them in a bad mood just like things in our lives can put us in bad moods. But it all comes down to this: We are all people with brains. Hausdog is a good example of how to not lose your cool and cool minds prevail.

Daryn