Getting Flashed

Many times I have wondered what it would be like to be flashed. How would I react? I suspect I would look and be amazed at the idiocy of the person showing off his pee-pee. Perhaps, I would point and laugh. Think that would be just the reaction the flasher was going for? I suppose not.

Well last Friday, I got flashed. Unfortunately, it did not involve the viewing of a naked man. The traffic camera got me.

Not only did I get caught running a red light, but also I was caught with both of my children in the car. I could say it wasn't my fault, but that's not entirely true. See, I was traveling a tad too fast anyway. I saw the light turn yellow. I simply misjudged the distance and the speed at which I was traveling.

Actually, I was paying more attention to my children than the traffic signal. We were singing and dancing in the car. This is such a rarity that I was not about to shut it down by slamming on the breaks and force everyone to lurch forward. I could have stopped, but simply chose not to. And for that, the blinding light from the traffic camera flashed. Busted!

My son, who was sitting in the front seat, was surprised that I had violated a law. He pointed at the camera, when FLASH, another picture was taken.

Law breaking is not something I do on a regular basis. It causes me too much guilt. This incident made me feel bad. I would have felt bad had my children not been witness to the violation. It was compounded by them being there.

My son said I was going to be in trouble. What would Dad say? Dad was going to be so mad at me.

Ah, no. He's not my dad. He's my husband. I'll tell him what happened and he'll tell me to pay it.

The thing about camera traffic cops is that the tickets take forever to arrive and that's only if the camera had film in it. The flash will still work, taking unrecorded photographs of violators. Perhaps, I was lucky and the incident was not recorded and I won't receive a ticket in the mail. But, with my luck, I know that is not very likely. I'm going to get a ticket. When? Hopefully, we will have moved away from Germany when the dreaded reminder of the fractured law arrives. It will be a non-issue by then. But, we'll probably extend here and the ticket will arrive.

Then, I will have to take it to the Provost Marshal's Office and explain to my collegue what I did. Yep, I, too, work at the Provost Marshal's Office. Would you like a bit of salt with that pride? It'll help you swallow it.