The Joy Ride

I saw him in my rear view mirror. I was 20 years old and very uneasy. It was a police car with the light on top and I was scared. Did he see what I had just done? There was hope that maybe he didn’t. I was at a traffic light and I waited not knowing what would happen. The good news was he didn’t have his lights on. Nothing makes you drive better than having a police car right behind you. At the same time I wasn’t worried about my actions after I saw him.. It was my decisions before he showed up that worried me. There wasn’t much time left to find out. The light turned green and I went through the intersection. To my greatest fear his lights went on and I found myself stopping and waiting for the bad news.

Dave and I were good friends. We went to the same high school and we started doing things together on Saturday nights. We started going to the local night spots because we didn’t want to sit around the house. I was living at home and had a car but it was Dave who would drive over and pick me up. Neither of us were dating anyone and we looked forward to the night life in the summer of 1977. There was a lot going on in Kalamazoo at the time and we were determined to be a part of some of it! It was fun being young and having something to look forward to. The Saturday nights outings went on that whole summer until the fateful night. I remember doing other things besides the normal night spots. That Summer we went to see the new Star Wars movie that was out. We also went to Detroit to watch the Tigers. None of these past fun times was on my mind as I was sitting there waiting for the policeman to come to my window.

I don’t remember why I was driving that night. I had a nice 1976 red Camaro and it was a sharp car. It was still fairly early in the night and apparently we had went someplace downtown way and decided to drive out to the Portage area. You might think we were drinking, but that was not what we did. If we did go to a night spot we might have a beer but the beer sat there most of the night. It was more about the music and the fun and who we might meet. On this particular night we might have decided to drive out to Portage to roller skate Sometimes we would drive around not knowing what we were going to do.

On this particular night as I was driving down Portage Road we were hitting every traffic light.. It was frustrating to me because I was in somewhat of a hurry and the lights seemed to be working against us. If you have ever driven down Portage Road you will know that there are several traffic lights and most of them are very close together. To make matters worse there were very few cars on the road that night. So I questioned in my mind because I was somewhat in a hurry and there was hardly a car in sight, “Why was I waiting for all of these senseless lights?” Nobody was coming, we were just sitting there and to Dave’s total shock I drove through the red light. Unfortunately that led me to another ill-timed red light. Three times I went through red lights which I felt were timed inappropriately. After all Portage Road was the main road. Why all of the red lights for these little side roads? I probably would have went through the fourth light when the police car suddenly appeared.

Before you totally crucify me for being young and doing such a stupid thing consider this. Have you ever done something when driving that is illegal? Most people speed once in awhile right? The speed limit on the highway might be 70 but the thinking is if I go 70 the other cars will run me off of the road. We justify it in our minds that we aren’t the only ones doing it and besides there are no cops around. Sometimes we might even buy a radar detector so we can speed without getting caught. My thinking and justification was the same. I had justified my actions in my own mind. What is the first thing we do when we make a mistake driving and do something illegal? We look around to see if there are any police cars around right? How many times have we come to a red light and it seems like it is out of order and we wait. Then we wait some more and finally we look both ways and go through it right? When going through the light we look both ways not only for traffic but for the police. If we do something wrong the main thing is not to get caught right? If we are lucky we won’t be. It isn’t t right but that is exactly what happens. How many of us have called the Police Department and confessed a traffic violation we made? Now granted I thought I could get away with it. My luck wasn’t very good that night.

As I sat there waiting for the policeman I had time to think and question. What would he say? How many of my violations did he see? Would I ever drive again? What would my parents think of their normally mild mannered son doing something totally out of character? Why is it taking so long for the policeman to come to my car and what is he doing back there in the confines of his? The longer he waited the more in trouble I knew I was. Deliberately he opened his door and got out. Slowly he shuffled up to my window. Dave was sitting there being very quiet. To his credit he never condoned what I did. I remember going through one of the lights and looking over at him and his hand was in front of his eyes. The policeman arrived and was not happy.

He wanted my license and registration which I quickly provided. He proceeded to giving me the lecture from Hell. “What were you thinking?” “Don’t you realize that you could have overlooked a car?” What could I say? I couldn’t say that these lights were all out of whack especially when there is zero traffic. I couldn’t say that I looked carefully to make totally sure nobody was coming. In fact nobody seemed to be on the road besides me and now you. I couldn’t say that all of these badly timed lights were very annoying to me. All I could do was give him the “yes sir”, but he was not impressed. Of course he told me he saw not only the last light but the two before it. He even made the very true statement “I think if you didn’t see me you would have ran the last light too”. He gave me 3 tickets and told me that maybe paying an expensive fine will make me think twice about what I did! Believe me I thought about it more than he would ever know.

I don’t remember if the policeman followed me home. We were only about a mile away so he might have. I do remember that Dave was quick to scramble out of my car and hop into his. He was out of there in no time. I really didn’t blame him. He had nothing to do with my decisions that night. He was just literally along for the ride. Funny but after that night I don’t remember us getting together again. It was the climax of our Saturday night fun. As far as my parents went they showed amazing love for me even in my errors of judgement. I never heard any lecture like the Policeman gave. They realized that I was sorry and that anything negative would just be piling on my hurt.

On Monday morning I called the court to find out what my fine was for my 3 tickets. Of course I was scared and the fine was the least of it. Three 3 point tickets would almost be enough to suspend my license. Of course there was more waiting as the court had not been given the tickets yet. Ironically my impatience had caused the incident and now I was being forced to be patient again. Finally a day or two later the tickets reached the court records.. They quoted the fines and I was off to pay them. It was like a heavy burden to get the incident behind me. When I got there I was pleasantly surprised by the rules that protected me. I could be written 3 tickets with the fines associated with them, but the point value would only be for one. It seems that because it was one incident that is all that they could do. I guess it is a rule protecting the driver from one bad night on an otherwise good driving record. I was grateful someone had the forethought to show mercy.

My sister and mom were home at the time I got there after the incident. They always talked about how quickly Dave left. Usually Dave was pretty friendly, but they noticed that all he wanted to do was get in his car and leave. I heard that a few times through the years, but I again contend that I didn’t blame Dave at all. It wasn’t him that did wrong, it was me. My dad was working at the time, but he found out about it the next day. He seemed to understand my situation or what he perceived it was. I am sure he remembered times when he was young and crazy things him and his friends did. He always referred to the event as “The Joy Ride.” It was always like “there was that time that you guys went on that “joy ride.” Calling it a joy ride in honesty couldn’t be further from the truth. There was no joy in the ride. What caused the incident was my rebellious attitude I wanted to be somewhere else and those lights were hindering me.

Some of you are on your own “joy ride.” You have a rebellious attitude too! Oh you might not actually be in a car but you are running through life living it up and riding high. Just like there was no joy in my ride there is no joy in your ride either. The ride has left you empty, bored, and sorry with no thrills in sight. It is time for you (like I did), to put this way of life behind you. Like my parents, God is not out to get you. He loves you and appreciates your sorrow for things that you have done. He will forgive you if you only ask! He will write your name down in Heaven and give you eternal life! Your life will not be joyless and empty with no meaning any longer!. It will be alive with adventure, peace, and hope! God wants to fulfill your every need and give you a peace and happiness in your heart that is beyond anything you have ever felt, He wants you to have a real “Joy Ride!”.