One thing I’m proud of in my life is that I’ve never been pulled over by a police officer. I feel like I’m a good driver, and that I try to be careful on the roads. However, that all changed this afternoon.

First, the afternoon started with a parking lot violation tag on my car stating that I hadn’t paid the parking fee. I pay the fee for this particular lot electronically with an app, and because my car still has dealer plates on it, they must have missed that I had put “DEALER” for my plate when I submitted payment. So I had to call the parking lot company and explain the situation and give them the transaction number to get it all cleared up.

Then as I pull on to the freeway I merge into the MNPass lane. I have a MNPass device that I pay for that lets me ride in the HOV lane when it’s open and heavy traffic. I’m not more than a quarter mile out of downtown when I pass a highway trooper who immediately pulls in behind me and starts his lights. I pull over on to the shoulder and wait. I assumed it was a problem with my device, and sure enough I apparently didn’t mount it in the right place on my new car.

He explained that it has to be at least 4 inches from the roof line, and that if it’s too close to the roof they can’t see it. He sent me on my way, but now I need to re-attach the little velcro stickies and move it to where it will be more visible. But here ends my streak of never having been pulled over. All for a stupid reason too.