Does this scene look familiar?

Well this happened to me this past weekend when my wife and I were on a California  freeway and I crossed the double yellow line to get into the carpool lane.

As many Californians know, there is a carpool entrance and exit every couple of miles.  It would be “too normal” to have one before each freeway exit and another one after each on-ramp.  In other words there are a lot fewer than is logically necessary.

The officer told me why I was pulled over.  He asked me where I was going.  I told him we were visiting my son and we didn’t drive this freeway very often.  I then added that I thought there were way too few carpool lane entrances.  He replied that he gets that all the time. After I gave him my registration and insurance card, he asked if my record was clean.  I replied, “Yes.”  Then he went to his car to confirm my record.

When he returned, he asked me an unusual question, “Are you a former fireman or policeman?”  I replied, “No.”  He then proceeded to let me off with a warning instead of the $389 traffic fine.

When we pulled away, I realized he thought I was a former fireman or policeman because of my mustache!

The moral of the story: the mustache saved the day!  Or maybe it was cause my wife winked at him.