triticale - the wheat / rye guy

Yes Sir, Officer

Jay Tea, of Wizbang, tells of being let off with a warning after politely admitting error to a traffic cop, as do some of his commenters. NP tells a similar tale.

Shortly after he got his license, he was pulled over for going 90 miles per hour on the expressway.
"Do you know how fast you were going?"
"Yes sir, officer, I was doing 90."
"And why were you doing 90 in a 55 zone?"
"Because I'm young and stupid."
After running the license and seeing that the record was clean, the officer came back and asked, "You're not going to be stupid on my stretch of road again, are you?" "Oh, no sir, officer." He was genuinely warned, and assures me that he hasn't been thusly stupid since.

On the other hand, a woman I worked with back before I moved told of a cousin of hers who had just upgraded from a 3 Series to a 5 Series Mercedes, and was driving the Indiana Toll Road as if it was the Autobahn. When the officer asked "Are you in a hurry to get somewhere" he snapped back "Yes. Is this going to take long?" It did. A polite "No sir, officer. I just got the car and I guess I got carried away" might have gotten him a ticket for less than the actual speed, saving him a lot on insurance thereafter. It certainly would have saved him from having to demonstrate that the turn signals, brake lights and windshield wipers functioned as required by law.