Dear police officer, thanks for pulling me over and not giving me a ticket

Dear police officer (not pictured), thank you for pulling me over and not giving me a ticket after I made a seriously bad call. Photo / File photo by Brett Phibbs

Dear police officer, thank you for pulling me over and not giving me a ticket after I made a seriously bad call.

Everyone makes bad calls on the road from time to time.

Whether it's cutting people off, or not giving away — I feel like many people brush the loud horn off and think to themselves "nothing I can do now, it was a mistake".

But what if that mistake cost a person's life.

Last month, I made a bad call and pulled in front of a driver on busy 50km/h when there wasn't enough space (even though I thought there was).

He blew his horn at me, and I brushed it off thinking "you'll be right".

But as I pulled into a parking lot to get lunch, little did I know it was you, an undercover cop, that I made a bad call with.

At first, I was angry thinking "oh great, another ticket". But as you approached me you looked extremely concerned.

You asked me, "what was the rush?", and said "No rush, it was a mistake. I'm sorry."

You stared at me with disbelief and said something that left chills down my spine and has impacted my driving from that day forward.

"You're lucky you did that with an experienced driver. You would probably be in hospital."

As a reporter, that hit me hard — as I closed my eyes and processed what you were saying, flashes of fatal previous car crashes and horrific photos came to my mind.

I awaited my well-deserved ticket, but instead, I was given another piece of advice before he left.

"You always need to triple check, every time you pull out," you said.

This stern conversation has impacted me more than any fine I have received (which is not many.)

Since then, every time I drive I always triple check for other drivers before pulling out or changing lanes. Your words embedded in my brain, so I don't make another bad call ever again.

And that is why I thank you for pulling me over and giving me advice on safe driving — instead of giving me a fine.