An attitude to be proud of

I would love to be a fly on the wall in select Gargunnock households over the next few days...

Imagine our horror when Alex and I came home last night, after a lovely meal out with old friends, to Ross asking if we’d had a good time then him saying, “Yeh, I had a good night too – it was pretty eventful though. I was stopped by the police. And I was breathalysed. It’s OK though. Nothing to worry about!”  Short intake of breath, pause, rush of adrenalin, before I said, “You were WHAT?!”

Turns out it was OK and Ross hadn’t done anything wrong – other than be a new, 17 year old, male driver out on a Friday evening who had forgotten to switch his lights on as he drove out of a car park but had switched them on as soon as he drove out on to the main road. The police had followed him for a short distance, pulled him over, asked him to step out of his vehicle, sat him in the back of their car, questioned him about the car he was driving, where he’d been, where he was going, had he been drinking, had he been taking drugs, did he have his license, was he insured and told him not to be nervous as this was all standard procedure and the police were allowed to stop anyone and ask them these questions then carry out a breathalyser test! Alex and I have both been driving for around 30 years and neither of us has ever been breathalysed. I can’t imagine how it would make me feel now, never mind when I'd first passed my test.

Ross passed his test less than 2 weeks ago so to say that he was a bit shaken by the experience is a bit of an understatement. He wasn’t speeding, he wasn’t driving recklessly and there weren’t a bunch of wild friends in the car (just one). But, he is guilty of being young, being male and driving. And not putting his lights on immediately in a well-lit car park.

Ross told us that when the police car came up behind him then flashed him to pull over he obviously couldn’t understand why. He told us how his head filled with thoughts of, ‘But I’ve not done anything wrong! What will mum and dad think? Will I lose my license, will I lose my job, what the hell’s going on?”. He told us about how bad he felt to be sitting in the back of a police car being questioned, how bad he felt about having to take a breathalyser test (the result was zero by the way!) and then how relieved he was when the police reassured him that he had done absolutely nothing wrong. Forgetting to put his lights on as he pulled away in the car park was not an offence. They explained that they had a duty to randomly stop young drivers, especially if they were male, especially at the weekend, to make sure they had a license, tomake sure that they hadn’t been drinking or taking drugs and to make sure that they weren’t driving an uninsured vehicle.

My initial reaction and feelings were of shock, quickly followed by relief, then anger and finally pride. Shock, because I came home to, “I was stopped by the police”. Relief, because that was followed by, “It’s OK, I haven’t done anything wrong". Anger, because the police had ‘picked on’ my son. Pride because that’s not the way Ross saw it.

“They were just doing their job and they were really nice about it all. Once they’d made it clear that I had nothing to worry about, that I hadn’t done anything wrong, that they were just doing their job and that it was their duty to check out young drivers cos so many of them  are out drinking and driving or speeding and having accidents, it was fine. In a way, I’m glad it happened. It’ll probably make me even more careful when I’m out in the car. Anyway, I’m off to bed now. Just wanted to tell you all about it before I hit the sack. Night!”

And that was it. I can’t express how good and proud it made me feel that he took that attitude. But, as I said at the beginning, I’d love to be a fly on the wall in Gargunnock households if the rumour gets around that Ross Milne was pulled over by the police and breathalysed!!! Yup, that’ll keep the  gossipmongers going for a while and I can’t help wondering how many different versions of the tale will be told! Alex and I, though, were able to head off to bed and sleep soundly last night in the knowledge that we have a young son to be proud of – and who has a more mature attitude to certain things than his mother!