My run-in with a traffic cop ...

A long time ago, back in the last century, I had this annoying habit of not always wearing my seat belt when I drove. I was acutely aware of this and even fastened a reminder sign to the dashboard. But one day I ignored the sign, and that’s when that eagle-eyed officer pulled me over.

July 1998. “Sir, you weren’t wearing your seat belt,” he said in his Joe Friday traffic stop voice. “A holiday weekend is coming up, and we want everyone to drive safely.”

The ticket was $95.

If you ever got a traffic ticket, you know there’s a reason why tick is the first four letters of ticket. I was ticked.

The Texas seat belt law went into effect in 1985, 13 years before this, but most area police departments didn’t stop drivers for seat belt violations. It was always an add-on.

But then the state campaign of click-it-or-ticket was launched, and seat belts moved up in priority.

The more I thought about it, the more grateful I became realizing that the police officer’s goal was to help me save my life. I called the department to praise him and talked to his supervisor, who was surprised to hear someone thank his department for a ticket. I learned Mr. Safety’s actual name was Corporal Tracy Talkington, a former officer of the year who once saved a man’s life by pulling him out of a burning car.

I wrote a newspaper column called “Officer’s act just the ticket to safe driving.” And that should have been the end of that. But ...

A few weeks later, I was set to race the mayor of Keller in a Legends race car in front of a crowd at Texas Motor Speedway. The mayor and I had been trash talking each other before the event to build interest.

At the last minute the mayor withdrew, saying he’d hurt his back and couldn’t fit in one of the mini cars we were going to use.

Who’d he send as a replacement? Corporal Tracy Talkington. Mr. Safety himself.

The race was billed as revenge for an old traffic ticket. (Check out the old black and white photo of the corporal and me at the speedway.)

Here’s the way I remember it. In our little cars, we took off, and the corporal was winning. But he lost control and spun off the track into the grass. I waited for him to get back on the track to rejoin the race, and when I did, he beat me by a car length. But that’s OK, because I got another story out of it.

And in that newspaper story, I wrote my fake accident report for the corporal.

Road on which accident occurred: Front stretch of Texas Motor Speedway in front of spectators.

Driver’s name: Mr. Safety

Occupation: Police officer who chases seat belt violators.

Damage to property: Hurt precious infield grass.

What happened? Mr. Safety failed to control speed. Lost control of vehicle.

I’m sure he got teased back at the station house.

A few weeks later, I once again was driving without my seat belt, and I got stopped again.

Turns out it was Mr. Safety himself, and when he saw me he cried out, “Geez! I don’t want to go through that again. Just put on your seat belt and get out of here!”

This all came back to me because last week I read that now-Captain Tracy Talkington was retiring after a 32-year career, including a stint as interim chief.

“Tracy did ‘community policing’ before it was even called that by delivering exceptional service that fostered relationship building,” former Keller Police Chief Mark Hafner said.

Mr. Captain Safety, it’s been 24 years since we last saw each other. I don’t know if you’ll see this or not, but Godspeed, and, yes, I do wear my seat belt. Thanks to you.

Note this story first appeared in Dave Lieber's April 6, 2022 Dallas Morning News Watchdog newsletter, coming every Wednesday night. Sign up here> https://dallasnews.activehosted.com/f/90