There are two kinds of drivers in this country: people who admit that they speed, and liars. This is a perfect model for a fallen humanity:
- When we learn to drive, we're taught that we should "drive the limit," as if the boundary between legality and illegality, the very nexus of temptation, is the safest place to be.
- We all know that we're safest, and will get to where we're going the quickest, if we're all going the same speed, so the traffic flows. We all know that the intended purpose of the speed limit sign is to establish a common and sensible convention for what that speed should be. Yet unless limited by traffic, it is a rare road where the average speed is less than five over. The temptation to go just a bit faster than the people around you is always present, as is shame at the thought that we might be the slowest person on the road.
- The moment we see a police car, we all engage in the quiet hypocrisy of slowing down, and trying to look innocent. The police aren't fooled, they're just looking for even bolder (or younger, or blacker) sinners. We're ashamed if we don't sin, and even more ashamed if we get caught! And, of course, when the policeman tires of the hunt and decides to go home, he does so at a speed that would instantly earn him a ticket from himself, if he was anyone else.
For my part, I'd prefer to just set the cruise control at the speed limit, and not worry about whether or not there's a policeman three tickets behind this month's quota waiting around the turn. On four lane roads in the country, this is actually a feasible strategy. And when I do it, almost invariably, I pick up a tail of followers, all happy enough to be "legal," so long as they're not in the lead.
Try this on westbound I-80/94, heading into the city on a Friday evening, though, and you'll get killed. And this isn't hyperbole for "some nasty truckers are going to honk their horn at you." It's a euphemism—your death is going to inconvenience the local fire department.
So we make laws for our own protection, knowing that we are going to break them. We see crosses along side of the road, and know that there are parents or spouses who grieve over the lost, but we can't read the names because we're going by too fast. And we think we can save ourselves.
Peace
2 comments:
I remember as a kid thinking it was almost a crime for someone to pass my dad's car. It was unAmerican to have other cars pass.
I sneak up and pass others almost automatically, and have to continually remind myself to slow down.
I think the unwritten rule is 8 over in a 55 or 65. (West Virginia allows 70 so that means about 78, which is a lot of fun.)
I really do try to stay under the maximum, but I have a friend who can get into NYC in under two hours, and never gets caught!
It takes me at least three hours from here, generally. Going the absolute max and not getting stuck behind a tractor it's NEVER been less than 2.5. But my friend goes 90 in the rural areas where police are unlikely to be.
I find that scary because the most rural areas is where the deer suddenly pop into the road.
Last night it was the cutest little red box that I was so glad I didn't hit.
I've been pulled over a few times and feel really terrible. I actually feel like committing suicide it's so stressful with all those lights going crazy behind my car.
I hope to never have that experience again.
kirby that's the exact thing i'm saying about all the hyped up security and law enforcement
why are people forced into this law infraction urgency like something happened that is really terrible or could get terrible
it seems the lights on cop cars are getting more intense every year they must come up with these light enhancers or reflector increase brightness don't pass this up it's the real thing
and now all the cops do this back up thing where two cop cars are better than one which makes everyone that passes think there's really something big goin on there but actually some desperate young single mother is just trying to get her kid to daycare so she can go to her job and the NAILS LIKE NEW shop...but you'd think it's a big drug bust or something
in the interest of my own personal security i travel back roads and tend to go slow these days if i can and watch my mirrors like a hawk
averyone is moving too fact
i'm exhausted when i have to drive in the city
j
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