August 13, 2003
The Brotherhood of Speeding Drivers
I experienced the awesome subversive power of The Brotherhood of Speeding Drivers yesterday. As I was exiting the highway into my town, a minivan in oncoming traffic flashed it's lights once... then twice. Inastinctively hitting my brakes, I crested the hill to see a police cruiser nabbing speeders coming over the ridge and I was struck by the authority-bucking action of the light flasher.
While it's considered socially acceptable to warn oncoming drivers of a speed trap, we wouldn't call a crack house the night before a raid to warn the junkies to stay clear. And we wouldn't yell after a purse-snatcher that there's a cruiser on 33rd street, to take 34th instead. Maybe it's okay to help other speeding drivers get away with their recklessness because we don't consider speeding a crime -- especially in an area where the limit seems to be underposted by ten or 15 miles. We think it's unfair that a guy going home from a long, rough day, who's just following the flow of traffic can be ambushed, lectured, and fined.
So was I going 55 in a 30, singing a duet with the ghost of Kurt Cobain? Maybe. Was I also in one of those locations where the road transitions from a 60 mph highway to a 30 mph town road in the space of 10 feet -- one of those areas where law enforcement loves to hang out and is lovingly referred to as a "speed trap"? Definitely. I don't know what kind of performance you can wring out of your budget car, but my $8.99 Super Value Meal Kia can't stop on a dime without prior written notification in triplicate. I swing off the highway into town and it's almost impossible for me to slow down to the correct MPH in the space provided. I have a choice between being tailgated or rear-ended while exiting the highway or speeding my way into town.
Perhaps tonight we'll try a new way home.