A Bad Day For Speed Limits
6/13/1

Speed limits are moronic and irritate me to no end. And no, I didn't get a ticket. How could I? I was following the stupid speed limits.

I hopped in my Kronos this morning and backed out, careful not to hit the nice lady who was out walking very early in the morning.

And what a nice morning it is. Except for one fly in the ointment�I feel terribly fatigued. I'm not sure what it is. I have described it to others as flu like, but with no symptoms except that I have no energy. And I mean none.

I almost didn't come into work today. However, I am trying to get my sick leave over one month, just in case I have some sort of surgery. It may be over that now, but I don't really pay attention to it. I accrue sick leave at a rate much higher than I use it.

So, I get on Slaughter Road. And I must mention that the other day, as Aisai and I were rounding the bend near the vet who I don't see how he stays in business, there was a jogger. He was hoping to get hit, no doubt. They don't call it Slaughter for nothing. Can he not see the road kill that he's jogging by?

On Slaughter, I get tailgated. First by a silver Dodge, then by a Ford Ranger. Even if speed king wanted me to speed up, I couldn't, since there were two vans in front of me, also going the speed limit. I suppose if I was living to please those tailgaters, I could have moved up and tailgated the vans. I guess the same speed but the illusion of urgency would satisfy them.

I took the Slaughter/Madison Blvd turn at speed. That is so fun. Madison Blvd has a speed limit of 55, and I set the cruise control accordingly. As I was traveling on it, the song on my tape changed. It went from something rather power pop to a song from the Wipeout 3 Playstation Game.

Note: On some Playstation games, you can put them into a CD player and all the game data is stored in track one, but the background songs are in tracks two through whatever. Thus, hey, free music. Go rent Wipeout 3 at your local movie rental place and rip the tracks to MP3. The Chemical Brothers "Under the Influence" is a speaker-blower with that deep, deep bass.

I accelerate to 70 and take the ramp to 565. I set the cruise at 70 at the beginning of the ramp, and now that I'm on 565, it feels like I'm just putting along.

90 mph would have been a better speed. I normally don't really want to speed. I've trained myself away from that. But this morning, 90 mph would have been better.

As I passed under Jordan Lane, a Kia Rio sped by at around 90 mph or more. And on his little bicycle tires. I'm sure they're only rated to go 30 mph anyway. Well, no, probably rated to 75 mph at least.

And normally, there isn't much passing on the way in to work. But then a huge pack of cars surrounded and passed me. They obviously thought that 75 to 80 mph was a better speed. Heck, if I was going to speed, I'd go 90. 90 would be good.

I make the transition to the Parkway. I am at the back of a pack at first, but the pack speeds off. 50 mph feels downright oppressive on the Parkway today. I start getting passed.

One bright fellow, rather than passing me, decided to sit on my bumper. I give him a good portion of my windshield washer fluid as a gift of love. Why is it that most tailgaters need to replace their wiper blades. With his visibility cut, I suppose that is the reason, since after all, his visibility was cut, he backed off an then exited. I didn't get anymore tailgaters on the Parkway.

I exit and get on the road in to work. I set the cruise for the mind-numbingly stupid speed limit of 35 mph. Before I saw the light of justice, I would routinely go 70 mph on this road. 50 would be a reasonable speed limit.

I didn't get tailgated, as is often the case. The one truck that passed me saw me a � mile off and passed in the other lane going around 80 mph.

Ok, so you're wondering why I don't break the speed limit, huh? Two reasons. Part of my work is to enforce the law and it's a sin.

Huh?

Ok, first things first. I am charged with enforcing certain laws. These laws were not chosen arbitrarily, but because they all fall into a certain category. I find it hypocritical to enforce one set of laws and break another. Who am I to judge which laws are the ones to be broken and the ones to keep? Would I want others to make those decisions too? I have noticed that those who break the law in small ways, will always break the law in big ways when they either want to, or when the going gets rough. It's a character issue.

About breaking the speed limit being a sin: Yes. Here, have some bible verses: Ecclesiastes 8:2, 1 Peter 2:13-17, Hebrews 13:17, Titus 3:1-2, Matthew 22:16-21. If you want to look them up online, you can go to www.olivetree.com.

To make things easier on me, and add to my driving enjoyment, the speed limits should, obviously, be raised. Right?

But there is a school of thought, which is more present in other places than here in Alabama, that all people will speed, but only by a certain amount. So if you want them to go 60, then you should set the speed limit at 50. However, those who are bound by the law will be inconvenienced and will end up going an unnaturally slow speed.

Alabama, Texas, and now Tennessee are states that don't seem to fall prey to this idiocy. Georgia and Florida are horrible with it.

If you lower the speed limits below the natural driving speed, only criminals will be able to drive naturally.

I actually have a pretty good deal on the way in to work. Slaughter has a natural driving speed between 45 and 50 depending on where you are. 55 mph seems fine for Madison Blvd, but it could be 60 since there are only two business entrances, set back from the street, and only on the north side. I-565 has the standard interstate speed limit. Since I've lost a wheel going 65 on the elevated portions (which has a speed limit of 65) I can see the logic of keeping it 70. Besides, after nightfall 70 is above the natural driving speed. Often people poke along at 60 or less.

The Parkway could be 60 mph for the areas where we have the overpasses, but due to some people severe lack of a grasp on how to merge, I suppose for the greater good the speed limit must stay at 50. Though I'd prefer 60. And the road into work, why should there be a speed limit at all? There are no businesses until you get to the dead end and it's straight. The only hazard you might have is a turtle crossing the path or maybe me helping a turtle across the street. I think a non-posted area would be in order, or perhaps 50 mph.

Even when the speed limit is not posted, I believe that in the state of Alabama the default speed limit is 55 mph.