esrosedotblog

SPEED BUMPS

I got behind someone traveling at the speed limit today.

I all but honked my horn. I certainly tried to crawl up their ass to let them know they were slowing me down.

Not a safe practice, actually. This driver also tends to be skittish when upset and to make sudden inappropriate moves; like hitting the brakes.

I thought of blinking my headlights but did not. They were visitors to the valley and didn't know any better.

And the lights would have startled them out of their doze.

In the winter time there is an abundance of law-abiders who feel it their duty to keep to the posted speeds no matter what. Many, just to be safe, will travel at a few clicks under the posted speed so they won't be caught with a faulty speedometer.

This is an out and out road hazard.

I don't know how things are run in Canada or Oregon or Washington or some other candy ass territory but we go about 5, sometimes 10 mph, above the posted speed, if any, and go hell bent when there are no signs visible 'for awhile'.

I know this is a loose parameter to go by but if there are no cop cars in the area you have sufficient support for making up your own limit.

I am not unusual in my observance of these 'enhanced speed' practices. Almost everyone does it.

In fact, California is the home of the 'stay with the flow of traffic' guideline for appropriate speed. This goes hand in hand with the famed 'California stop' at an unlighted intersection.

In the early morning when all the construction workers (undocumented, see below) are on the roads, the intuitive speed limit is high. Everyone is doing their best to be the standard setter for 'the flow'.

As the day comes on, there is more of a sheep like adherence to group-think that slows things down.

Even if there are cops, they adhere to this 5-10 or 'with the flow' system of measurement. Except for the ones with the radar guns in their hands. They have been given a quota for the day and will do what they must including break the informal code of 'fast but not too fast'. They are not bad at heart. If the city records need some fluffing, so be it.

I wonder about these temperate drivers. When they were kids, they were probably the ones who were teachers' pets and tattled.

I imagine them to be tsk-tsk-ers and finger pointers. They probably love to be on jury duty.

They are, in their own minds, setting a better, moral standard for the rest of us to emulate.

I suspect that more than a few are christers. I notice a lot of fish on the backs of the cars.

In any case, we only have them here for a few more months.

May, actually.

Then they will be gone; being good examples to all the people around their own native driving grounds.