Since I quit smoking nearly a week ago, I seem to be filled with a little,
umm, tension.
This morning, on the way to work, in "rush" (HA!) hour traffic, a lady in a
base model green Saturn pulled in front of me on the freeway (average speed
~ 60mph as posted) and left less than one car's length between her rear
bumper and my front. I backed off a bit and gritted my teeth at her lack of
observation and my lack of nicotine. As soon as the opportunity arose I
downshifted to 4th gear, hit the right turn signal and moved over into a
less populated lane. I then accelerated back up to the median speed of
traffic which happened to be slightly faster than the aforementioned lady in
the green Saturn but still right around the posted limit.
Pretty soon a hole of about 5-6 car lengths opened up between her front and
the rear of a brick red Pontiac Grand Prix. I hit my left turn signal (I
always use my signals for lane changes) and moved over in front of her, in a
non-aggressive manner.
Now, as I have already committed myself to the maneuver, the Grand Prix in
that was in front of her starts to slow down and shorten the interval
between myself and the Pontiac. I too slow down a bit, but not too much as
the lady in the green Saturn is right behind me and not paying attention. I
know she wasn't paying attention as I could see her head turned sideways
looking out her side window when I glanced in my rear view mirror.
It's at this point that the Hi-Po in the next leftward lane fires up his
lights & sirens and pulls me over. Bottom line, he tickets me for
"following too closely". I asked if he'd seen the entire process I just
described and he said no.
The funny thing is that he was following me so closely as we exited the
freeway that I couldn't see the grill or hood ornament of his Crown Vic.
Now what do you suppose would've happened if a dog had run out in front of
me and I had to slam on the brakes suddenly? Do you think he would have
stood a chance of bringing that 3500+ pound car, likely on all-season
Goodyears, to a halt quicker than me in my 2500# Neon with sticky Falkens on
it and a brake system full of fresh fluid? I doubt it.
Thank you for allowing me this minor rant as I'm positive I'll get more
sympathy from this crowd than I will from the judge at the end of October
when I relate this same story to him. That and typing this whie it's still
fresh in my memory allows me to remember clearly all the details.
Eric Linnhoff in KC
www.geocities.com/eric10mm/KnuckleDragger
"Water's wet, the sky is blue and old Satan Claus Jimmy, he's out there and
he just gettin' stronger"
"So what do we do about that?"
"Be prepared son that's my motto, be prepared"
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