Right outside of my neighborhood there is a road project going on for about a 5 mile stretch of roadway that during construction has gone from 55 to 40 mph. This has not been a secret… it has been a big news story since we are converting from stop lights at intersections to elevated roundabouts. I use this road daily and I love them. There are big flashing signs warning about the reduced speed and the elevated fines for speeding in a construction zone. There have been news stories that you would have to live in a cave to not notice. There have even been news stories about the new motorcycles they bought for the police to enforce this zone.
Now a few of the intersections are completed and they are really nice brightly painted things where the main N/S road dips (2 lanes in each direction divided) under the crossroad. Even though these parts are completed the whole section is still zoned construction and will be the entire time.
I drive a fast car. It looks fast… it sounds fast… it is fast. I drive this stretch several times daily, and I drive 40-45mph (I read they only ticket over 50). Every day I get someone who comes up behind me quickly and zooms around me. Almost every day I see them get pulled over by a bright new shiney motorcycle or squad car that has found that these intersections also make really good places to clock someone without being seen. I can’t help but laugh at them. Do they think I couldn’t get up to speed if I wanted to?
I’ll admit, I drive fast when I think it is safe and a good bet, but this is like driving on the strip in Vegas and thinking you are in Kansas… there are “a few” signs reminding you where you are.
BTW, even with the reduced speeds, and the construction my normal commute through this stretch has been reduced greatly without all the stoplights.
Don’t feel bad. They did it to themselves. Now, if someone was on the side of the road with a flat tire because they drove over some construction tool, that would be mean. But shoot, If I were going slow enough, I’d open the window, point and laugh.
And people know how to use round abouts well enough to actually expedite your commute? People are so dense here… they stop at every round about, then go, like some sort of complex stop sign. If there’s no one coming, just GO!
We have the same basic sceanrio here. Big construction zone nearby. I drive a fast car fast, except there. I get passed by 15-20 mph every couple of days & later see the perp pulled over about 2/3rds of the time. I always laugh.
In this particular stretch the main road doesn’t have to go around anything. The roundabout is elevated so it only comes into play getting onto/off of, or going across the main road. I get there much faster going 45 without stopping than I did going 60 and stopping for a traffic light every few blocks.
We do have tons of the regular kind in town though and most people get used to them pretty quickly. There are a couple though on a fairly major road next to a big regional hospital, so you get a lot of out of towners through these and you never know what to expect. I’ve had people in the roundabout stop and wave me in in front of them.
You have a “fast car” and think anybody gives a roadkill rat what speed you drive.
Hint: Nobody but the driver is impressed with a car. That includes all his passengers.
To somebody behind you, you might as well be driving a cement truck for all they care.
Sigh… I probably shouldn’t even bother to reply, but since you feel qualified to respond representing “everyone”… guess what? I do pay attention to what people drive. I go out of my way to talk to people who drive nice cars. I even go so far as to compliment people who give me a ride in their cars (so I’m the passenger if you didn’t make that connection). So I guess we differ in that respect, but thanks for the “hint” I’m sure my life will be better with it.
Maybe I should stop this offensive attitude and stop admiring other people’s cars. I will correct anyone who tells me they like my car.
Maybe it is my amazing “skillz” of deduction that I do pay attention to my surroundings. People who buy fast cars pay a premium in many aspects. And they usually do so because they they (follow me here) like to drive fast. If I find an area where I think it would be fun to drive fast but I notice that the other people in sporty cars are driving slow I may think I should pay some attention to the area. I might even notice the big orange flashing sign saying “CAUTION, CAUTION, CAUTION… ROAD WORK AHEAD… SPEED LIMIT 40 MPH.” Maybe you aren’t so keen in this observation skill.
But then again I guess I’m not “everyone” so I’ll just let this little story that was pretty Mundane and Pointless just settle down. I just felt I Must Share it. I didn’t really even have a question… I just couldn’t think of a good title.
Or maybe you just felt like being rude and Threadshitting. But I prefer to believe you just didn’t understand my point.
I would laugh inwardly, but avoid any road rage by not showing anything outwardly.
Hve you got a cite for this? Here, for example, is a TV program syndicated to over 100 countries. Each week, the presenters discuss fast cars and their performance. They have a ‘tame racing driver’ who tests each featured super-car around a race track. They have drag races and a ‘Cool Wall’ to rate cars purely on appearance.
Never Say Dice is really way off. When I owned my corvette about 50% of the time getting in or out of it, if there was a stranger nearby they would compliment it. Only on a few occasions did attractive young women make a point of telling me how much they liked my car, but in general I got comments from people 40+ anyway, for whatever reason. On select occasions I returned to my car to find people (usually kids) standing around staring at it. A few times the people driving in front of me got out a camera and took pictures, although surely these people must have been corvette enthusiasts because they’re just not that nice or rare to attract that much attention.
Personally I could not care less what anyone else drives. I barely care what I drive. But Never Say Dice is just wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong about nobody caring about other people’s car than the driver.
I’m feeling a little guilty that I may not have been as nice as possible, so I re-read the thread and I think the issue may have been that they thought that the part I included about my car being fast was not necessary. I decided I should remove anything that wasn’t necessary and wanted to repost, but I missed the edit window slightly. So, I’m sorry it is so late, but here is the revised post:
Now this is a great idea. Does anyone remember the horns you used to be able to get in the 70’s where you could switch from Dixie to whatever? I would love to get one I could chose “Ha, Ha” or “D’oh” or “Worst Driver Ever.”
If someone decides to take this and run, please throw me a bone when you are a millionaire.
I try not to laugh on the outside. My reasoning for this is that what if the cop thought I was laughing at him? He might just let that car slide and pull me over to see what was so funny. I like cops just fine, but I prefer to limit our interactions when they are on duty.
I also like people’s cars. If I think someone has a nice car and they aren’t being a dumbass, I will probably compliment on them if our paths cross. If someone is giving me a ride and I notice how nice their car rides, I will most likely tell them.
