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| Saturday, May 25, 2013 |
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Congratulations. This is my main strategy to get to the CK: wait for standards to fall to my level, then I am home free. |
Okay, I’ve always been against the “Utah is Zion” crowd, but with an 80 MPH speed limit, I might be persuaded. |
I may drive over to Utah just to see that sign. Woot! My wife got stopped doing 95 in Wyoming a year or so ago, but the highway patrolman was nice and wrote her up for just 89 MPH. ..bruce.. |
that is…beautiful. |
Congratulations to you, arJ and to UDOT. Not quite the same thing, but in the late summer of 2000, I was headed north on the Tonopah Highway about 50 miles out from Las Vegas. My speed was close to 90 mph when I noticed a highway patrol cruiser close behind, so close that my reaction was perfect calm. If he had wanted me, the lights would have been flashing already. Instead, he passed me and continued on at about 95 mph. My thought was “I love Nevada!” A little bit further, I headed south on Highway 373 a completely straight and empty road skirting east of Death Valley. For a few minutes I tested what the car’s limit was. About 110 mph. |
This didn’t happen to me, but it was told to me firsthand. I think it’s true. My former boss said that he was caught going 140-150 in the Nevada desert in his 7-series. Naturally, he was summoned to appear before the judge in some tiny town in Nevada. The court date was a few weeks later, and I suppose the judge was used to people just paying the fine and not showing up for court. But a few weeks later, he flew back to the tiny town on his court date. The judge said to him: “If you came all this way to show up in my courtroom, I’m letting you off!” |
Now you know how pot smokers feel when states decriminalize marijuana. There are a lot of really stupid laws that make criminals out of normal citizens. A few years back in DC, they instituted a zero-tolerance policy with blood-alcohol level — any amount of alcohol meant that you were over the legal limit. People finally came to their senses when a single mother who had taken cough syrup was arrested with her young children in the car and had to spend the night in jail. When I was growing up, the legal blood alcohol level was something like 0.15 or 0.10. Nowadays, it tends to be between 0.05 and 0.08. There’s no evidence that stricter laws actually decrease drunk-driving accidents; arresting the people at 0.15 or above is quite enough, and catching those who fall between the 0.05 and 0.15 mark is beyond the point of diminishing returns. But it sure feels good to say, “I’m getting tough on drunk driving” — even if that means doing things that criminalize normal and accepted behavior with no benefit at all. The bottom line is that too many laws are passed so that people can feel good about lording their morality over others. Remember, the whole idea of Federally regulated speed limits was introduced for environmentalist reasons — to save gas(!). We mock people from centuries ago for their attempts to lord their superficial and idiotic notions of morality on others, but we live in a society that is much more eager to accept government regulation of private lives in the interest of supposed morals. Even if 18th century Bay Staters couldn’t swear or take the Lord’s name in vain, they could use the N-Word without committing a hate-crime and didn’t have to tolerate speed traps. |
But without the 0.05 threshhold, then reporters would have far fewer opportunities for reporters to be breathlessly dismayed that someone has tested at twice the legal limit, so you see the importance of this change in our laws. |
I thought Nixon pushed it for energy conservation reasons. |
BrianJ, please explain to me the difference between “conservationism” and “environmentalism.” |
I consider the repeal of the ridiculous 55 mph freeway speed limit among the greatest accomplishments of the 1994 Republican Congress. If only Democrats could be so practical… |
Environmentalism: reducing use/increasing efficiency in order to protect the planet/river/air. Conservation: reducing use or increasing efficiency in order to prolong the supply (and thus, decrease the cost) of a limited resource. In other words, “Save the Earth!” versus “Save Me Money!” I’m not trying to nit-pick—I know people use these terms loosely—I’m just trying to understand exactly what you meant. |
DKL, Or perhaps how most of the country felt after Utah cast the vote that repealed Prohibition. |
I go 85 on the freeway and obey all speed limits in town. Mostly. I have gotten three tickets in the last couple of years, but they were all on accident. I drove home from work one night at about 11:30 doing 70 in town. I didn’t realize. I didn’t even realize a cop was following me with his lights on till I got home LOL. I’m the little old lady from Pasadena! I got stopped twice but didn’t get tickets those other times. Now I have seen the error of my ways because I’m short on money for the tickets. |
