10-13-2013, 05:16 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Hunt Stoddard
given a ticket for hitting 80 on long stretch of the improved Saddle road by a particularly--I would say with reason--sadistic cop. In a modern car, on an open road, in open country without a soul in sight, 80 is not hard to do. In fact, I doubt it's an overstatement to say that one can blithely reach that speed without a second thought.
My situation EXACTLY, except I can't say that the cop was being sadistic. My point is that I was in a Chrysler 300 rental car going downhill on that new stretch of road with multiple lanes, wide open spaces, not a car in sight. In that car if you let your foot off the gas while going downhill you still go way fast. I tried it later and got up to 76 before I bailed on the test, fearing of course another ticket. I am basically a very law abiding guy. Generally I am unsympathetic to excuses like this which in my case was that I was unfamiliar with the car, which was like a space ship compared to the old cars I normally drive. In them I have to give them gas even going downhill and the wind noise would be terrific at that speed.
It's all a bunch of talk and we are all responsible for for keeping track of our own speed, but it is also relevant when my story matches another driver's so closely. I'm not saying we didn't deserve tickets, instead I am challenging what I perceive to be the attitude that "that won't happen to me".
Bullwinkle, kinetic energy = 1/2 mass times velocity squared. Twice the velocity means four times the energy. The mass stays the same.