ILBL8

Red Infiniti pulls up behind me and tailgates me most of the way to work. At some point she started driving a bit erratically. It looked like she had pulled out her cell phone and started texting. I can only imagine what she was texting, but I imagine it was something like ILBL8 to let someone know she was driving behind some annoyingly slow driver. Finally about two minutes from my office (and 30 seconds from a spot where the road widens to two lanes in each direction), she passed me on the right shoulder. Just past where she passed me, there is a speed trap about once a month, but it wasn't there this morning. Too bad. She could have been nabbed for speeding, passing on the shoulder, and texting while driving.

Gamifying Speed Cameras

I heard a story about a new idea: gamifying speed cameras:

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/27/134866003/gamifying-the-system-to-create-better-behavior

Apparently, in Sweden they have tried this. Instead of the money collected from speed cameras going to the government, the profits go into a lottery. The lottery winners are selected from the people who drove by the speed camera at or below the speed limit. The way it works is that the cameras not only take pictures of speeders; they also take pictures of everyone going at or below the speed limit. The story said that it has been quite successful in Sweden.

Looney Lexus Lady

I can understand that people want to go faster than I go and don't want to be stuck behind me. I've been there. Even now as I drive the speed limit, I get frustrated when I get behind someone driving slower than I am. What I don't understand is someone taking stupid risks to get past me. On my way to work this morning, a lady in a blue Lexus got behind me. I could tell there was trouble because she kept slipping over toward the lane for oncoming traffic. We got past my accident scene (it's now been almost a year and a half) to a stop sign. Just after the stop sign is a slightly windy uphill road. She took that opportunity to cross the double-yellow line and whiz by me. I wouldn't say that the visibility is zero at that point, but it is pretty low. If a car had been coming (perhaps, someone driving as fast as she wanted to), she would have never seen it coming. She was very lucky.

Then, of course, comes the best part. The road ends about a quarter of a mile ahead of that, and she got stuck behind five cars waiting at the stop sign. I wonder if she saw me laughing as I pulled up right behind her (and if she knew I was laughing at her). As we both turned the same direction she tried to go fast, but, alas, the traffic would not allow. I mostly kept her in my sight for another 10-15 minutes when I saw her turn off at a traffic light. Had she stayed behind me, and not risked her life to pass me, she would have been a total of 10 seconds behind where she was.