By Mick Holien
I read somewhere recently that it was substantial news that the state had gone 30 days without a traffic fatality.
It not only was a headline grabber, it was I surmised vindication that a recent escalation of some Interstate speed limits by five miles an hour to 80mph did not have a profound effect, at least not at the onset, on fatal accidents.
Of course I immediately hankered back to those days when “safe and prudent” marked the state’s limits, five dollar bills were kept on our visors to exchange to keep a traffic stop off our insurance and there even were rumors that exotic cars were brought to the state’s highways to be tested for high-speed handling and reliability.
In those days past when I drove some 50,000 miles a year, I admit I have met my share of patrolmen that waylaid the GrizVox vehicle traveling to or fro at an excessive speed.
And when I was driving the Porsche Boxster convertible, I did have to see how it handled when I let it run free until I thought about the rubber underneath me and corralled it after a quick run from the Highway 93-I-90 Interchange to the Airway exit.
But those were days of some distance until a recent trip to the Magic City.
Now in the hope that not a phalanx of law enforcement isn’t within shouting distance, I can share with you that I shortened the time frame Siri advised me the trip would take about a commercial-free episode of Law and Order, neither of which law now or order I was doing.
But what was disconcerting even with the Hemi trucking along it was not fast enough for all those what I describe as rabbits who pushed up against my rear bumper to more than subtly advise me I wasn’t getting out of the passing lane quick enough for their pursuit.
And I’m not talking of just a few now but rather a host of drivers I have no doubt pushing triple digits.
It lends me to believe it makes no matter how high the posted highway limit, for some it is just not fast enough.
So you see IMO certainly believes the fatality figure is just an anomaly and by no means not an indication of safer driving habits.
And oh yes about 93 to Airway – aah never min.
Just sayin’
