Speedy Lee

It was round abouts February when I got a speeding ticket while transporting one of the guys on my caseload. It was for 70 in a 55 and the copper wasn't having any mercy for the fact that I worked with "troubled youth" and was late for a meeting. A month later I had to drive all the way to Gates County--armpit capital of North Carolina--in order to "get help", a.k.a. get my ticket reduced so my insurance wouldn't go up. After this I started driving slower--10 miles over the speed limit at the most.

Then there's Katrina and jacked up gas prices, yadda yadda yadda. I hear this thing about how any speed over 50 mph is giving you increasingly bad gas mileage. So I've slowed down to about 5-7 miles over the speed limit. Sometimes I even drive the speed limit. I can drive 55.

The thing about driving the speed limit is that, instead of passing all of the people driving "slow", you are the one that's getting passed. It's quite cathartic actually. You don't even have to really pay attention to what your doing. I have a 17 mile commute to work and back. I'm never in a hurry in the morning, so why drive fast? That extra 2 or 3 minutes in the car is another song that I get to listen or another story on the news.

So I encourage you to try it out. Drive the speed limit. It saves on gas, reduces the risk of tickets, gives you more time to listen and makes you think about why the hell you're in such a hurry in the first place.

And for the record, I am jealous of those of you that get to ride the train or the bus. You bastards.