As
noders other than myself have also discovered, driving exactly at the
speed limit can be a very entertaining thing to do. Let me tell you my
story:
Near to where I live (
Danderyd,
Sweden), there's a pretty long and dull road that goes from, basically, where
Danderyd ends to where another place called
Sollentuna begins. In-between Danderyd and Sollentuna, there's a residential area, which the road in question runs along the border of. Previously, this road had a dark reputation for being the site of many
traffic accidents, because people would cross the road without looking and get run over. As a result, the speed limit was lowered from 70 to 50
kph (from 45 to 30 in
mph). However, this lowering was and still is to this day largely ignored by most people who drive on the road in question.
Now, it just so happens that my beloved
grandmother lives on the opposite end of this road from me, and so I have to drive it every time I go visit her. As previously mentioned, the road is long and dull, being flanked by tall,
ugly fences in order to reduce noise levels, and so, when driving it, I frequently look for other sources of
entertainment (see the title of this node). As I mentioned, people like to drive above the speed limit on this road, and many are excessively
pissed off when more law-abiding citizens get in their way.
So there I was, driving home from my grandmother's, on a cold and dark
thursday night. Suddenly, a pair of headlights rapidly approaching in my rear view mirror drew my attention. Some guy and his wife (both
40 plus) were driving their shiny new
Mitsubishi in the same direction I was going and apparently felt it was their
God-given right to drive at twice the speed limit. Having previously coasted along at an ambitious 55 kph, I immediately slowed down to 50 (and my car's
speedometer is a bit off, so it was probably more like 48). The Mitsubishi driver's response was to drive with his headlights about two metres from my exhaust pipe. One has to wonder if he honestly believed that would encourage me to speed up!
45 kph, and I could almost see the other driver's face turning red.
Now, this is obviously a very
childish form of entertainment. I admit that. But hey, I was only following the
law; There are reasons why we have
speed limits, mainly because of
people like the driver behind me who drove worse than my
armpits smell after a weekend
LAN party. But enough about my armpits. Since I felt I should milk the situation for all it's worth, I started up my trusty
MP3 player with a nice bit of brainless
happy hardcore techno*. I then proceeded by
rocking my head and upper body in tune with the music. Wonderful, like a private disco in my
740. I can only imagine what the Mitsubishi driver and his wife were thinking when they saw it. Of course, even during my upper-body
dancing act, I took every bit of care to maintain my perfectly lawful driving style.
Unfortunately, the song as well as the road soon ended, and me and the Mitsubishi couple parted ways. The last thing I saw was the lady in the passenger seat giving me the
finger. Can't say I was surprised. I laughed and waved back at her, but somehow, I don't think she got the
joke. Anyway, in conclusion, for a more enjoyable drive down a boring road,
drive at the speed limit. You'll even do other people a favour by helping them resist the
temptations of
speed.
* DJ's at Work - Fly With Me (long distance mix).mp3