Do you ever take the time to clock the cops who go whizzing by you on the Interstate — without their lights and sirens going?
Well, sometimes I do. At least, I did this morning, which brings us to the third and last "driveby" item that I came up with on my way to work today. (I’m writing these partly to express my frustration that time allows me to do so few posts, when I could easily come up with three in a single category within any given 20 minutes. It’s not coming up with the ideas; it’s finding time to write them. And for those of you who think I post something short and/or lame, or nothing at all, because of a lack of ideas, I wish to dispel your misconception. I go for short and easy, or do nothing, because of the lack of time to carry out the better ideas. Not that these are "better;" I’m just saying … oh, never mind.)
So I had just pulled back into traffic and gotten back up to speed after stopping to shoot the surveillance camera when a Richland County deputy starts coming up fast on my left flank (I was in the middle of three eastbound lanes).
Anyway, I let him go by, and then shifted over to his lane, let him get about 100 or 200 feet in from of me, and then started to pace him. (And then I got the idea of trying to get a shot of him in front of me with my speedometer in the foreground. But that would have been a tricky exposure, requiring me to take too much attention off my driving, so it’s just as well that I had closed the camera back up in my briefcase.)
I gave up after I got up over 80 and he was still pulling away from me. It’s not so much that I chickened out; it’s just that my ’89 Ranger starts, at about 75 mph, to struggle and shimmy the way Chuck Yeager’s X-1 did at about Mach .95.
So I don’t know how fast he was going.
But I wonder: Would a cop who’s obviously breaking the law himself ever bother to stop and ticket a civilian who was pacing him? That would be interesting. I guess I’ll have to try some other time, with a faster car.
Related Posts
One of the scariest experiences of my life was riding with a cousin in his highway patrol car after he’d had an argument with his wife,AFTER he’d gotten off work.He sped at 100-120mph for over 20 miles.I haven’t talked to him since.
I’ve got a neighbor who is a highway patrolman. I’ll ask him.
Brad,
About a year ago I drove to Myrtle Beach one Friday morning – early – leaving the Columbia area about 7am. I do this ever so often for business.
Anyway, I went down, finished up my business by lunch, got some food for the road and headed back up 501 while listening to Dr. Walter Edgar on ETV radio as I do every Friday.
As I drove past Anyor, I noticed a few police cars passing me – in fact- quite a few. At first I wondered what had happened ahead of me until I noticed the police cars were from out of state for the most part. They were all going anywhere from 65-80 mph with no blue lights flashing, etc.
It took some work to figure it out but what I was witnesses as a ton of police officers driving back home after some sort of law enforcement conference at the beach.
I didn’t see more than 2-3 that were going the speed limit. 80% of them were going in excess of 70 (60 is the limit on most of the road in that area). I also saw a ton of tailgating.
I was very close to calling the state highway patrol office but they had so many of their own officers in the group I figured I’d get myself in trouble.
Brad, the state police, in fact all police, are under paid and under benefited. Perhaps one of their only fringe benefits is to have some free will on the highway with the speed limit. Perhaps that is wrong, I am not sure, but I am thankful we have people who voluntarily do this thankless job.
No matter, one of my favorite old shows, The Dukes of Hazzard, wrecked a squad car or two on nearly every show. Now that’s a real police force.
Dave,
There are a lot of people underpaid and under benefitted that work just as hard as cops – and some put their lives on the line as well.
I doubt a cop would buy that excuse.
As crazy as it sounds, I expect them to set the example and live by the laws they enforce.