October 24, 2003
Driving Stories
Warning: If you are Roy's mom or dad, please substitute all numbers greater than 65 in this entry to 65. Thanks :D
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I will start off this post with a story. Two roommates. One driving on I-85 N towards Chapel Hill. The other, driving I-85 S towards Durham.
Our I-85 S hero (we'll call him "Roy") takes great effort to avoid the police: always checking his rearview mirror, checking to see the cars he passes ARE NOT UNMARKED CARS (haha, SOOB), making sure he does not speed too excessively when he sees a suspected speed trap area, always speeding in groups... Our hero, "Roy" managed to drive back from DC to Chapel Hill in 4.5 hours, even with traffic on I-450 and I-95 backed up all the way down to Richmond (meaning he drove very fast from Richmond to Durham). He did not get a speeding ticket, even in speed-anal VA.
Our other hero, who drove I-85 N towards Chapel Hill... we will call him "Sung." Our hero "Sung" got pulled over for driving 70 in a 55. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. And this was a work zone, meaning not only does he have to pay a $100 fine, but a $250 fine on top of it. Ouch.
The sad thing is I bet Sung is more pissed about the fact that we're all gonna make fun of him mercilessly for this rather than the fact he got a $350 speeding ticket. I know I would fear the SOOBER's taunts. Not to mention SARs and Crispdawg's tauntings.
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So now that I'm driving, I'm beginning to understand some of the "hidden languages" of driving. Driving to and from D.C. gave me some insight to the "law of survival" on the road.
Let us, for a moment, assume we are in Africa; that is, the highway is equivalent to the great plains of Africa. Now, us drivers are the gazelle. The peaceful gazelle who wish to simply graze, live, and prance around in groups. But we cannot. The evil police (aka lions) prey on us for meat. They NEED us.
Now, when driving on long-haul trips, you know how you find a "buddy" to drive with? This buddy is not picked for any particular reason, except that they are going in the same direction and can understand the hidden languages of driving. This "group" that you form is useful for various reasons. Not only does it give you a peace of mind ("oh, I'm driving up with a "friend!""), but this group can also be used defensively against the evil lions of the plains (e.g. COPS and SPEED TRAPS).
For example, on the drive up, I was a part of a 4-car caravan. We all drove up I-85 (notorious for speed traps) in VA ... we all drove on the left hand side in a tight formation. The first car would "lead" and would be responsible for spotting speed traps ahead. We would all follow tightly ...
Now in theory, if a cop was really clever, they *could* catch us speeding. That's why we have the group formation. If a cop were to be hiding well, only the first and last members of the group would be vulnerable; the ones in the middle could not be caught (because the radar detector would only pick up the first one, or the cop would pull out and catch the last person of the group).
Of course, it is required that every car in the caravan at one point be in the front or the back. This system worked out pretty well because now it's not 4 cars that are straining to watch for speed traps; it's only really two cars at a time. TEAMWORK!
(I think the saddest moment though is when a car has to "leave" the caravan. It's like this short friendship that you made with a complete stranger whom you only know by car model ... and you have to leave them! Sadness!)
But be warned! If you leave the safety of the group, you WILL BE CAUGHT. Sometimes going 20+ over the speed limit isn't enough for some people. Two times while driving back on two different occasions; two cars left our caravan to zoom ahead.
Both times, I pased them 5 miles down the road, caught by the po-lice.
The group mentality works, fellas. Stick with the group and you will succeed!
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I will start off this post with a story. Two roommates. One driving on I-85 N towards Chapel Hill. The other, driving I-85 S towards Durham.
Our I-85 S hero (we'll call him "Roy") takes great effort to avoid the police: always checking his rearview mirror, checking to see the cars he passes ARE NOT UNMARKED CARS (haha, SOOB), making sure he does not speed too excessively when he sees a suspected speed trap area, always speeding in groups... Our hero, "Roy" managed to drive back from DC to Chapel Hill in 4.5 hours, even with traffic on I-450 and I-95 backed up all the way down to Richmond (meaning he drove very fast from Richmond to Durham). He did not get a speeding ticket, even in speed-anal VA.
Our other hero, who drove I-85 N towards Chapel Hill... we will call him "Sung." Our hero "Sung" got pulled over for driving 70 in a 55. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. And this was a work zone, meaning not only does he have to pay a $100 fine, but a $250 fine on top of it. Ouch.
The sad thing is I bet Sung is more pissed about the fact that we're all gonna make fun of him mercilessly for this rather than the fact he got a $350 speeding ticket. I know I would fear the SOOBER's taunts. Not to mention SARs and Crispdawg's tauntings.
-------------------------------------------------------
So now that I'm driving, I'm beginning to understand some of the "hidden languages" of driving. Driving to and from D.C. gave me some insight to the "law of survival" on the road.
Let us, for a moment, assume we are in Africa; that is, the highway is equivalent to the great plains of Africa. Now, us drivers are the gazelle. The peaceful gazelle who wish to simply graze, live, and prance around in groups. But we cannot. The evil police (aka lions) prey on us for meat. They NEED us.
Now, when driving on long-haul trips, you know how you find a "buddy" to drive with? This buddy is not picked for any particular reason, except that they are going in the same direction and can understand the hidden languages of driving. This "group" that you form is useful for various reasons. Not only does it give you a peace of mind ("oh, I'm driving up with a "friend!""), but this group can also be used defensively against the evil lions of the plains (e.g. COPS and SPEED TRAPS).
For example, on the drive up, I was a part of a 4-car caravan. We all drove up I-85 (notorious for speed traps) in VA ... we all drove on the left hand side in a tight formation. The first car would "lead" and would be responsible for spotting speed traps ahead. We would all follow tightly ...
Now in theory, if a cop was really clever, they *could* catch us speeding. That's why we have the group formation. If a cop were to be hiding well, only the first and last members of the group would be vulnerable; the ones in the middle could not be caught (because the radar detector would only pick up the first one, or the cop would pull out and catch the last person of the group).
Of course, it is required that every car in the caravan at one point be in the front or the back. This system worked out pretty well because now it's not 4 cars that are straining to watch for speed traps; it's only really two cars at a time. TEAMWORK!
(I think the saddest moment though is when a car has to "leave" the caravan. It's like this short friendship that you made with a complete stranger whom you only know by car model ... and you have to leave them! Sadness!)
But be warned! If you leave the safety of the group, you WILL BE CAUGHT. Sometimes going 20+ over the speed limit isn't enough for some people. Two times while driving back on two different occasions; two cars left our caravan to zoom ahead.
Both times, I pased them 5 miles down the road, caught by the po-lice.
The group mentality works, fellas. Stick with the group and you will succeed!
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jandro
SuperSunJ
Yeah, there's always that feeling of saddness losing a pack member, especially when it's at 3am in the morning, driving through the forested roads of I-85 in Southern Virginia. Gah, the highways are so empty... those friendly headlights disappearing into the darkness just grips my heart.
monkeyone
It just could be the same mechanism operating and I never thought of it that way.
I should mention that I don't drive very much these days since I don't have a car. It's very hard to have a car and live in Manhattan. Parking is hard to find and garages are very expensive, like over $400/mo. in my neighborhood.