Posted by
Jake on Friday, September 08, 2006 7:16:52 AM
Note: The point of this post is probably the second to last paragraph...if you don't like cars, skip to it.
I don't know how most of you feel about driving fast. Personally, I like cars and I like driving fast way too much (so much so that I've paid a lot of traffic tickets in my time).
I've toned it down over the years. When I was in college I had my drivers license yanked for a few months because of too many speeding violations within too short of a time. And, driving at 75 in a 55 zone in some states is considered "reckless driving" instead of "speeding" - that means many more points against your driver's license.
I think that the fastest I've gone (legally) was in Germany on the Autobahn between Frankfurt and Vienna (yes, I know, Vienna is in Austria) in a rented car. The limiter on the rental car kicked in at some point (I think it was around 140 mph - but am not sure since the speedo's there are marked in Kilometers per Hour, not Miles per Hour).
You really have to pay attention to what you're doing on the Autobahn no matter how fast you're going...because there is always someone going faster and lots of people going slower. There's nothing like having to nail the brakes to keep from rear-ending a VW moving at "only 80 mph" while recognizing that the Porsche behind you was going 150 before you got in her way. Driving that fast in a safe manner requires a great deal of focus that most American's don't exhibit while behind the wheel.
I'm (arguably) more responsible now than I was when I was a college student. Instead of a convertible sports car, my garage consists of a Volvo station wagon and a Chrysler minivan. And, toddlers (not to mention antsy wives concerned about the safety of their toddlers) tend to tone down your driving habits.
All of that said, I still want a convertible sports car. It doesn't even need to have a big engine...a Miata or a Solstice would do. Something to drop the top on and take for a spin on mountain roads where you can't go too fast because there are too many tight curves adjoining steep drop offs. It'll probably be a while before I re-aquire a convertible - two toddlers are expensive when you don't trust public schools to teach them well.
C'est la vie.
So, what's my point?
American's don't pay much attention to their driving in the same way that they don't pay much attention to the world. We "drive fast" on the world scene, but most of our citizens vary rarely think about the consequences of doing so. It's OK to drive fast - as long as you're paying attention to what you're doing. If you're not paying attention, it's very dangerous to drive fast...and, that, I think, is what America is increasingly doing on the world stage. We're charging down certain paths (war, etc.) with abandon....but most of the country is focused on other things and isn't paying attention to the road before us.
Well, that was not a good segue from driving to world politics...but, this is a randomly thought out blog written at 7AM before I have to go to work to pay for my "not so fast" garage full of utility vehicles.