Is speeding worth it?

I've lived in a little mountain town called Foresthill for around 23 years now. It's about 17 miles up a relatively windy mountain road from the main local freeway. Several years ago, the state did a major revamping and straightening out project on our road. The funding was provided on the basis of safety because so many terrible accidents were happening on our humble road through the years.

I remember at our little 4th of July celebration at the local park right before authorization of the project, people had a booth there asking us to sign petitions asking the state to do something about our horribly dangerous road. Even then I remember thinking what the hell does the road have to do with anything dangerous? It's just a road isn't it? In fact a beautiful mountain road with gorgeous views to enjoy on the way down the hill. Isn't that like blaming guns instead of the human finger? In my mind there are actually very few truly dangerous roads that I know of. Now there are plenty of complete idiots that drive too damn fast though isn't there? They are the ones causing all the danger to say the least.

I came to the conclusion years ago while driving about 30 miles on the freeway from Placer County to Sacramento for a job that driving like a mindless maniac or driving completely relaxed and safely made very little difference in time saved. Would you believe maybe 5 or so minutes in a 30 mile stretch? On Foresthill road almost every day I drive around 60 miles an hour on the straightaways in a 55 mile zone (just kidding Mr. Highway Patrolman Sir). Every day cars wiz past me going at least 65 approaching 75 miles an hour on these little passing lanes we have there. The truth as we all should know is the time saved driving fast on the 15 or so miles of foresthill road is probably in the few minutes range, at the most.

So the obvious question we all need to ask is this. Is this few minutes saved worth the look on the faces of our friends and loved ones standing there looking down at our coffin during the funeral? How about living with the fact that our stupidity killed a whole family of neighbors/friends living on the hill?

I know this will get me in trouble but here goes anyway......No science involved here but in my own personal experience 90% of those cars have one young to middle aged well dressed women apparently on her way to work. The other 10% are young male idiots looking to get their thrills killing someone with their sports cars/motorcycles or construction workers in their gigantic 4 wheel drive stupendous monsters they think they need for some reason.

So if you are one of those women or guys who think you need to speed and hurry everywhere you go, how important really is a couple of minutes in the grand scheme of things. Are the lives of your children, your friends, your neighbors worth so little to you that you would hold a loaded gun to their heads while drunk out of your mind? Of course not!

So for all our sakes, the next time you get in your car to start the drive down the hill to go to work, take a moment to reflect on your mood right at that moment. Grab your coffee, set back for just a moment and do some deep breathing exercises to get you in the right mood to not be stupid today.

In the case of speeding cars, stupid=DEATH!





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Come on.......DO IT!