Re: yea, yea, tell us(me) more...

["I.Mannix" <mannix@secretignition.com>]

At 11:34 AM 9/28/98 PDT, sead causevic wrote:
>maybe you should write a book shawn.  so how do you speed without 
>looking like you are?  i figure, and others have told me, that whenever 
>they see my rocco on the road, it just looks like it's going fast no 
>matter what.  i guess shiny new paint, front spoiler and bright foglamps 
>don't help when somebody sees me coming at them.
>so do tell us more, share that meze wisdom with us...

Well, I'm not Meze, but I've not had a ticket for 4 or 5 years now.  First,
foglamps?  During the day?  Dorky or not, safer or not, they help
people(cops) see you.  That's why DRLs are considered safe - makes it
easier to see your car.  Turn them off.  Don't weave in and out of traffic
- - I had a friend who swore that he looked slower if he was in the
right(slow) lane, but he wound up in and out and in and out and in and out
of the slow lane so much that you could'nt help but notice him.  Drive in
the left lane.  Lights off(unless it is dark, duh).  If you have to make a
lanechange, turn on the directional, move over.  Don't to the toughguy
jerk-spaz lane change - some idiot in a Scirocco just did this to me.
Heard the Audi's exhaust, saw the pile of race tires in the back, I guess
he assumed that I wanted to race, sigh, whatever chief(absolutely no VW
connection there, I thought he was a moron, regardless of the kind of car
he was driving).  When he changed lanes, he'd snap the wheel over, the car
would "dart" into the other lane(roll onto bumpstop while turning,
accentuated the "jerk" part of the "jerk-spaz" lanechange).  He LOOKED
fast, even though he was not going that fast. 

If someone wants to pass, GREAT!  The cops normally get the first car.  Let
the car pass, match speed, but a distance back.  This assumes you are
trying to get somewhere quicker, trying to increase average speed - not
"racing."  "Racing" on the street is plain stupid - a stoplight war to 50,
eh, who cares, that's not going to kill anyone.  When I see these modified
imports(VWs included) driving at 100+ on I25 late at night(ooh, the
challenge of driving 110 on a 4 lane highway, I'm so impressed....), well,
I can't help but think they're stupid.  Big difference in my book between
speeding and "racing," for lack of a better term.  One can fairly
consistently avoid tickets while "speeding," but the "street racing" thing
is a lot different, at least to me.
 
I was on my way to the coffee shop last week.  It is in a stripmall, and
there's a road behind the malls - to get to the coffee shop, I drive behind
the buildings, then turn left between two - real road, but narrow.  Some
woman was sorta tailgating me, I was going 40ish, made the left turn
without braking - rolled into it, lifted a touch, car rotated a little, got
back on the gas(midthrottle).  Yikes, there's a COP sitting between the
buildings.  Ack.  He did'nt bat an eye - and I _WAS_ speeding, closest I've
come to a ticket in a while(he should have given me one, IMHO, it is not a
turn one should be taking at 40 - maybe 20).  I guess it just did'nt look
fast - car had to have been leaned over, I know the tires were squealing a
little, but because it was one smooth, consistent motion, I guess it did
not look like a ticketable offense.  Whew.  

 I speed a lot - I don't drive like a moron.  I'd guess I average 80 on
65mph roads, 90 on 75mph roads.  Somewhere in there.  I own a radar
detector, but I honestly don't find it that useful.  Look at where they
might sit.  Look for brakelights ahead of you.  If it is the crack of dawn,
NO ONE on the road, don't speed as much - you have no way of telling if
there are cops there.  Cars in front of you are invaluable - their
brakelights come on for a reason.  If you see cars consistently tapping the
brakes when cresting a hill 1/2mile ahead, there's probably a reason.
Don't tailgate people.  

IMHO, as long as you don't attract attention to yourself, you'll be fine.
Don't jerk the car around.  Leave the foglights/fashionstatements off.
Don't weave.  Don't tailgate.  Look ahead, look for brakelights.  There's
more, but if you've gotten 7+ tickets in the past few years, you're doing
something very wrong!  


I.Mannix(start autocrossing - that has a wonderous effect on reducing tickets)
- --
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send email to scirocco-L-request@scirocco.org,
with your request (subscribe, unsubscribe) in the BODY of the message.

------------------------------