Saturday, 15 June 2013

Going the distance

When I was a young thing back in the great state of Texas, I used to think of speed limits as a sort of minimum guidance.  I don't think I was the only one who saw them that way - though I did get a speeding ticket or two, which I blame on my extreme youth (oh, the days...)  The roads were generally wide and well-planned, and I never actually felt like I was taking my life into my hands.

Driving is different here.  When I took my first spins around London, I was terrified at how slow I had to go.  I was convinced that I was going to get shunted from behind by someone who was going the speed limit.  But in London, you had to be ready for the car in front of you to do anything - turn without warning, stop suddenly, or throw themselves into reverse and speed towards you like a very confused demon out of hell (they possibly may have been parallel parking).

I got used to it, though, and adapted to the fact that, on any given journey, I was going to average roughly 5mph for the trip.  It was fine.  Fine.

And then we moved to the countryside.  Full of lanes that are basically paved horse tracks.  And I learned something important.

Did you know that, if the local authorities don't intend to rigorously enforce a speed limit, that they just don't set one? My favourite local attraction, the lovely Ightham Mote, can only be accessed by a windy road that is approximately 1 1/2 cars wide.

The road to Ightham Mote is not unlike the gorgeous Curly Wurly Tree

There are spots where you can pull over to let a car coming the other way pass, since there is no way that two cars can go past each other and both keep four wheels on the road.  Can you guess what the speed limit is?

Sixty (that's 6-0) mile per hour.  The idea of even attempting to match the speed limit there makes me think of that song by Cake about a race car driver who is possibly dead...


Perhaps it's age and a sense of my own mortality, but more likely it's the sheer insanity that has made me reconsider the relationship between speed limits and actual driving speed.  I'll be the one toodling along at 1/3 of the posted limit.  Feel free to honk and flash lights - I'll think of it as your celebration of my driving coming-of-age.

2 comments:

  1. Ok, when i was about twelve, my aunts new partner thought it amusing to drive me and my seven tr old cousin at 140 mph in a lotus espris round country roads in co.antrim. Only now as a parent do i understand why my father lost his temper that day.....

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    1. Ha! I am happy you survived to tell the tale! Were you excited, terrified or both?

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