a letter came in the mail...

a letter came in the mail... an official letter
lisa had opened in and left it out for me to see
it was an automated ticket
it did not take much detective work to figure if it were my wife Lisa or myself who had committed the violation
quick and easy deductive reasoning put the blame on me

although we both drive my Honda Element
it was clear to see who the driver was on this day

plain and simple... my bike was on top of the car and the photo was taken on January One
Lisa was out of town with the boys during the boys' Holiday break
I WAS BUSTED... but where did I get this ticket?

there was no debate... there was no discussion...
guilty as charged... that is my car and that seems like highway speed... 55MPH on Southwest Freeway
"SE FREEWAY @ 9th Street"
hmmmm... 55MPH in an area posted as a 40MPH Zone

shisssssh... that sounds a little absurd... who set the camera there? Boss Hog or Roscoe P. Coaltrain? is the Speed Limit Sign tucked between a homeless camp on the side of the road there?

and
when is it breaking the law? at 41MPH? at 42MPH? how about 50MPH?
this whole SPEED LIMIT is a bit of a riddle to me... I am not sure if I am able to break the code
was the car I was passing going 54 miles an hour... but not issued a ticket?

I need to cut a check to the DC Treasurer.

here in The District the SPEED LIMIT is set at 25MPH unless marked otherwise...
no one drives 25 MPH... most cars drive as fast as they please... as fast as the road will allow
the SPEED LIMIT is definitely not the SPEED MAXIMUM
there are excepted parameters to which cars bend this law
then there are dangerous levels to which people break this law

my feeling... change the LAW
make the SPEED LIMIT the SPEED MAXIMUM
have the signs read the SPEED that people should drive and ENFORCE these speeds
instead of having this lose interpretation of the law

part of me is considering debating this ticket
the road was pretty vacant on that January morning
I do not recall my driving to be any different than any of the other vehicles on the road
although I was not thinking in these terms at the time... at the time I was just driving... but I am confident that there were NO CARS traveling at the posted Speed Limit
a car going 40MPH on this section of road would look like a car sitting in a parking lot
unless of course it were Rush Hour... where this stretch of road becomes a parking lot

so here it is... GWADZILLA on his SOAP BOX trying to justify his behavior
okay... not so hard on yourself Gwadz...
well... it is not so much an effort to justify my behavior
but rather a request for fair distribution of the law (equitable... judicious? were his Ikon O. Klasst that Blue Eyed Devil to find me the perfect word to sum up this thought?)
just looking for some consistency
my actions were not dissimilar to those around me... did everyone get a ticket?
or was I accelerating to get past another car or to place my car in a position closer to my approaching exit? just going to that maximum as that was the only way to get around a car that I thought would put me in a bad situation
the defensive driver is wise not to get pinned

it is all a little suspect... I do not feel as if I should have been ticketed for going this speed
I was going highway speed on the highway
what is the excepted parameter for speeding?
what is the formula for STANDARD DEVIATION?
this is in fact the HIGHWAY... THE FREEWAY... while on the residential streets where pedestrians and cyclists exists without air bags and crumple resistance side panels have to deal with the dangerous driving habits around them
on my street alone where the speed limit is 25 MPH it is the standard routine for cars to travel 15 MPH over the Speed Limit with no penalty... it is just how they drive
yet the dangers of this speeding car is way beyond the dangers of my speeding car

it does not seem fair.... it does not seem logical...
it does not seem right

yet... as a member of the state I am forced to drink the Hemlock

New Year's Day Ride 2 0 0 9
images from that ride...
no... I did not scan the violation... but I considered it