The worst thing about driving around at sunset is that you can't see anything. Let me explain: the sun is fairly low so there's no glare and there's still some light in the sky so it looks sort of light bluish-grayish, washed out. Headlights are rather ineffective--they're useful for oncoming cars but as for seeing right in front of you? Nuh-uh.
There's this stretch of 120 going into Hanover, right after the hub with the interstate but before the medical center, that goes uphill into forest. During sunset, the forest is pretty much black and casts a shadow on the road so you can barely make out the shoulders. I hate this particular part of 120--the going uphill part--because everyone is trying to outrun everyone else before the two lanes merge at the top.
This evening, I was heading back to the college (lab stuff, blah, blah, blah) and as usual, I hit that uphill stretch. There are cars far behind and I'm going about 50 mph and I'm thinking, there's no way somebody's going to try to pass me. (I think the speed limit is 50 mph although I must admit, I haven't noticed any signs on that part of the road except on the opposite side going downhill where there's one warning drivers to reduce to 40 mph ahead.) But of course, somebody does pass me--an SUV--and it's flying. 70, 80 mph?
And then, once the SUV gets past me, it pulls in front and breaks. I'm thinking: WTF? I break and then I see flashing blue lights on the opposite side of the road where previously I've seen nothing but shadowy trees. Crap.
The police cruiser sweeps around and suddenly it's behind me. It felt somewhat surreal seeing all these blue lights in the rearview mirror and all the expletives streaming through my head. I so did not need a ticket right now (or ever) and I was trying to rack my brain to see if I had inadvertently broken some obscure traffic rule. I made to drive onto the shoulder, but then the cruiser passed me and pulled over the SUV.
I was somewhat numb and shaken, but before I could even breathe a sigh of relief, I saw red and white lights in the rearview mirror and this time I had to pull over for real to let a firetruck pass. When I was finally back on the road, my confidence in driving was pretty much wrecked. Even though the weather is clear, tonight is just a bad time to get behind the wheel.
What it all comes down to is: I don't want to be caught speeding. It's not so much about being afraid of breaking rules but about paying for the ticket. I mean, what if a cop pulls me over even when I'm not speeding or breaking any traffic rules just to get some ticket quota? How on earth am I going to contest that? Yeah, so the SUV deserved to be pulled over, but that doesn't mean I have to like authority figures.
Don't speed, send things in on time, clean up any messes I make so other people won't get annoyed. I will even do these things without somebody breathing down my neck. Preferably without anyone breathing down my neck. Some people don't see it that way--sometimes when I do something under their eyes that I would have done anyway were I alone, they praise me "Good girl! Good girl!" as if I would have otherwise behaved like a barbarian left to my own devices.
On an unrelated note: I think the saying "Good girl!" (or "Good boy!") should be banned in normal discourse. It makes people sound like they're talking to dogs and not other people.
