Here’s the proof:
The Memphis Outlaw caught in the act.
That’s me driving a rented Cadillac STS through Memphis on my way to Florida in December.
Despite my best intentions to follow the letter and spirit of the law at all times (which makes me one of those people you hate to be stuck behind because your time and convenience are just soooooo damned important), I sometimes fail. I had no idea that I had done this until the photo (and traffic ticket) arrived. I sputtered. I huffed. There’s just noooooo way! I would have remembered!
Sorry. There it is.
I suppose I could not see the light stuck behind those trucks in heavy traffic.
No excuse. I should have backed off to give myself a better view of the intersection.
Hmmmmm… On Sunday I begin teaching my daughter how to drive. I’m going to insist she read Traffic. I think I’ll read it again.
Comments 14
OMG!
My mother was driving us to shopping one day when I was a kid and followed a tractor-trailer too closely into an intersection as the truck was sneaking through as it turned “orange” as I like to say. in her case, it wasn’t a camera that got her, but a following cop.
He was initially going to give her a warning, but Mom sputtered and huffed that she couldn’t see the light because of the truck. Of course, the cop got annoyed and said “well, lady, that’s because you were following the truck too closely”. It went on another minute and then he gave up and wrote her up.
Hadn’t thought about that in decades….my condolences, Andy.
Posted 26 Feb 2011 at 9:36 am ¶Careful driving and good driving are two different things. In your photo, you were NOT being a BAD driver, you were, however, not being as careful as the law demanded.
Bad driving, just as in the case of bad cycling, is a correctable condition. Have you ever taken a performance driving course?
Learning to be a GOOD driver should not be done on public streets other than the initial driver’s ed experience. It needs to be done at special facilities that are prepared to deal with things. You will certainly be required to wear a helmet. The car will have a roll bar, so it’ll probably not be your own daily driver. You will have to have your tetanus shots up to date.
IMO, our society would be much better off if drivers were trained to be both good AND careful. Hmm, cyclists too!
Keep that in mind as your daughter’s automotive education progresses. It is also possible that learning to become a GOOD driver will make her a more CAREFUL one.
Posted 26 Feb 2011 at 9:45 am ¶I read somewhere once that driving courses raised people’s expertise, but in some cases also encouraged them to push the envelope. Well, at least some people. Thus the safety margin is not neccesarily increased. So the question was, unless people are BOTH good AND careful, do we really gain anything?
Posted 26 Feb 2011 at 10:40 am ¶Steve… Thanks for the distinction. Makes sense.
Kahl… I’ll bet this situation is very common.
Posted 26 Feb 2011 at 11:01 am ¶Check KY3.com for a story of a State Senator whose goal in life is to ban the cameras. He just got one of those in the mail from Columbia. LOL
Posted 26 Feb 2011 at 11:43 am ¶Yeah, Robert. We need to shoot the messenger…
Posted 26 Feb 2011 at 12:52 pm ¶Robert… I can attest that getting one sucks
Posted 26 Feb 2011 at 5:53 pm ¶Caddy huh? You get out of town and go wild! Why not a Hummer?
Posted 27 Feb 2011 at 5:38 am ¶Actually, there is a little Caddy sports sedan (CTS?) Looks like it might be fun to drive, and half the price of the new Porsche Panamera.
Posted 27 Feb 2011 at 10:18 am ¶Actually, I can sympathize with those annoyed by traffic cameras. I once got a summons from someplace in Colorado threatening me with a civil suit for running their toll booth. Two problems. One, I had never been there. Two, on close inspection, it was a picture of a Toyota. We have a Subaru. Someone misread the license plate. But having to go through the mental jarring of getting such a letter and then calling to find out who was in charge of fixing the screwup is a little upsetting.
Posted 27 Feb 2011 at 10:21 am ¶( My father in law got a picture when he made a mistake and went through the “fast lane” at the tolls without a fast lane pass and thus didn’t pay his toll. He was overjoyed by the picture and was all proud of his pick up truck complete with rope and random things in the back. He’s a weird one though.)
Posted 28 Feb 2011 at 12:38 pm ¶and what does it say about me that I can’t see what’s wrong here. I assume you have run the red light? But it looks like you are stopped at the white line in this pic. I assume you kept going though…..
Posted 28 Feb 2011 at 12:39 pm ¶You know, now that you mention it I cannot tell that he’s about to run the light either.
It’s legal to be in the intersection when the light turns red so i guess that’s why they take the picture of you before you enter but then how do you know if the person stopped or not?
Interesting, Andy do you remember stopping?
Posted 28 Feb 2011 at 3:00 pm ¶Robert… I barely remember this. But I do know that I didn’t stop because the photos show the sequence. I took a picture of the pictures they sent me. I chose the “best” one (quality-wise) to show here.
Posted 28 Feb 2011 at 3:04 pm ¶