Informal Poll to take your mind off your troubles

[constance]

In my old city -- actually, this was true all over the state -- school zone speed limits were taken Very Seriously Indeed. This was, I'm sure, more because the high fines for speeding came in mighty handy as income for an impoverished city/state, and less because we were on our Let's-Look-Out-for-the-Kids moral high ground, but the fact remains that it was pretty rare to have a school zone which encroached on a major street which did not feature at least one police car, and often more than one, during the hours school zones were in effect. And almost every New Orleanian car-owner I know has gotten a ticket for speeding in a school zone because they just didn't notice the signs. They are vigilant, in Louisiana, is what I'm saying.

Here, though, it's very different. People driving here seem to take school zone speed limits as suggestions rather than legal speed limits. Very often I'm the only person in any given crowd who slows down for them at all, and several times I've actually seen people pass patrol cars without slowing down even a little. Not only that, but trust me, if you do slow down, you're the recipient of some very filthy looks, whether or not there's a patrol car present. I can't help it, though. I was trained from an early age; I see the sign and hit my brake pedal reflexively.

What about where you live? Do you slow down for school zone signs? Does anyone? Do the police stake out schoool zones? I am curious to know which is the norm, you see, my erstwhile state or my not-so-new-by-now one.

:::

Also, I am rereading Georgette Heyer lately, which is something I do every now and then. I tend to revisit some novels -- my faves, of course -- more than others, but I reread one of what I consider to be my second-tier favorites (Arabella) and was agreeably surprised by its excellence. It was, in fact, better than I remembered, with its stellar supporting cast of adopted miscreants.

Don't you love it when that happens?

:::

Also also, my fingers smell like home-dried oregano. Yummmm.

Comments

[saekokato.livejournal.com]

The town I hail from doesn't really have school speed zones for two reasons. One, Canjo is a ricky-dink town in who's only two claims to fame are the Beechnut Baby Food Factory and being exit 29 on the NY State Thruway/I-90. Two, both the elementary/middle school and the high school are off on their own side streets and there are cross walk people every where. If you don't slow down, you're libal for vanhicular manslaughter, not speeding.

But personally, I don't tend to drive the speed limit in town anyway. I don't know why, but if the town speed limit is 30, I tend to be going 20-25 instead. Annoys the heck out of people, but I feel more comfortable driving that way.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

I always have more patience in small towns than I do in cities. I used to think that it was because I was a visitor in those places, and needed a lower speed to orient myself, and I guess that really is true, to a certain extent; but it's also true that things feel closer, or maybe I mean more intimate, in a small town. What I mean is that the physical geography of small towns makes it hard for me to speed, and probably would no matter how familiar I was with the town.

Which is to say. That I would probably be poking along behind you.

[saekokato.livejournal.com]

Which is to say. That I would probably be poking along behind you.

^^ Glad to hear that I'm not alone.