I think I have it figured out.

When the white sign says “Speed Limit 40” you are allowed to travel at a speed between 50 and 55 miles per hour, unless you have a jacked up four wheel drive, in which case you can do 60.

Where the signs indicate you are in a commercial/industrial area, and the speed limit is 25, then you can travel at about 45 mph, unless you drive a catering truck, when you are allowed to drive between 45 and 50.

If you have an import that has been modified, even by only changing the exhaust to one of those radically cool tubes that make it sound like your car had too many baked beans for lunch, then not only do the speed limits not apply to you; you don’t even need to obey other traffic control devices, such as traffic lights, stop signs, and the ever-interfering “Right Lane Must Turn Right” signs. In fact, please use the center turn lane as your personal passing lane, since you have such a cool-sounding car.

Last night, on the way home from church, we passed the scene of a fatal accident. The driver of an eastbound car didn’t see the person pushing the shopping cart across the busiest street in town, at night, with no overhead lighting, when the person was wearing dark clothes and was crossing mid-block. TMBWitW and I immediately started praying – that the driver would not be too severely traumatized by the event. The driver wasn’t doing anything wrong; they were just driving down the road. The person who got hit, however, besides jay-walking, was ignoring every single common sense rule about crossing a street in the United States of America.

Probably because they learned how to cross the street in a country where it is expected that pedestrians will become traffic cones at any second.

I drove a truck for a while, cross country. Every where I went, it was the same story – it is only very rarely that you will be driving with people who understand the basic tenet of faith involved in driving: I follow the rules, you follow the rules, and no one gets hurt because we both know how the other should negotiate a section of road.

It’s this tenet of faith that allows you to continue driving through the intersection when another driver is approaching at a right angle; we know they have a stop sign, they know they have a stop sign, and no one gets hurt because we both know that they will come to a complete stop before proceeding.

When that basic tenet of faith is broken, either by another driver or a pedestrian, then someone gets hurt. Last night, a pedestrian was killed because they did not use common sense or observe the traffic laws of this state. Last night, a driver was traumatized because a pedestrian stepped out in front of them. Last night, the basic tenet of faith was broken, and someone got hurt.

Every day, the basic tenet is broken by someone who feels the speed limit sign doesn’t apply to them, that the rules of safe lane changes don’t apply to them, that the traffic control devices don’t apply to them.

If you ever drive behind me, know that I will be obeying the speed limit, my turn signals work, and I am keeping a safe distance behind the car ahead. If you need to get somewhere faster than I am traveling, you will need to go around me, because I am not speeding up. If I am keeping you from getting somewhere by a certain time, then you need to rethink your travel plans and leave a little earlier. If I suddenly signal and dive for the right curb, you would do well to do the same – there is probably an emergency vehicle approaching.

God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and get in on the Baby Pool!