| saves the day. I frequently drive a 100 mile stretch of road through the desert of southeastern Washington. Looking back over the past few years, 1 or 2 miles of that route have turned into sort of a “Bermuda Triangle” for me. In 2003 my 240Z had to be towed when its water pump failed. After I had my TT for about a year, in 2005 I was driving near the same spot. I was horrified when I looked down to see my stock boost gauge giving a negative reading. I wasn’t accelerating so that’s normal. Right? Problem was I had convinced myself that this gauge was now an ammeter and my battery was seriously discharging. WTF, I had never thought before that time that this was anything but a boost gauge but for some reason, then and there, not more than a mile from where my 240Z broke down, this gauge had transformed into something else. Or so I thought anyway. I turned around, drove 50 miles back home, and got my other Z. (There was an upside to this-battery discharging problem was really easy to fix.) Fast forward to June of this year. I’m passing two cars in my TT not more than a quarter mile from where my 240 was towed and about a half mile from where I had the boost gauge “problem”. A short distance ahead of me the two lane highway goes up and quickly over a small hill. I pass the lead car and merge back into my normal lane. Immediately a WSP car appears at the top of that hill and turns on his flashers. I’m clocked at 86 mph (26 over the limit) and, because I had a ticket about 2 years previous, I’m cited for 2nd degree negligent driving. The $538 fine was bad, but my main concern was the impact on my insurance. I had just had $3600 in body work done to my pickup after backing into a light pole, so I’m starting to look like a major clod. So I scheduled a contested hearing, spent a lot of time preparing my case, and when it came down to it, the following two pics won the day: Hill as seen from my side
 Hill as seen from officer's side
 Because of the hill, the WSP officer could not see that I was speeding only to pass cars, well not only, but…... So the judge threw out the negligent driving charge. But he would not buy that 86 mph was justified given the bumpy road conditions. He said a citation for 10 over the limit was appropriate. I protested mildly that the road was not bumpy, but he claimed he knew the road and more about driving fast because he had “a Chrysler 300C with the big engine” which was “faster than my car.” At that point I figured it was time to shut up. I left the court a happy man, $437 better off for my effort, and with only a minor ding to my record. BTW, I Googled the 300C. If it had a hemi. it's governor limited at 130 mph. Maybe I’ll see the judge on the road sometime…… with my luck preferably on a different stretch of highway.
 Chance favors the informed |
NEGLIGENT DRIVING reduced to 10 mph over. Topography - 
14:39:03 07/25/06
