Repair-It

So it's no secret that I've been driving pretty fast lately, a lot of which is just on my commute. The drive home Friday night was particularly exciting. So I should probably tone that down. Also I need to fix the ABS in my Caprice as I locked up the rears braking way too late for a corner. Yup. Everything's fine but...man. That's for another time. It was at the infamous intersection where I was following that guy who almost lost it around that corner and went up on someone's grass. Except I was all by myself. Anyway.

I went to CT this weekend and Jamie left Thursday night for an almost all-day appointment for Ian's first peanut desensitization. I decided to take the CTS-V Friday after work. The weather looked fine if cold. Really, marginal for summer tires (40s). In CT, I came across those anti-ice chemical spray lines and thought "good thing it isn't wet or this would defeat the whole point of not driving this car in the winter.". Then I saw drops on the windshield and at some point the ground was wet. It was never enough to turn on the wipers but it was probably enough to get some of that crap somewhere under the car. So now I have to hose that off somehow.

Saturday late morning we were going to go to my dad's company for a Christmas party. We all piled in the SRX like when we did pumpkins and drove into Hartford. It's nice to be able to do that. Of course I got to hear all the same nervous chatter from my mom in the 3rd row about my driving, which my dad thought was fine and he's not a fast driver.

We left CT this afternoon and my mom made special mention to drive carefully because Ian really wanted to ride home in my CTS-V. He hasn't been in it since he was in a rear facing seat I think. It's extra funny because he always asks how fast the CTS-V is and mentions that he likes going fast. Which my mom just loves hearing.

I left a little before Jamie and we were off. I cruised at 80-85 a lot of the way which is too fast for CT (not for conditions). There was a first gen STS V6 that was clearing the way and we actually got up to 100 at one point. I never left 6th but I'm sure he was hammering somewhat.

Meanwhile I have these thoughts like...man I haven't been pulled over in a while. It's probably coming due soon.

So I'm on 165 headed east through Voluntown and into RI. Various slow pokes that I effortlessly passed in a passing zone.

I was probably cruising around 60 mph which is fairly normal for that road (it is a 45). Coasting at times even faster. Well I was coasting down one small hill and passed what I think was the RI Environmental Police in a late model Tahoe. I always get a little nervous until I see that. Then a RI statee in a Crown Vic was right behind him. And when he passed, he stopped and immediately turned around as I was coasting up to this Dodge Ram and the rest of traffic. At this point I didn't feel as if I was really going much faster than traffic and would describe it as nominally keeping up with traffic.

So he pulls me over. Young guy. I decided to shut the car off and keep my hands on the wheel which seemed well received. He said he got me at 70 in a 45! Man. I immediately responded that I never saw over 65 and was coasting which is of course not his problem. I gave him all the things and then was like, I hope you can do a warning. He asks about my record and I said it was spotless. He comes back after 4 minutes and says he is giving me a warning (whew). And that there has been some bad speeding on this part of 165 but even worse, some head-ons and even pedestrian fatalities. So it is now much more heavily patrolled. Good to know.

He asked if I served...so I explained what I do (he may have seen a certain ID in my wallet). Then he made some comment about my car and indicated that he knew it was a CTS-V and that he's a car guy. We talked for a good 10 minutes, him standing next to my car, about the various police cars available to him now and in the future. I mentioned my Caprice.

He didn't think too much of the CV and also mentioned at 150k the trans is slipping and it is already on its second (it was an 08). I asked about their Caprice PPVs and he said they are quite fast but also too narrow for proper comfort. He said they are probably placing a larger order for Explorers but they will be lame N/A V6 AWD which he wished were Ecoboost. At the end we shook hands and I was on my way. So that was fun and I was relieved even if I certainly deserved a ticket.

I forgot the whole point of the story.

When he let me go, I was thinking...I hope I can get on the road soon, I don't know how far Jamie was behind me and that would just be fabulous if she drove by. I never saw her drive by so I was eager to get home and then have "fun" if Ian brought it up.

So I pull out and accelerate to 45. I drove less than a mile and came up on another car which was.....Jamie in the SRX. ARGH. She must have been THE LAST CAR to drive by before I pulled out and somehow I did not notice.

I followed her home and she was pissed but backed off when I said I got a warning. Sheesh.

Also, incredibly, Ian basically seemed entirely uninterested in the altercation. You have to understand Ian to understand why this is amazing. He asks 20 questions a minute about everything. He asked zero questions about why I pulled over, who that man was, or anything. Amazing.

That was a good story.

Number of times my dad was pulled over with me in the car: 0 (not surprising, I guess).

Yeah I think the takeaway is, Ian hadn't ridden in my CTS-V in literally a number of years. And I got pulled over. I can't even remember the last time I drove my CTS-V to my parents house. Actually I haven't been pulled over in a while. The last was.....oh, LOL. It was in the CTS-V also. I was driving home from one of my master's courses and it was a similar situation. Coasting, too fast in a 45 or whatever. I was able to get out of that with the 3 year clean driving record clause that RI has. That was probably less than 3 years ago (I would estimate spring of 2014) so I could no longer use that and I don't know what a judge would say about 70 in a 45 on a road known to have safety issues due to fast driving.

These are good anecdotes to remember when we talk about driving cars that trap 105 or significantly more. What are you gonna do with it and where???

My last speeding ticket was in the Prius and it can't even trap 80 I paid a lawyer $99 (yes, $99) and got it completely taken care of.

To put things in perspective, 70 in a 45 is 25 over. I want to say a 5 over ticket is $100, so that is $20/mile. 25 over would be 500. When I got pulled over for 65 in a 50, the cop said something like $365, by my math that would have been 65 more than the basic $20/mile so I am sure there is a premium the more you exceed the limit. Another fun fact is that most insurance companies charge double the "points" than they would for tickets 15 MPH and more over the limit. A company I had told me that their fees were: 0-14 over - 2 points, 15 and over - 4 points, DUI was 10 points along with racing. For them, an accident was also 4 points. Kevin has let me know insurance companies are different, but this is how they did it. I think it was Met Life, or maybe GMAC, I can't remember.

Speeding is very expensive. I have paid a lot in the past...