The speed safari

I got a kick out of this article on Virginia State Police from the General Discussion forum on ARFCOM.

As a lifelong Virginian, I can tell you without a doubt that the entire I-95 corridor, I-81, and I-64 are nothing more than high speed game trails, and the VSP and county mounties are big game hunters looking to bag your speeding ass and mount it on the wall at the courthouse. They are not in it for public safety; it is about the collection of revenue.

Now, in the link above you have some Virginia law enforcement as well as locals who defend the speeding safari by flatly telling you that if you do not speed you will not get a ticket. While one could possibly argue that point successfully, I point out that if you're the person NOT doing 85+ mph on I-95 than you're the one who is acting recklessly, and are probably the guy going home to ARFCOM to breathlessly argue in favor of VSP writing so many tickets. Getting passed on the right by pissed off drivers will get to you after a while, no doubt.

In my experience, the VSP has been a very professional organization so far, except for that one cop who blatantly and deliberately lied to the judge about my speed one night. It's all good though, hoss - I forgive you of your dishonor, but I don't think the majority of Virginians will be so nice. Lying in court to ensure a kiddie porn serial murderer doesn't get off on a technicality is something that will perhaps be forgiven from time to time, but when you make a habit out of revenue'en the good natives with fictitious affidavits and questionable statements, it's only a matter of time before the friendlies change their mind about your organization and say bad things about you on the internets. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.

Lastly I'll say this: if you're riding down the highway at +10 mph, the radio up, and you're the only fool around, you're not endangering the public. Getting that ticket for nothing more than violating a written rule that was conjured up by people who's intention was to make it legal to siphon fundage out of your wallet does not make you a public nuisance. It would be awesome if the Johnny Law types out there who know that this is damn-well the case would stop insulting the free spirited Virginians who go foul of these speed rules and not give the high horse lecture when writing a ticket. I know exactly what you're up to sport, and it's not stopping reckless and probable terrorists from doing harm at Linda's soccer game.