Eternal Sunshine of the Fickle Mind

Washingtonians are notorious for being sketchy drivers. At the first sign of snow, most of us do one of two things. Either we abandon the car running and screaming or we speed up and drive as if we're in the middle of summer. When it's raining or icy out we will tailgate to the point that if you imagined a hitch between the two cars you still couldn't get any closer. But nothing seems to slow down people on the roads like the sight of a police officer in a cruiser standing on the side of the road when you know you've been speeding a bit (and by that I mean at least 30 miles) over the speed limit. So what do you do? Slam on the brakes and hope like Hell that the cop is too stupid to realize that the radar reading from your car is rapidly showing speed dropping from 90 down to 60 MPH.

Now despite the best efforts of some of us, it's still not surprising that we get pulled over. Cops aren't as dim as many of us like to think they are and when you're sitting on the side of the road listening to the cars whoosh by you can be thinking of two things two. One, you need to keep an eye on the speed limit some more but two, and most importantly, you are probably helping to back up traffic for miles on the roads of Washington. What do I mean? Well take for example this morning. I was driving down Route 28 near Dulles Airport this morning when I took the exit and found traffic slowed to a crawl and stopping every few seconds. A stretch of road I can normally pass through in about two minutes ended up taking fifteen because of the snarl in traffic. I couldn't figure it out but I figured it was either an accident or a cop.

Sure there is construction going on on Route 28 but the construction companies around here are pretty good about posting signs about closures or causes for delays and not seeing any my mind wandered to imagining some horrible scenario down the road. After crawling along for a quarter of an hour and reaching the apparent breakaway point, I was dismayed to find that the reason for the delay was not due to an accident or police car but just a construction vehicle with flashing yellow lights. Apparently this was enough to set off the chain reaction of slowdowns that carried back through traffic slowing everyone down. I can understand slowing down for accidents, construction or even police incidents but some people take it to the extreme and come to a near stop to see what's going on and gawk. I don't have the time or the inclination to do so but I end up having to thanks to those less road-worthy.

Now I'm dreading what's happening in San Mateo, California coming over to our coast and causing further traffic delays. Apparently the cops out there know that most people freak out at the sight of a police cruiser and tend to slow down so despite budget cuts and the inability to put enough cops out on the roads, the San Mateo police came up with the solution pictured above. A dummy of an officer that sits in a police cruiser near speed prone areas and effectively serves to freak people out and slow them down. I think it's a fiscally conscious solution to a problem that has long plagued the police who are looking to keep the roads safe. What I think they and most everyone else fails to remember is the fact that once past the sight of temporary fear, the speed picks up again. Big time. Everyone making up for 'lost time' speeds to the point of becoming even more dangerous. Still, as we have seen here in Washington, you don't even need a dummy in a cruiser. Flashing lights is enough. We've all been conditioned like Pavlov's dog and lights are enough. I should know, I sat through light induced slow-downs this morning.