April 30th, 2007
Don’t sing and drive
I was sailing down the mountain from my weekend retreat, back to Hollywood — from the 215 to the 10 to the 101. Yahoo! I was ready to get home and see my honey, and started singing “Complainte de la butte” and in my rear view mirror were the flashing lights of a California Highway Patrol. I blushed and pulled over.
P: You know you were going 80 in a 65 mph zone?
R: No, I really didn’t. I was singing and got carried away.
P: You can sing all you want, just don’t go 80 in a 65.
I get to go to traffic school now. Joy. The policeman was very nice, kinda reminded my brother Peter, but shorter.
I recall getting in a minor car wreck in high school where the other car spun around and ended up on a neighbor’s lawn. It was only a fender bender and no one was hurt. And what was I doing? SINGING! at the top of my lungs.
Note to self: DON’T SING and DRIVE!
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Hmm, I think I’ll take a hint from Jesse McCartney (see video below) — he sang in a car but had the sense to let someone else drive.
[Video: “Because You Live” by Jesse McCartney.
April 30th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Singing while driving helps me to stay awake. But then I guess that means I shouldn’t be driving anyway if I’m that sleepy.
I got a camera ticket when I was about two blocks from home, at a time no buses were even running, having entered a protected right turn just an instant after it turned yellow and almost immediately (didn’t even feel like a full second) red. Ouch! 361 dollars!! I’m contesting it via a Trial by Written Declaration, mentioning that, among other things, I wasn’t certain that there wasn’t someone behind me who very likely would have rear-ended me if I had screeched to a stop.
When they first started using those cameras there was a considerable grace interval before the ticket was issued. But of course they have turned out to be dandy revenue-enhancers, so there is no such allowance now.