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So its Thursday morning, and I'm on my way to work. The SVT is at the Ford dealership (it better not have a tenth of a mile more on it when I get it and no door dings!!) for some recalls to be performed. (I got an annoying letter from Ford asking why I hadn't done the, must be 3 recalls that are out on it...snicker) So I took my girlfriend's Ford Explorer to work. I ALMOST thought about not taking the Valentine with me, but I commute about 18 miles to work and there are many opportunities to speed. I have a lead-foot so I thought it wise to take the V1 with me. Now, right down the road from where I live is this MAJOR speed trap. It has two lanes on each side, VERY smooth pavement, and a long, high speed S turn in the middle that you could probably take at about 80 no prob if the speed limit were not 40MPH. Ouch, yep, 40MPH and for no better reason than to make this the speed trap that it is. And, to top things off, I know the 3 spots that the cops will hide. One little dirt driveway off the side of the road that is masked a bit by some small trees, and then in a small community park entrance further down, and last across from that park inside a suburb where there are some handy dandy 20foot tall, thick hedges to hide behind.
So I'm cruising along, listening to my tunes, passing people in the right lane who are too stupid to get out of the left lane (more on this in another editorial) when the V1 beeps once or twice on K. Very faint, must be a false. I thought, IT COULD be a cop instant on-ing further down the road, but as I'm past the first spot they can hide, I didn't think much of it. Or it could have been that I was on auto pilot and half awake still. So I'm still cruising, when I go through the S turn and am coming up on the last two spots where the cops can hide. I'm rashly doing close to 60 as I'm passing some oblivious woman in an Oldsmobile Intrigue coupe who's sitting in the left lane. Up ahead I vaguely remember seeing a white Mustang with the Fox body coming towards me in the left lane. Then at about the time I start to come out of my stupor and REALIZE this WHITE mustang 5.0 isn't in the left lane but sitting in the MEDIAN, the V1 pegs with the arrow pointing in front for K. DAAAAAMMMNNNN!!! I couldn't have been more than 400 feet from him at this point and I was overtaking a car in the left lane, and at probably 15 over the limit. I slam on the brakes (instinct when the V1 pegs like that) and may have shrugged off some speed and thought I was cooked. He looked right at me too! I watched my rear view, expecting to see the U-turn of impending doom from this (rather beat up, but marked) white 5.0 Mustang. But he didn't come. My heart was racing at this point. AND I was wide awake!. Moral of the story? When the V1 beeps on a road that's a known speed trap, it could be a cop instant on-ing further up the road. TRUST the V1's sensitivity!! Listen to it! You spent $400+ on this thing, you have to pay attention to have it work! And the funny (funny now because I didn't get a ticket, had I gotten a ticket I'd be really mad) thing is that I had just read an email on one of my car lists yesterday about a guy saying he paid less attention to watching for cops when he got the V1 than before and he got 2 tickets in 6 months with the V1! I've learned my lesson...stay alert! |