Sep 23
Traffic Laws
Last night I was driving back from a really cool place in NJ playing chauffeur to a chocolate mess in my new toy. I normally do not buy expensive things with poker winnings but I figured I would do something to enjoy the tournament win. See www.spendycow.com for details (ty for that lovely and informative site Nat). It was 2 am and the highway was pretty much empty, 65 degrees, clear skies and open road. I was then pulled over and accused of a certain traffic offense by the police. I am not going to give details here but after 20 minutes of interrogation to make sure I wasn’t drunk, waiting for them to make sure my car wasnt stolen and whatever else they need to check out I was on my way. To avoid any potential run ins on the rest of the way home I followed the absolute letter of the traffic law. I went down the NJ turnpike and through the Lincoln tunnel at exactly the speed limits. As I thought over what had just happened I got madder and madder and realized yet another way in which many countries in Europe are far far smarter than in the United States.
Speeding laws and speed limits are ABSURD and OUTRAGEOUS for many reasons but I will only go into a few of them.
1) The maximum speed for safety on any given road depends on a whole lot of factors. While the skill of the driver is one, it is not reasonable for the law to take into account. With technology today there are some very simple ones that the law SHOULD take into account though such as the weather, the time of day, the traffic and maybe even the car that is being driven. The speed limit on an open empty highway in the middle of the night under ideal conditions clearly should not be 50 mph, in fact, driving that limit under those conditions is reminiscent of being in a movie about some crazy person that can never stray from the letter of the law and therefore drives insanely slowly and gets passed by random and sometimes hilarious things like other cars, old ladies, trucks and tortoises.
2) That leads me to my next point which is the OUTRAGEOUS selective enforcement of the law. On any given road at any given time when traffic is minimal I would venture to guess that 50-80% of drivers are traveling above the speed limit and therefore breaking the law. The cops randomly (or maybe not so randomly) choose a few to punish. Which lawbreakers to punish should not be at the police officers’ discretion. However, with the state of the laws now, I do not begrudge them said discretion since it would be an absurd dog and pony show to fairly punish every offender, for the sake of fairness the law must change.
3) Laws that everyone breaks are simply awful for a civilized society. As I drove thorugh the lincoln tunnel at the posted speed limit of 35 mph, I was passed by pretty much everyone including buses that were easily going 60. WHY ON EARTH do we have a law that is not just broken by some, but at times is BROKEN BY (NEARLY) ALL. Aside from the annoying nature of these laws, they encourage law abiding citizens to see a gray line use their best judgement to decide which laws to follow thereby totally defeating the purposes of HAVING LAWS.
I’m not saying that thses laws are what is wrong with America or anything ridiculous like that, it is just another way that many other countries are more advanced (ie the ones that have higher [or no] speed limits, don’t ban gambling, drugs, prostitution or have any other silly, reprehensibile, paternalistic laws).
As a total sidenote, the cops I dealt with were perfectly professional from everything I can tell, but I realized just how terrifying it would be to deal with corrupt cops. After they pull you over you pretty much are at their mercy, in the extreme case, they could shoot you and make up some story why they had to. On a more minor scale, they can arrest you for just about anything and cover themselves later. For these reasons I think there should be very very strict laws against police corruption.
September 23rd, 2008 at 1:30 am
Another bad-beat for Steve Jacobs. Non-working escalators, now THIS!!!!
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:30 am
Spendy Cow, pretty good website imo. Nice Cow3.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I don’t think there are any countries in Europe that take the weather or any other external conditions into account. In Germany though, there a motorways that have no speed limit, so you can basically go as fast as you dare - and traffic allows.
And when you’ve seen just one victim of a donk who didn’t know how where the brake pedal sat in his car, you pretty much know why speed limits actually are cool: They prevent you from getting cell mates for the next six years, who doesn’t know how to play poker and consequently wins all your money, your watch, your car plus whatever other favors you may have to bet…
/j. (also a BMW driver)
September 25th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Steve-
as a fellow New Yorker, I feel it’s my duty to tell you where to speed and where not to speed as no New Yorker would go 35 in the Lincoln tunnel. Come on.
Do not speed: LIE (except exits 23 and west), NJT, GSP, 684, 27, Hutch, Merritt
Speeding A’OK: all bridges and tunnels, FDR (but not below houston), Deegan, WSH
hope this helps. its like knowing against which players you can 3 bet your 4To.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I think the roads would much less safe with prostitutes that were high speeding all over the roads legally.
The car is gorgeous! Sorry you got a ticket.
September 26th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I have been reading this blog for a few months now, and this is just the latest example of Steve’s idiocy. He tries to wax philosophical on various topics, while inevitably sneaking in a “look how awesome I am” (in this case, mentioning the expensive car he bought). The problem is, any time steve makes an argument, he basically grazes over vague concepts that have been studied in depth, and gives a whimsical, ‘anyone who doesnt agree with me is absurd’ comment or two, and thinks he is smarter than everyone else. If Steve was a philosophy student, he would be laughed out of the classroom anytime he raised a point. Normally I just read and stay silent, because I enjoy the poker parts of the blog, but this time I just had to say something. To simply say other countries are more advanced because they legalize gambling, drugs, and prostitution, and state that “as-is”, as if the readers are supposed to take it as fact? Unbelievable.
September 26th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I usually don’t feel a need to respond to criticism but billy thomkins was so off base (though respectful enough to post) so I figured I would. I don’t expect my readers to take anything I say as fact just as I don’t expect them to take me being an idiot as fact just because you say so. This blog was not about that last sentence you quoted, clearly I cannot measure up to a philosophical elite such as yourself under the guise of a mere poker blog. I do however welcome any disagreement you have about the reasons I gave why the traffic laws in this country are totally absurd.
With all that said, I do think that paternalism is outrageous and regressive and maybe I will devote a full blog to that someday. I’m sorry that stating an opinion without going into a fully nuanced and reasoned view is grounds for idiocy, I hope you will continue reading.
As for bragging, LOL. Not really worth responding but show me a single other blog post that you thing even remotely approaches bragging and maybe I’ll “defend” myself
September 26th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
HU4rollz?
September 26th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
there’s the response I’d expect from some poker forum sheep
September 27th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
A+ blog
October 2nd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Haha, its been a few weeks but I’m catching up on your blog. You were driving home a “chocolate mess”? That’s my favorite line in the whole entry. Corrupt cops would have just made you bribe them to let you go. But I hear ya