Washington state takes its speed limits very seriously. I don’t mean the highway patrol is out there pulling people over left and right to enforce the limits. They don’t have to. Drivers in Washington do not speed. If you are from a state where drivers regularly exceed the limit, as I am, it is at first unsettling, then oddly quaint, and then it gets downright annoying.
Not that I think everyone should be out there breaking the law and exceeding the speed limit willy nilly…but aren’t they? Aren't you? I mean really, who goes the speed limit? Old people and teenagers just getting their permits, that’s who. And what is the motivating factor in those cases? Fear.
I took I-5 north from the Seattle/Tacoma airport, which took me right past downtown Seattle. You would think that at least there, those crazy city folk would be speeding around while also talking on their cell phones and drinking coffee or smoking or some other city-fied third activity sure to cause an accident at least once per day. But no. Everyone drove at a safe speed, kept a safe distance from other cars, and nobody cut anybody off.
Past the city where traffic thinned out and sped up, still no one exceeded the limit and many went 60 to 65 in a 70mph zone. And then...THEN...when I approached a car from behind in the fast lane...Oh, how do I put this? I'm not quite sure how to word it...Okay, let me see if I can explain it in a way that you will understand...they moved over to the slow lane and let me pass.
FREAK. ME. OUT.
I drove the speed limit the remainder of my stay in Washington. I mean, wouldn't you? They obviously have some sort of invisible, all-seeing detection system, right? And I don't have confirmation on this, but I'm pretty sure they are one of those states where the penalty for breaking the law, any law, is death. Kill another human being? Death. Steal a car? Death. Drunk in public? Litter? Exceed the speed limit? Death. Death. Death.
Think about it: why else would Every Single Person obey the law? Because the penalty is DEATH. It's the only explanation that makes any sense.
