There’s an interesting new species of Clover out there. It’s the Clover that likes to drive fast – but is afraid to pass. Here’s the scene, which you have probably already seen:

You are driving along when you notice a vehicle is gaining on you. Shortly, it’s right behind you – and sometimes, it’s right on your bumper, too. The person driving clearly wants to drive faster than you’re driving, which is fine. We all have places to go and we all drive at speeds that feel right for us, unless there’s a cop around.

That brings me to what probably explains this situation. The fast driver won’t pass – even though he clearly wants to go faster than you. Even when he could legally pass – because there’s a legal passing zone and no traffic in the other (opposing) lane. Yet he won’t pass. Instead, he hangs on your ass.

It’s fascinating – as Mr. Spock used to say.

Well, I think the reason why is that it is effectively impossible to perform a legal pass without “speeding.” Not unless you have a mile or more of passing zone. You’re doing say 60 on a road with a 55 MPH speed limit (as I was doing). If the guy behind you wants to pass, he will have to increase his speed to at least 65-70 ti get around you in decent time, before the end of the passing zone. It is safer to punch it – and get around the car you’re trying to pass as quickly as possible, because it isn’t safe to be dawdling in the opposite lane when oncoming traffic might soon be coming at you and because the passing zone isn’t a mile long.

But it is illegal “speeding” to pass safely, quickly. The guy behind you does not want to be in the middle of trying to pass you and – damn it! – there’s a cop coming the other way or parked off by the side of the road. Getting busted for 70 in a 55 is a couple hundred bucks out of pocket and that’s just for openers. Once the insurance mafia finds out you were convicted of “speeding” you can expect what you’re forced to pay for “coverage” will go up dramatically. Never mind that you caused no harm to anyone and never mind that it is safer to “speed” to quickly pass a slower-moving vehicle than it is to legally attempt a slow-motion pass at (or just slightly faster than) the speed limit.

This understandable dread of getting what they call a “ticket” – such benign terminology for something that isn’t – is why highways are rolling roadblocks. You have probably found yourself stuff behind a Big Rig trying to pass another Big Rig. The trucker tryin to pass is moving just barely faster than the truck he’s trying to pass. He dares not go any faster, because if he gets pulled over for “speeding,” he’s likely to get fired – and absolutely will end up having to spend a lot of money to pay for fines and “coverage.”

The guy who would not pass me probably hoped I’d drive faster – so that if there was a cop up ahead, it’d be me that got “pulled over” for “speeding” and ended up paying.

In Vietnam, this was called walking point. The guy in the lead was the guy who’d take the bullet, in other words.

The situation is exasperating. People are afraid to drive – and pass – at reasonable speeds unless there’s someone ahead of them, to take the bullet. But if the person ahead of them isn’t willing to increase his speed, then the ticket-shy “speeder” gets annoyed and tailgates the car he wants to pass but is afraid to pass.

Saaaaaaaaaaaaaafety First!

. . .

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