Thursday, December 01, 2011

Life In The Fast Lane

I recently returned from a road trip through Colorado, Utah and Nevada - and besides having a most excellent experience on part of the I-15 in Utah with an 80 mph speed limit - I noticed something fundamentally cool about drivers in other states:

1. They know how to drive (for the most part)
2. They stick to the slow lane except for passing (it's law in Colorado!)
3. Their states realize that the fast lane is for people going "fast"

There were numerous speed limit signs that specifically stated a minimum speed limit in the fast lane as well! It's a bit scary that we have to tell people not to drive slow in the fast lane. However, I think we should extend this model to other areas of life as well.

We obviously need to be more explicit as a society - that way people have a clear understanding of expectations, and will, in turn, become more self-aware.

Maybe all we need are a couple of well-placed signs. Here's a couple of ideas to get the ball rolling:

"Play nice and stop being so selfish, pig-headed, arrogant, and ineffectual" (Congress)

"Stop bitching and go back to work" (Occupy Protesters)

"Grow up and stop being hostile to your customers" (All Banks)

"A 24% interest rate is criminal" (All Credit Card Companies)

"We will provide 9% more/better service for a 9% increase in premiums" (All Insurance Companies)

"We do not have to fix every single bridge, road, highway and airport at the same time" (All Cities/Counties Getting Stimulus Money)

And I could just go on and on... but you get the idea. And now that the California State Legislators are giving back their taxpayer-paid cars (and gas and maintenance and insurance) - I have a suggestion for the $15 MILLION in saved tax money. Replace all the current freeway speed limit signs with new ones:

"Speed Limit 65 Minimum 64"

What are some signs you would like to see?

2 comments:

Neal Watzman said...

Well Bob, you lost me on your sign for the Occupy people. Many of them do work, many are unemployed, unable to find work. I support the work that they are doing to bring fairness and justice to this nation of ours.

Bob Cusick said...

Hey Neal - thanks for the comment! While I applaud the effort to bring the subject up in the public consciousness - they're really not accomplishing their goals simply by camping in outdoor public spaces and filling them with human waste. Now, if they are able to mobilize and actually take some actions for change - that would change my opinion.

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