The Mugwumpery

I learned the hard way not to speed up.

Once at night I had a tailgater on a two lane road (no easy way to pass), and, being a nice guy, I sped up to accommodate him.

A mile later, the tailgater turned on his blue lights, pulled me over, and gave me a ticket for speeding.

So, now:

1) I get as far to the right as possible (left in countries that drive on the left).

I hope that’ll let them pass. Sometimes it doesn’t.

2) So then I slow down. Gradually (no “brake checking”).

And keep on slowing down. Until they pass me.

Occasionally I’ll have to slow down a lot before they’ll pass me – it’s amazing. Sometimes I end up going 15 miles/hour on a limited access highway! (interstate/freeway/autobahn/etc.)

[I wonder if these people just think it’s normal to drive 16 inches behind the car in front of them – once they finally pass, they look…confused.]

One time, on a small road, I had to come to a complete stop before the guy would pass me!

Guess what – he turned out to be a cop. Once I stopped he, very slowly, went around me and drove away.