I'm here to tell the government - those TV ads telling motorists there's no such thing as safe speeding just aren't working. And while I haven't been side-swiped by a speeder just yet (large amounts of touch wood here) I'm almost certain it's just a matter of time.
What really cheeses me off is how many people just take it for granted. In a conversation at work recently, one of the guys said "Oh, everybody speeds". When I piped up that I didn't - and how irritating I found all the people who do - I was viewed as some kind of dotty old aunt who only drives her car on Sundays. Which I'm not, I enjoy driving at speed - when the conditions are favourable - and use my car to commute every day.
So who do I find the most annoying? Tradesmen. In those damn V6 or V8 utes (that's pickups for my American readers) with the chrome and the 4WD who insist on crossing three lanes of the highway to make an exit in about 20 metres instead of moving over from the fast lane gradually like normal people do. Speeding just about everywhere - especially in school zones when they're getting off work and heading home or to the pub. I'm also a shift-worker who occasionally starts at 6 or 7 am and get them on the way in to work as well, when they think that because there's little traffic they're entitled to zip past me doing 90-ks in a 60 zone. Everyone moans about taxis and SUVs and those little white delivery vans (and I agree) but no-one's singled out tradesmen for a blast.
I also find truck-drivers can be dangerous - not on the highways where they're very well behaved, but on the major arterials. It's not their fault, I know. It takes ages to get up to speed and it's easier to speed a bit downhill to keep the momentum going uphill, but it's bloody scary to see one looming in the rear-vision when you're wondering if they can even see you way down on the tarmac.
And finally - Subaru drivers. Any sort, not just the damn WRXers. They're all lead-foots (lead-feet?) who seem to regard driving mirrors as optional extras and delight in squeezing into the space I leave between myself and the next car in order to avoid running up its backside in an emergency.
I've often said the government wouldn't have to worry about balancing its budget if there were "driving rules" officers, the same as parking officers. Just driving in small (preferably fuel-efficient or hybrid) cars around the main roads with small cameras attached to their front, rear and both sides. The amount of revenue from drivers who don't use their indicators alone would pay for the refurbishment of many Ministers' offices! I know that sounds awfully Big Brother, but with cameras on police cars (and the technology for this getting cheaper by the minute) surely it'd be easy to do.
But then again the government's got a bit to answer for with its seemingly inconsistent speed limits. On my trip to work, they change 25 times - if I'm not travelling in school zone hours - during my trip of around 50 minutes. And no-one but me (and that includes the buses) travels at 60-k's over Sydney's Anzac Bridge.
So, the next time you're in a hurry to get somewhere and there's some woman in a car that seems to be just crawling along infuriatingly in front of you - why not check your speed - and the speed limit - before tailgating her, beeping your horn, and taking risks in order to get past her? The statistics say - speed kills - and I don't intend being one of those statistics.