Here in Washington we had a little problem with road rage. A couple of different sets of numbnuts got mad at each other a few years back and at some point in the argument got out and went at it. To try to curb this from becoming a regular occurance the legislature did the stupid thing and enacted an "Aggressive Driving" law. They could have made the crimes committed during a road rage incident carry a heavier sentence or they could have fixed some of the roads to better manage the traffic which helps create road rage (we're always in the top 5 cities in the country, by the way).

But nooooo, they enacted a law that is completely open to interpretation of what is aggessive. If you kill some one, that is murder. Punch someone in the nose, that is assault. But not this "vague" turd of a law. And the fines on this thing are nothing to sneeze at. Think "reckless driving" on your insurance bill.

The law was sold as a way to ticket those ding-dongs you see weaving in and out of lanes, cutting people off, and generally acting stupid. But today I got to see it used questionably.

A friend gives me a call one morning with a car question. I tell him to stop by later that afternoon and I'll take a look. His boost guage is stuttering but the power is smooth. Good guage, good sender, ghost in the machine, let's go for a drive. We get out onto I-5 in a stretch that isn't busy and give it run. We move into the far left general purpose lane as the haunting continues. We roll up behind someone going 50-55mph and decide to pass. Now there are 5 GP lanes and a carpool lane that needs 2 people in the car to be legal. So we can probably all agree that the guy ahead of us is a total asshat, right?

We signal to the left, switch lanes, go from about 55mph in 6th gear, down to 4th and up to around 85-90mph. We pass the slow guy and two others in front of him and then signal back to the right and into the left GP lane and back down to 60-65mph. All of this was done safely, without compromising anyone's following distance.

Well, about 4-5 miles down the road we notice an unmarked state patrol car has moved in behind us and we can tell he is running the plate. My friend has never gotten a ticket that I can remember, and did not profess to having any while we were waiting for the patrolman to remove himself from behind us. Cars like this one always get rolled up on by the police. They run the plate and then the driver. If you don't have an extraordinary amount of traffic violations and your car looks like it complies with the rules, they roll up, run your plate and move on.

Surprise! Blue lights. Move carefully, but quickly to the right, come to a complete stop, turn off the car and remain inside. The officer comes up and explains to us that he saw what we did when we passed the asshat. We kindly agree that we did make the pass and he tells us that he believes that what he saw was "aggressive driving". No bickering, the side of the road is not the place for adults to argue. The officer goes back to his car, writes the ticket. My friend signs the ticket, takes his green copy, and back to my place we go.

If it isn't obvious, here is my beef. If you are on a 2 lane highway and roll up behind someone going under the speed limit, you are going to wait for a safe place to pass and the do so as quickly and safely as possible, right? Why does this count as being "aggressive" when on the interstate?

Let me state that I have no ill feeling toward police officers. I often go on ride-a-longs with Seattle PD or the local county sheriff and generally believe that they are folks with a need to serve who just happen to have a job that sucks. They work long hours, get paid crap wages, and very few, if any, of the people they talk to want to talk to them. They get their hands tied by whatever agency they work for, but when the tied hands cannot fix something, they get kicked in the teeth. And those are just some of the reasons I never became one.

And I will give you that 80+mph doesn't sound safe. But if you knew this guy, knew the car, and had seen their race roster, you'd feel safe at 100+ with him. And I am picky as hell as to whom I ride with. The trooper said he was too far back that there was no way he could have gotten any idea about our actual speed. All he saw was a light blue metallic 1993 Toyota Supra pass three cars really quickly.

But, I'm not really worried about my friend getting stuck with this. Favors will be called up. My money is on 10 over with a $55 fine. And in case you're wondering, the guage works fine now.