When I was younger, the phrase "out of pocket" meant that a person had covered someone else's (or an entity's) expenses out of their own funds, and expected to be reimbursed for it.
In the last several years, it seems to have come to mean that a person was out of the area; away from home or away from work. Apparently, that usage is a century old, if not older,
So, in the current vernacular, I was out of pocket for a bit. Like a little under 3,000 road miles worth.
Kentucky seems to be afflicted with knuckleheads who set their cruise control at the speed limit and then camp out in the left lane. A long time ago, some similar fool did that in Ohio and was cited by the Staties for obstructing traffic and traveling in the left lane on the Ohio Turnpike.[1] He was found guilty and suffered enough butthurt to take it up on appeal. His defense was that he was at the speed limit and nobody should have been passing him. The judges pointed out that the law was that the left lane was a passing lane, he wasn't passing anyone and by obstructing other vehicles, he was acting as a traffic vigilante.[2]
A good indication of how diligent the state cops are on speed enforcement is how fast the trucks are going. Illinois and Indiana seem to be polar opposites.
If you're traveling on I-70 between St. Louis and Columbus, OH, consider taking I-64 and I-71. It adds about 50 miles to the trip, but it's far more pleasant of a drive; especially I-64 and I-71 south once it splits off from I-75.
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[1] He might have also been charged with "creating an unsafe condition" because people were passing him on the right, but I don't recall.
[2] Or "traffic nazi".
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Monday, May 21, 2018
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My only long haul story is about I-90 late at night in upstate NY. Only one other car was visible, on a long, straight stretch of road. He was tailgating me.
ReplyDeleteI'm antisocial when it comes to driving on a highway. I sped up to get away from him. He sped up to follow. Faster... faster... I probably pushed my VW Rabbit over 85 and still couldn't get too far past him. So I slowed down. More and more. Below 40. Below 30. He wouldn't pass.
No more concerned than ever to be alone, I dragged our speed back up to 70, and when he was close again, quickly shifted into the left lane and hit the brakes way, way harder than he did. And he did. He did NOT want to drive alone.
In the end, I sat motionless watching him slowly dwindle into the distance at 20-25mph. I waited a good, long time.
I've encountered several of those over the years: they HAVE to be in formation with another car. Dunno what they'd do if there just weren't any other cars...maybe just sit and wait for one. Creepy.
ReplyDeleteTraveling on I5 in Ca. Doing 75 plus passing a line of traffic in the right lane. Hot car comes up on my bumper like I was going slow. I pushed it up to 85 plus to get out of their way, and pulled back in the right just before an overpass. She flies by doing
ReplyDeleteprobably 90, right as a CHP comes flying down the on ramp to get her. He was so focused on her he barely saw me grinding my brake pads to dust behind him. Karma in action.
w3ski
Those tailgaters may have vision problems, and use a car to follow to help them navigate. They're especially bothersome when you're driving a 20' truck and they follow closely enough to disappear out of your mirrors...
ReplyDeleteI went to traffic school once over a speeding ticket, and the instructor was a Berkeley cop, in uniform. He told us, and I quote "Be going the speed limit by the time you merge into the slow lane from the onramp, and speed up 5 MPH for each lane change to the left."
When asked whether he was advising us to exceed the speed limit, he replied: "My job is to investigate all fatality traffic accidents within the Berkeley city limit, and I'm advising you to not cause any for me to investigate."
-Doug in Oakland
When I was in Driver's Training in 1970, at Berkeley High School, that is exactly how they taught us kids. "Be gong the speed limit when you hit traffic". Now that I have traveled a bit more, I find too any people don't understand that. My all time favorite are the ones that get up the ramp to the merging lane, and then stop to think about what is next.
ReplyDeletew3ski
I-780 WB to I-80 EB in Vallejo is a short onramp with an overpass pillar just before the merge; doofuses will stio just after that pillar to (finally) look for traffic. And then they have 20 ft to accelerate.
ReplyDeleteI-5 kills me because a few (but more than enough) drivers are scared of big rigs; they creep past them, then accelerate until the next one. Those clowns are harder to pass.
I thought out-of-pocket was spending you own money; like not he company's.
On ramps , I have 2 observations .
ReplyDeleteMany people don't signal the lane change until they're moving over .
People in the right lane don't prepare to move to the left if they don't see a signal even though they can see the a situation developing where they should .
Signal early and move left ,tight up against the white line so people know your serious .
Glenn