No Need for Speed

by Bernard McCormick Wednesday, January 27, 2010 3 Comment(s)

The braces on her teeth. Her picture was in the paper. I think that’s what got to me, the story of the young girl killed when a BSO car hit the car she was in so hard it was broken in half. Such a pretty girl, braces on her teeth, on the verge of the real world. Wham. Dead. So much gone, so fast.

If we can believe the newspaper reports, and sometimes we can, this was a case of two probably very nice people making a mistake. I always said that with some exceptions, it takes two mistakes to make a serious accident. In this case, eyewitnesses say the BSO car was going like a bat out of hell. The young driver of the car that was truncated had a record of six offenses in a few years. That’s describing a careless driver. For perspective, I have had more than 57 years of driving, and to the best of my failing memory, two tickets in Pennsylvania and two in Florida. One in Pennsylvania was because I was driving a Porsche, going with traffic. I told the cop I was just going with traffic. 

“Can’t stop everybody,” he said. I think he picked me out because of the Porsche. He thought I was a rich kid. I paid $2,600 for the used Porsche, at a time when a new VW cost $1,400. 

One ticket in Florida was in Lawtey, the notorious speed trap many University of Florida alum experience when driving out of Gainesville, where signs went from 55 m.p.h., which I was doing, to about 25 m.p.h. within a few hundred yards. It was more than 10 years ago, and I am still angry about that one. I don’t know if they still do that, but if they do, it is organized crime, run by the wonderful government in a redneck town. The braces on the teeth brought that bad day back, and I am angry. 

Back on topic. It amazes me how fast people drive in Fort Lauderdale, and seem to get away with it. Yesterday, a car passed me in a 35 m.p.h. zone on Broward Boulevard. It had to be going 55 m.p.h. and accelerating. Later in the day, I stopped for a red light at Broward and Andrews. I had plenty of time to stop, and in the rear view mirror I saw a car, coming up fast, swing out behind me and bust that light, big time. Had another driver, going perpendicular and anticipating the change of light, made a mistake, we might have had a fatality right in front of me. It happens all the time. Why are people in such a hurry? And with tinted windows, you can’t even see who is not in control. It must have something to do with sex. 

And there is a lawsuit in Pembroke Pines over those automatic tickets at traffic lights at major intersections. The complaint is based on invasion of privacy, or some such B.S. A number of people are behind that suit. I would like to follow every one and see how often they bust lights. I would wage they do it all the time. They don’t like to stop. 

This is a rant. Venting. Blame it on the braces on a pretty14-year-old girl who is not around to read this.


Comments

Bernie, Tell Us some more about the Porsche...

This Comment had been Posted by mmccormick

Bernie, Tell Us some more about the Porsche...


Maybe a story about the legal system that allows 6...

This Comment had been Posted by mmccormick

Maybe a story about the legal system that allows 6 tickets all withheld ajudication, and still driving with a "clean" record. The week before there was a bicyclist killed on the Rickenbacker Causeway by a driver with numerous tickets and a clean record. Drive crazy fast and pay an attorney $100 and you still have a clean record to do it again. We have a screwed up judicial system that needs to look at multiple offenders a lot tougher! I enjoy your articles. Mike Petrie


I can not believe after about 33 years I think I h...

This Comment had been Posted by mmccormick

I can not believe after about 33 years I think I have finally found Sarah McCormicks son. Did your Mom live on Cliveden Street in Philly? My Dad and your Mom were related. She and my Dad, Joseph Nealis, would talk on the phone. She would call me and we would talk. I went to her home in Philly and put my name along with my husband and daughters name in her book about the Nealis Family. My cousin, Joan and I have been emailing for sometime now, and I kept telling her about your Mom and her family tree. That she had all the answers to at least MY questions about the Nealis family. Your Mom told me back in the 70's that you were in Florida and were starting a magazine similar to the Philadelphia Magazine. I kept telling Joan about my memories of that. After all these years to think I have FINALLY found you. My story is one of NOT knowing about the Nealis family due to my Dad's father dying when my Dad was five, my grandfather was a Philly fireman. Your Mom had all the answers to my background in Ireland but I forgot them over the years. Would you consider emailing me? I cannot begin to tell you what this means to me. Thank you, Patricia Nealis- Reiff


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