25 mph speed limit

It’s hard to do, almost feels like crawling.  It’s a post you’ll find in a school zone or a highly congested area, like downtown, with pedestrians crossing, traffic lights, drivers double parked waiting for a spot to open.  You’ll also find it on a back country road where you see signs depicting animal crossings like turtles, ducks, and deer.  Signs of blind drives and children playing, weight limits on bridges crossing small brooks.  These roads, almost expanded cart paths from days of old, have curves you can’t see around from a distance, and knolls you can’t see over until you are at the crest.  Slow it down, there may be a mother and baby in stroller, a jogger, a girl walking her horse, neighbors chatting at the mailbox just around the bend you can’t see.  These roads often snake around outcropping of ledges that can’t be moved, trees that are elders in the landscape with trunks so large they deserve respect but prevent any sort of shoulder off the pavement.  With two-way traffic about to intersect, one driver must yield to the other and pull to the side, as there is only room for one.  This is especially true when a school bus or trash truck are navigating, just trying to do their job.  Pull over, pause, wave, and smile.  It is a friendly road.  I live on this road.  It is marked Cross Street, a “scenic road.”  If you slow down you can notice the stone walls and gates, the turkeys crossing at the brook, the children playing in the front yard kicking soccer balls, you may even hear the donkey.    Some years ago, I became the queen of backroad driving.  I had some sort of unexplained vertigo when driving 80 mph on 95, and I lost some of my confidence racing down the highway.  I venture that way sometimes, but find it far less stressful to slow it down.  When using the GPS, the backroads are nearly always shorter in distance but take longer because of the previously mentioned deterrents to speed.  A smart driver knows this and when in a hurry, may chance the shortcut to get to …work, date, appointment, fill in the blank, on time because they find themselves running late.  Hopefully, they will use the brake, crack the window and take in the laughter of the playing children and barking dogs, the fragrance of the blossoming trees, wave at the old neighbors visiting at their driveways taking a break from their raking, and enjoy the scenic drive.  It’s not meant to be a short cut, and you can tack an extra 10 minutes on for your boss if you arrive a little late.  Slow it down, you won’t regret it.