I paid off two speeding tickets yesterday. Fortunately, they were camera-radar so didn’t cost me any points!

And here’s the rub. They were both within a week of eachother, from the same location on my drive into work every day.

I felt like I was living the story by Portia Nelson in her book, There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk: The Romance of Self-Discovery:

“I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost… I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes me a long time to get out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in. It’s a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault. I get out immediately.

walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

I walk down another street.”

Yesterday, I changed my route. Best to avoid those areas where I am prone to getting speeding tickets.

And yes, before you tell me I could have just chosen to slow down and obey the traffic signs, mostly I was. It’s just this is a really long zone. Okay?

I know it’simportant to heed the speed limit in playgrounds, I do. In this instance, it’s a playground zone near a subway station. I pass through it everyday and everyday I slow down, until the end of the zone which is a couple of blocks from the playground. Then I start to speed up. Unfortunately, I’ve been speeding up just before I exit the zone and the camera radar has been waiting.

I mentioned it’s a long zone, right? Like three blocks long. So it’s not really my fault.  (just kidding). I know it is.

The rules of the road are there to be followed. Not following them comes with a consequence. In this case, a couple hundred dollars in speeding fines.

And yes, some rules do need to be broken. However, rules of the road, especially in those zones where children play, are important. And, when all it takes is a vehicle parked at the curb with a camera trained to pick up drivers speeding up before they reach the end of the zone, it’s important to stay conscious of my speed. Radar cameras are impartial, impassionate and indescriminate. They don’t really care that for the first 100 meters of the zone I did keep to the limit, especially right past the playground, or that I think the zone is way too long! They only care that I wasn’t driving at the limit in the part of the zone where they were watching.

See, we all have rules we break. Sometimes intentionally. Sometimes unintentionally.

For me, getting caught speeding in a playground zone, twice in one week, is a reminder to stay present. It highlights how often I drive without being truly conscious of what I’m doing. and that is even more dangerous than driving above the posted speed limit in a playground zone. (I wasn’t going that fast, honest.)

I paid my speeding tickets yesterday. It was a great reminder to pay attention to where I’m at in every moment of my day and to stay present to what I’m doing. And, while I may have changed my route to avoid the playground zone of my despair, I still need to be conscious of whatever route I’m on.

Namaste.