Randy M

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mlincoln
[B]Hello,

I'm sorry, but I think that you have probably driven 110 mph one too many times, and now you've been justly caught. The fine and the increased insurance cost will remind you to drive responsibly, and save the excessive speed for that trip to Germany (where road conditions and driver training are regulated to allow such speeds) or a trip to Road Atlanta. Just my opinion....

Mike Lincoln MD

I dont think he mentioned what time of day, sparse or dense traffic or any other road condition to render an opinion of whether or not his driving was irresponsible.

lexpilot

MDMike might be on to something about not speeding on public roads. Actually he is in a good location to go 110 with a lower risk than someone in a more populated area like the Bay Area. Lots of deserted highways (at times) between SLC and Idaho,Wyoming,Nevada, Oregon.
Mood swings definitely play a part in how cautious we are with our German hotrods.

tv

Jeckyl & Hyde on these forums. Over here lurking and i've read some threads about how fast and how many times redlined and now this sunday school preaching. Mlincoln why do you own a porsche - snob appeal? Every german has their F1 license? Wake up, the hack pols have passed lousy revenue generating laws and now you all suspend your judgement for some fat *** know it all. If the road is mostly deserted and your reflexes and car are up to it, then you should be able to drive as you see fit. Its the drunks and old out to lunch drivers that cause accidents. The guy got caught enjoyiny his expensive ride not robbing a bank. Nothing wrong with anything he did. "Laws" used to say blacks at the back of the bus, would you follow those. Come on. Get arnie to roll back these draconian fines. He drove a 360 last year.
Tom

1985 928s2 euro

mlincoln

Dear "TV",

<flame>

In answer to your question, I've owned a Porsche for 25 years, ever since I obtained a very rusty and used 1966 912 for free from a friend when I was a medical resident in Michigan (hence the rust....). I own them because they're fine German cars (my mother's family is German) and drive very nicely. I also like them because they're different from the average, run of the mill automobile, just like a Saab or a VW Westfalia camper (my other two cars).

Also, the people in the PCA and on this board are generally great (even Ray Calvo, who is merely "crusty", but darling in his own way). However I must take exception to your grammatically poor, misspelled, personal attack. In my opinion, crowded public roads are no place to drive fast. For example, here in Utah we have a silver 996 TT that frequently blows past me on the way to the hospital, on a crowded commuting road (Foothill Boulevard) that goes right between the VA hospital and the University campus. Students are crossing this road, both at the crosswalk and by jaywalking. He's typically going 75 mph+ in a 35 mph zone, and foolishly accelerates past a light at the most popular jaywalking spot. That type of behavior is illegal for good reason: it is simply irresponsible and dangerous. So is going 110 mph almost anywhere in the USA (except perhaps a completely empty highway in the middle of the day or a speed event that is supervised and for which appropriate safety equipment is required). Have we all gone fast once or twice? Yes, I suspect so. Hopefully safely, on a very empty road, and very infrequently, if only for our own sakes: Every year ca. 50,000 persons are killed or injured on U.S. roads. To give an idea of the scale of the carnage, this is more than the number of persons killed and injured in the entire Vietnam war. So don't irrationally assume your behavior has no effect upon anyone else. The facts don't bear out your foolish opinions. Why don't you volunteer in your local emergency room or shock-trauma ICU and see what goes down on our public roads? We need volunteers at our VA hospital and your local VA would certainly welcome you, assuming you can stand to take direction from external authority and work in cooperation with others.

As for your sociopathic rant against authority and the law in general and me in particular, I think that there's a DSM-IV code that's applicable here, namely: Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) by GDSM-IV criteria, AKA "sociopath". Take a look at the diagnostic criteria: see anything that seems to fit someone you know?

- Pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 (3 of 7 criteria) {How many tickets do _you_ have?}

- At least age 18 (Sadly we all probably all meet this one big time, by a factor of 2 or 3)

- Evidence of Conduct Disorder with onset before age 15 {well, I don't know if you tortured kittens or not....}

- Not exclusively during Schizophrenia or Manic episode {I'm willing to give you "Schizoid" if you want to test out of "Sociopath"}

- Clinical presentation: Crave stimulation, excitement, behavior is id-driven, emotionally shallow, no long term, intimate relationships, symptoms of sociopathy in childhood/adolescence, lack of regard for authorities (e.g., police, therapists, judges) {Recognize these symptoms?}

- More males than females (6% vs. 1%) {I assume you're male}

- More in low socioeconomic classes {well, this diagnosis was almost working....}

- Disrupted family {You'll have to fess up here....}

- Childhood neglect or inconsistent care and discipline

- Treatment: Usually referred by court, common psychiatric problems: depression, expect confrontations & defiance, {Hmmmm...see TV's message} therapists are treated as other authority figures, difficult to treat because symptoms are ego-syntonic {Hmmmm again...} , prevention is more optimistic than treatment of full blown ASPD, family counseling, patient has to see that his/her way does not work; be willing to try other ways to achieve a goal

Anyway TV if you can't see the congruence between your rant and this pattern, I'm sure others will. Luckily, we _do_ have modern medications available.... However, I don't hold out an unconditional promise of recovery as the "light bulb has to want to turn", and I suspect you're stuck on yourself.

</flame>

To the rest of the board, please excuse this sarcasm (although I must confess I enjoyed composing it!). I find people who believe that they're a law unto themselves, especially if they're unpolite, to be unbelievably boorish. In my opinion, they deserve a strong (but, in this case, clinically accurate and applicable) put-down.

Best, Mike Lincoln MD
Associate Professor, University of Utah School of Medicine

mike cap

Mike,

I am one member that does not excuse your sarcasm. I think your post directed at TV is insulting and way over the line of good taste. Particularly the clinical diagnosis of his personality disorder - if you meant it to be funny, it's not.

Sputnik

For me the ride starts at 100 mph. Anything below is a boring emotionless commute. Meaningless. Stupid waste of time. If you don't have nuts to fly then buy Honda, take right line and drive from point A to point B. It is what those "cars" were designed for. To commute.
Porsche is sport car. It is equally powerful as controllable. I feel completely safe driving it 120 mph. Much safer than many feel at 35 driving junk cars.
Issuing the speeding ticket to individual who recklessly driving in 25 mph school zone...to someone who just can't drive fast PROPERLY...jumping from one line to another...accelerating between the cars and then suddenly hitting the brakes...this kind of "behavior" on the road is annoying, dangerous to others and must be persecuted.
The guy (or better yet - young blondy sexy female) driving 911 on empty highway hitting decent speed is nothing but decoration to the environment. Inspiring. Beautiful. Logical.

Greg Fishman

Sputnik,
You are being selfish. Just because you "think" you are in control and safe it does not make it so. If you have an accident, your fault or not, at 125mph you are most likely dead, and so is any other passenger. Not to mention the other vehicle you hit. How would you like it on your conscience that you killed someone?

Greg Fishman

Sputnik,
You are being selfish. Just because you "think" you are in control and safe it does not make it so. If you have an accident, your fault or not, at 125mph you are most likely dead, and so is any other passenger. Not to mention the other vehicle you hit. How would you like it on your conscience that you killed someone?

User 4621

mlincoln,

So far you have jumped to conclusions about the conditions in which the event occurred, jumped to conclusions about the event itself although the person in question denies the true speed, unfairly and probably inaccurately lumped a person whom you know nothing about in with a category of dangerous drivers (the speeder in a common crossing area reference), then issued an insulting ad-hominem attack for apparently no other reason than one of your "inferiors" dared to rear up and disagree with the pearls of wisdom you offered here. While I find this type of pedantic and self-righteous behavior somewhat common of "academics" such as yourself, I must say that as someone with a surgeon, ER nurse and chief paramedic in his immediate family, I am heartened that your professorship perhaps limits your ability to apply similar tactics to actual patients.

Sputnik,

Unfortunately, I am very familiar with the roads on which you claim to drive the way you do, and can also say that in addition to Greg's very accurate points above, I can only add that anyone who thinks fun can only be had over 100 mph has probably never been on a track and is thinking in terms of boring straight line speed, thus missing out of what their car is designed for, contrary to the very point you were trying to make. Do a few driving events in a safe environment and learn how 40mph can be more thrilling than 140mph.

John H

Someone here will probably end up buying parts off your car when you wrap it around a tree or something. Like it says in the Parts Heaven ad, "Some people can't handle the responsibility of 270 horsepower".

I am sure you are a good driver, but as my dad always said, just when you think you know what you are doing, that's when you get hurt.

ZCAT3

Not to belabor this point - although it sure seems obvious to me that it is inherently dangerous to go 100 plus MPH on a road with a 60 MPH limit - no matter what car you are in - but when people constantly refer to German roads and the Autobahn as evidence that these cars are safe at high speed, they are really fooling themselves. There are so many things about going fast that need to be right for it to be "safe". For example, I cannot remember the exact specs, but German roads like the Autobahn are something like 3 times thicker than comparable U.S. roads - meaning a better, more stable surface. The other drivers on the autobahn are aware that people maybe be going 200 KPH and drive accordingly - etc., etc. One of the great things about driving at the track is the road surface is far superior to anything you find on U.S. public roads and generally the other drivers no what is going on.

By the way, I really cannot fault the good doctor for his approach here. If he truly has spent time in the ER patching up people from car accidents then his perspective must be different from the average person - better to make a point through tongue-in-cheek humor than with an obituary.

SkipSauls

TTJunkie, Sputnik and others.,

Do as Dan and swftiii have suggested and get yourselves to the track! There are track events all over the place sponsored by PCA, SCCA, and other groups, so there's no excuse for not attending one if you feel the need for speed. It will cost less than a ticket, won't risk your license or land you in jail, and is much more fun than open-road blasts.

Seriously, if you think that going 125 MPH on an open road is fun, imagine going that fast or faster and having to hit your brakes hard in order to take a sweeper at 80+ MPH. This is what Porsches were made for, not just cruising along at high-speed. If you simply want to cruise along at high-speed then a big Benz, Beemer, or other barge is just as capable and much more comfortable.

If DEs and ordinary track days are too tame, there's always racing. I can tell you from recent experience that there's nothing on the streets or highways that can compare to PCA Club Racing for excitement. You can drive very fast knowing that everyone is going in the same direction, that all of the cars are capable of stopping, going, and cornering well, that everyone is reasonably aware of each other (co-existence), and that jackasses aren't tolerated.

Take a look a these videos from the recent Pueblo and Hallett Club Races:

Club Race Videos

Can you honestly say that you've ever been able to drive like that on the streets for any length of time? I seriously doubt it as anyone who does so ends up in jail, or dead.

Sorry to sound like a preacher, but there are some great outlets for using these cars as their creators intended!

Randy M

Dr. Lincoln, From your response I can tell that you really enjoy being called 'Doctor'. You may be letting your job get to you. If you have a 911 I think you should get in it and drive some fun twisty road in your area and LIVE for once and get out of your stodgy confines. Reciting psychological jibberish is incredibly boring. In your description you basically described everyone in society at one time or another and your own rant toward TV may be indicative of ASPD or whatever acronym your genius mind can think of. Professors are a strange bunch. They try so hard to be looked up to but yet rarely are outside of their institutions.

tv

Was that frasier lincoln? Not only are you a snob but a pompous one at that. You took a long time to write a bunch of worthless dribble. You know nothing about me, and nothing about the circumstance of the speeding ticket. Who here advocates driving recklessly in school zones? I mentioned deserted roads did you assume a school zone from that? I have seen more than my share of incompetent md's in the last 10 years of caring for my father daily who has been trached, g-tubed, and a quadraplegic. Thanks to one of your colleaggues we can add HEP C to that list. I have more reasons for my distaste of corrupt authority figures, and i have quite a lot of education, thank you. The point still stands- porsches are performance vehicles that are designed, built, and meant to be driven in a certain manner. That is what most of this site is about. You are a complete JERK.

Tom

1985 928s2

If there are any spelling errors I'm sure you have the time to correct them, I don't

Cannonball

I'd ask for a jury trial, then ask for immunity as you present your self as an expert witness. This would be after making sure your speedo was certified as correct. Then in court when self incrimination while you are immunity protected clearly explain that the ticket is in error! You had a visual that you were doing well over 140MPH on your speedo, there fore the ticket for 110 isnt correct and get it thrown out. Or go do it again and claim double jepordy (you cant be charged with the same thing twice. Or get a great lawyer and a real good prayer group.

As it was once explained to me by one of my friends in uniform "It's all a game, sometimes you win, sometimes I win." "This time I win"

I always say "Speed Kills! Play it safe and drive a faster car" It is just like over eating.......its not healthy either but many of us do it.
It also kills some of us too.............
Cannonball