One summer night back in 1988, I was working as a valet parker at Opryland hotel. Late that night, a guest arrives in one of the coolest cars I had ever seen. A Sterling. All the bells and whistles and leather and everything you think a fancy British car would have. As I am going to park the car, I wave another valet over and say, “Let’s see how fast this baby can go on Briley Parkway.”
We get on Briley and turn around at Two Rivers Parkway. We are heading back to the hotel and we hit, I will never forget, 112 miles per house in the car. I was petrified. I had been up to about 85 or so at that my point in my life in a car but I vividly remember thinking, this is not fun.
Fast forward to 2025 and I am driving back from brother’s house in Portland recently. I go to pass a truck who was going about 70 and I hit 80 to get around him. As I did that, this guy comes up from behind me and honking. I got over and he zoomed past me. He had to be going at least 100. Literally a mile later, I have to pull around another truck and I see a car flying up and gets right on my tail. I pass the truck and get over and he also zooms past me. Again, at least 100 miles per hour.
As I arrived home, Lebanon road was shut down because, allegedly, a guy on a motorcycle was speeding and ran a red light and collided with a truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Just sad for everyone involved in it.
Then the next day, someone speeding down Donelson pike took out a big part of the fence along the airport. They had to shut down one lane to repair the fence and it caused a huge backup. We can go on and on and on with examples and that is pretty sad.
Look, I know we all speed to a certain point but there is going fast and then there is hauling you know what. I am guilty, as you are, of speeding, but twenty or thirty or more miles per hour after the posted speed limit is just crazy. It is also extremely dangerous to all of us.
I know I sound like that old man yelling at a cloud and it will fall on deaf ears but I had to get this off my chest. I am sure this has been a problem from the first time the car rolled off the assembly line. According to the internets, the first speeding ticket was issued in 1896 when an English man was driving his car at 8 m.p.h., when the speed limit was only 2 m.p.h. See? Four times over the legal limit, so arrest that man!
I guess I have become cynical throughout the years especially working in the news business when I covered countless and countless motor vehicle accidents. Most of them were caused by speeding. All we have to do is slow down.
To borrow a line from Top Gun, kind of—“I feel the need. The need to slow down.” Hopefully it doesn’t take a bad accident for one to realize to just take it easy.
