I don’t speed.

And that is a lie.

When I am out driving around I often go the speed limit, maybe even a little under the speed limit, especially in town. Out on the highway I usually go no more than five miles over the speed limit, so in truth, I do actually speed – a little.

That is not true of everyone. On some recent trips around the country, it is amazing how fast some folks go. I’m going along at my usual five miles over the limit and I am usually being passed like I am standing still.

That is especially true in other states. In fact, many drivers in other states seem to ignore the speed limit.

There is proof of that in the Faribault County District Court records that we run in the Faribault County Register every once in a while. There are a slug of them in this week’s issue.

Among the court offenses are a lot of speeding cases. Many of them seem to be folks traveling on Interstate 90 (you can tell because the speed limit is listed at 70 mph in the court record and I-90 is the only place in the county that has that high of a speed limit).

A lot of those speeders are from out of state; from South Dakota, or Wisconsin, or Illinois, or whatever.

I think they are used to speeding along at high rates in their home states, unaware that here in Minnesota, and in Faribault County particularly, speed laws are actually enforced.

I sometimes try to warn some of those folks when they pass me by doing 80 plus by saying “Hey, you’re not in Kansas anymore, buddy, you are in Faribault County and speeders often get tickets.”

Of course, they can’t really hear me. But at least I gave an effort at being Minnesota Nice by warning them. They never listen, though.

Some of these lead-foot drivers are hitting ridiculous speeds. Over 90 miles per hour, some even over 100 miles an hour.

One person in this past Monday’s court report was clocked at 126 miles per hour, and he wasn’t even on I-90, because it says he was in a 60 mph zone.

Either he was late for a mighty important appointment or he was fleeing a law enforcement officer.

And, while I am on the topic of speeding, there is one type of speeder who gets their name in the court records who I am really amazed at.

It is the person who is picked up for speeding, but then also gets ticketed for no seat belt, texting while driving, having drug paraphenalia in the vehicle, driving after their license was suspended or revoked and having no proof of insurance.

I mean, really. Wouldn’t you think about not speeding if you had all those other issues going on? I sure would. Seems as though they were just asking for trouble.

Well, to be totally honest, I have been stopped for speeding three times – not a one of them very recent.

Once was when I was a young man and I got stopped and somehow got off with just a warning. Another time in North Dakota I swear I was going just as fast as everyone else, but an overzealous deputy sheriff decided he needed to give out one more ticket before quitting for the day.

Then there was the time when a friend of mine and I were hauling some hockey players (our sons and others) to a game in my Chevy Astro van. The speedometer had ceased to work and the car dealer was waiting for a part to come in, so I was trying to go with the flow of traffic.

I got stopped anyway and got a ticket. The irony of the situation was that my friend sitting next to me in the front of the van was my Chevy dealer. He found the situation to be fairly humorous. The next day I got the speedometer fixed. He was still laughing.

Then there was this other time, on a trip to Texas with my wife and kids and another friend and her kids.

I had driven for the first six hours or so of the trip, keeping the cruise control on at, you guessed it, about five miles over the posted speed limit.

The friend volunteered to take over driving, and she set the cruise control at what I had had it at.

Unbeknownst to any of us, the speed limit had just changed to a lower speed. So, only a couple of miles down the road, she got a speeding ticket – and blamed me.

So back to my original point, if I can remember what it was.

Oh yes, there is a whole lot of speeding going on. In town, out on country roads, on highways and freeways. I don’t think anyone goes the actual speed limit any more.

It is amazing to drive in someplace like California and the speed limit is 55, you are doing 70 and getting passed because just about everyone is doing 80 – or higher.

Perhaps it is time to slow down and enjoy the scenery a little bit. Do you really have to be in that big of a hurry to get somewhere?

Well, there’s my two cents worth.

Slow down please…drive like your life depends on it. Because it does.