During the past week both my wife and I were stopped by the police for doing what we do every day in Muttontown; breaking the law. OK, I am going to come clean and say it - we are habitual lawbreakers, technically speaking, and we break the law daily. It's time for us to admit it. When I drive my minivan to pre-school to drop off my 3-year-old and I travel down Muttontown Road, I go 40 (really 45-50) mph. I can't help it. I simply cannot drive that slowly. It's just too painful. And quite frankly my car was not built for that kind of speed. So you've got me, I'm the guy in the silver BMW, 0-60 in 5.9 seconds, and I'm the guy who goes 70 mph each morning down 106 to get to the LIE where I again try to break the law and the speed limit (if I can).

Ironically, when the copper finally nabbed me on 106 and I was prepared to suck up the speeding ticket as the cost of doing business, he ultimately did not issue one to me. As I hung my head shamefully, the officer approached my car with my papers and my fate in his hands. He told me he was going to spring me and he was just going to issue me a warning this time. As it was, earlier that week my wife was also pulled over for doing 40 mph in the 30 mph zone of Muttontown Road and had a similar experience. The police want to keep our streets safe from dangerous drivers. That made me start to think.

If you really look at it, this whole speed limit thing is a farce. First of all, I am a careful diver. I am a responsible adult with a wife and three children and with all due respect, I do not need a recent police academy graduate to lecture me about driving safety. Living here, I have the vested interest in driving safety. I have been driving and speeding for 25 years. In fact, I am quite the experienced speeder and I am proud of the fact I have done it effectively and elegantly, sans radar detector. The real question is - Does breaking the speed limit equate to dangerous driving? If it does equate then we are pretty much all menaces on the road. We all speed, and we all habitually speed. We know we do it, the police know it, and in fact they do it themselves. We've all seen it.

So, here is my modest proposal, if you want to cut down on the speeding in our community, raise the speed limit to one that reflects the true and safe driving habits of the community members. Why must the good citizens of the community have an adversarial relationship with our local police when it comes to doing what we judge to be safe every day? The police are setting up speed traps and flashing signs with fancy radars telling us how fast we are traveling while pulling us over for minor infractions. I don't want to be trapped by my local police. Hey, I know how fast I am driving. I am actually driving with a functioning high tech speedometer. You don't need to waste your time or our money setting up those fancy flashing signs.

Obviously, this crackdown on speeders is a reaction to the fatal accident that took pace on the corner of Muttontown Road and 106. The police are sending out the message to the community that "we are here and we are watching."

Firstly, driving is not a right, it is a privilege and it's time to honestly finger the potential dangers on the road. And I realize that this will probably dash any hopes for me running for future political office, but let's start with the older folks who may be able to pass the visual acuity test when they renew their licenses, but who have lost the reflexes and cognitive agility to perform the simple multitasking required to operate a motor vehicle. And how about the jerks who, despite knowing that it is worse than driving DWI and that it is illegal, still insist on driving in the left lane of the LIE at 45 mph, drifting perilously about the lane while talking on their hand-held cellphones. Studies have clearly demonstrated that using hand-held cellphones while driving goes beyond that of a minor distraction and rightfully have been banned. And I am not going to state the obvious about those who drive while under the influence, that's a whole other insanity.

And if law enforcement truly wanted to target a population about driving safety, the top of the list would be young drivers, particularly boys, and their unrealistic parents.

Finally, why don't we raise the speed limit on open portions of our local streets like Muttontown, Split Rock and Berry Hill roads to the ones we all drive at, 45 mph. While we all agree that driving a motor vehicle in and of itself has inherent risks, experience says there is no real quantum increase in risk over a hardly perceptible extra 10 mph. I always wondered, what was so magical about 35 mph or 55 mph anyway. Remember, the national speed limit was reduced during the Nixon administration from 65 to 55 mph not over concerns about safety but to conserve gasoline. If speed and safety were the only concern, then why not 25 mph and 40 mph, and while you are at it why not outlaw the left turn, which is responsible for more accidents than speeding. There clearly has to be a balance between safety and practicality. It would just be nice if the rules were less oppressive and more reality-based.

Glenn Waldman