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Mr. Speed Limit tilts at windmills in Ocala
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Location: Blogs Now We're Talking |
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| Posted by: Joe Byrnes |
10/3/2007 7:41 AM |
This week I'm reading "Zorro," a novel by Isabel Allende. I already knew, of course, about the legendary masked hero of Alta California. I had watched the old black-and-white shows on TV as a kid.
Like countless other boys, I would brandish a stick - my imaginary sword - and slash the air with it and scratch Z's on just about anything in the cause of Justice. I'm telling you all this not to recommend the book - which deserves as much - but because I have come across another nameless crusader.
Right here in Ocala, Mr. Speed Limit wages his anonymous campaign. His weapon: the video camera. His town square: YouTube.com/ocalaflorida.
He rides shotgun all around the county videotaping speeders in the rain, bikers zigzagging between cars, drivers racing up the turn lane to beat other cars through an intersection, impatient motorists passing over double yellow lines.
Those are his villains, and he goes out of his way to shame them. He focuses in on their license plates or their faces or the company name on the side of the vehicle.
Mr. Speed Limit has posted about 100 videos on his YouTube account. There are spoofs and gimmicks to liven up his message. He riffs on "The Twilight Zone" with "The Mannerless Zone" - asking why nice people become lawless monsters when they start driving.
His words scroll up the screen: "As soon as people climb into their Automobile, they Transform into a Commando [who] has just received orders to use Extreme Prejudice."
You'll find "Speed Limits for Dummies" and "Turn Signals for Dummies" on his so-called Ocala Florida Drivers Channel. The special effects and the music are cheesy. Mr. Speed Limit is funny - in small doses.
After the first 15 minutes of hoots and chuckles, I grew tired of his monotonous replays - over and over again - exploiting some poor soul's petty lawbreaking. After all, bad driving is something I see every day.
One video hammers home a curious result I often notice in city traffic. Some speeder will zip around me, darting between cars, but he doesn't get ahead. He ends up waiting with me at the next red light.
Mr. Speed Limit seems to be a man obsessed. "My mission is to bring awareness to a massive problem in our small community," he writes on the Web page. "I love my family & friends and don't wish to surrender them to the results of arrogant drivers."
I hoped to discover Mr. Speed Limit's secret identity and sent a message to his MySpace page.
"I made a deal with my family and associates," Mr. Speed Limit wrote back, "the moment I am recognized, I will pull the plug. I have received tons of hate mail and threats."
Like any action that can incite road rage, videotaping bad drivers is risky. In fact, I don't think you should even gesture at the moron who cuts you off in traffic or honk your horn at red light-runners or scold the teenage strangers who toss their trash on the highway.
Safety should be the first rule while driving. It won't further your safety - or the safety of your passengers - to start an argument with a motorist who has already demonstrated irrational tendencies.
Maybe Mr. Speed Limit will catch them on tape. "Don't want to be featured?" he asks at the end of one video. "Don't break the law."
Around here, he might as well be Don Quixote tilting at windmills. Or he could be Zorro in his black mask and cape, spinning astride an angry horse and waving his blade to no effect, in the crazy traffic at 17th and Pine.
Joe Byrnes may be reached at joe@ocala.com, ocala.com/blogs or (352) 867-4112.
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