01. Introduction

Hello there. I suppose I should explain what exactly The Speed Law Experiment is. Well, in short, it's a month-long challenge I'm imposing upon myself to never drive over the speed limit.


Here's the full who, what, where, when and why.

Who: Val Cabral, a 23-year-old jobless college grad who manages to do a lot of driving, despite not having so much cash.

What: Exactly one month of driving as close to the speed limit as possible, with the legal margin of 5 mph either way used when it is absolutely necessary.

Where: Southeastern Massachusetts, with frequent trips into Rhode Island and probably a few into New Hampshire.

When: September 11- the birthday- until October 11. Blog updates at least three times a week.

Why: This is the complicated part. There are multiple purposes to this experiment. The first is that I know I drive too fast, and I'd like to see how hard it would be to change that. Another is to discern how difficult it is to truly follow all speed limits when other drivers are taken into account. A third reason is that this will probably save me a ticket- which I almost got today while driving too fast after someone had frustrated me by driving too slowly (though they were, truth be told, going the speed limit). A fourth is to see exactly how others react to someone driving more slowly than they're used to.


So, there you have it! The Speed Law Experiment commences on 9/11/09. Be here to watch my observations from the beginning! My first trip will be from 02379 to 02888. It should be a heck of a drive!