aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Monday, March 06, 2006

55: An extraordinary act of civil obedience

The 55 MPH speed has become little more than a back door tax.

And three student filmmakers nail it.  Andy Medlin, Jordan Streiff and Amanda Hunter of Georgia State University were in the AJC on Friday and talked to Lester Holt on the Today Show Saturday:

HOLT: Andy, let me start with you. This was your idea. Your friends laughed at you, but you came up with the idea for this film which you appropriately titled “55.” Was it meant to be a social commentary, a spoof or a protest to the 55-mile-an-hour speed limit?

Mr. MEDLIN: Really a social commentary. We kind of wanted to work on the whole thing where, you know, if--to expose the flaws in the system, you have to obey completely and maybe highlight the hypocrisy in the whole speed enforcement system right now.

Today Sivacracy’s Ann Bartow points to their finished film on Google Video.

These students are absolutely onto something. If we all drove the speed limit we’d bring the nation’s roads to a halt. The speed limit is arbitrarily enforced; you’re caught by the luck of the draw.

Is it coincidence that as we continue to cut taxes - and keep spending - the fines go well beyond punitive? They’re obfuscatory! A colleague paid over $700 for a first-time speeding fine on Atlanta’s downtown connector.

Make these speed limit laws legitimate then enforce them.