Traffic and Speeding Tickets for Runners?

The other day while driving to work, I nearly got into an accident from a bad driver who didn’t see me. I cursed to myself and wondered if the person got their driver’s license out of a box of Cracker Jacks. The person did not stop at the Intersection, and made an illegal right turn on a red light. If a police officer was standing there, that person would surely be issued a moving violation.

Later that day, at lunch time to be exact, I went out for a 5 mile – 8km run with my corporate running group. The pace starts off at a measly 10 minute mile and speeds up to 8 minutes per mile. No “Galloway” or “Gallow-walk” allowed with my group! Since we work downtown, most of the run was downtown and nearby Stanley Park. Just for fun, I decided to count all the violations our group in that run.

Would you believe I lost track after 40 counts?

Violations include jaywalking, advancing on a red light, running on the designated bike lane or roller blading lane, the list goes on. Spitting is not a crime, nor wearing earphones and an iPod while running. (However, it is a crime for a driver to wear headphones while driving)

Of course, no one was drunk before the run, but there’ s no law against drunk runners. Just drunk drivers.

But nobody in our group would have received a speeding ticket. How hard is it to get a speeding ticket?

Let’s see… the fastest speed for a sprinter is approx 12 meters per second, or 27 miles per hour (mph), or 43 kph! Yikes!

That may seem slow, as some residential streets have a speed limit of 25 mph. We all know how easy it is to speed in your neighborhood, especially near school zones! And especially after Labour day, which is today!

So when it comes to a challenge, my freind Matt Bogdanowicz (world record holder of the maximum pull-ups in one minute, former world record holder for number of pull-ups in one hour, and attempted the 30 minute pull-ups WR) laced up his shoes and gave it a try.

In his first attempt, after a quick warm-up, he reaches 16mph, but on his second attempt, he hits 18mph.

We know Usain Bolt has a maximum velocity of 27 miles per hour for a 10 meter segment, so he would get a speeding ticket!

Next time you see a radar trap, get out of the car and see how fast you can run!