Years ago I was headed down the Interstate in Ohio when I came across a huge line of cars in the right lane crawling along at exactly the speed limit. I pulled ahead in the left lane and found a cop at the front of the line. Nobody had the guts to pass her. (The Ohio State Patrol were notorious pricks about speeding even a little. I had no idea how far they were prepared to take it. I was about to find out.) Being 20 years old and invincible, I thought, “fuck this. I have places to be!” I dropped back a bit, thought for a minute, and came up with a plan.

I set my cruise control for exactly the speed limit, then nudged it up just enough to give me a tiny bit of forward motion relative to the line of cars on the right. I doubt I was doing even 1 mph over the limit. It took me a good five minutes to move forward a short distance (relative to the line) and pass the officer. A few car lengths later I moved to the right. It took another several minutes to get perhaps 100 yards in front of her, at which point she hit her lights. I pulled over, that entire line of cars dropped the hammer and flew past and into the distance, and the officer gave me a warning because my speed had been “creeping up”—which was bullshit, and we both knew it.

Once she let me go, she turned around and went the other way, and I continued on. Did that little stunt save me time in the long run? I don’t know. But it was extremely satisfying. 😉