This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on 23 August, 2007.
I did it as a joke. I’d been told the fine amount before driving to court and brought the check with me. I even took my passport as part of the joke and told the judge that inthe prior year I’d been in Singapore (actually over a year there), Tokyo, London, Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich (twice), Zurich, Athens, Moscow, Canada (3 times) and more. I also said that the Prius was part electric and so smooth you scarcely notice the speed. Only 100+ mph cases and second DUI’s were in court and my story was the only entertainment of the day. The judge smiled. Remember that I’d already pled guilty.
I have driven to L.A., San Luis Obispo, San Diego and Las Vegas a half dozen times since getting this ticket. On each of those trips I set the cruise control of my Prius at the limit. I got to San Diego from Los Gatos on a single 12-gallon tank of gas, averaging 47+ mpg. To Las Vegas I went 72 mph max (limit 70 on highway 5) and averaged 44+mpg. I told the judge truthfully that I’d slowed down.
Kathy Griffin was in the car when this occurred but the cop didn’t notice her because her head was down. Sorry for the one-liner but I couldn’t resist. I have never met or talked to Kathy but have to play this out.
In response to the comment above:
Do we have another fake Steve? I demand proof!
A scoop for this blog: “Woz denies knowing Kathy Griffin.”
Given that the average octane rating for gasoline (or petrol as we call it over here) in Europe is between 95 and 98, and the average octane rating for gasoline in the US is between 87 and 90, I would estimate the top speed of a Prius in the US to be significantly slower than one in Europe (106mph as stated), unless the driver had some of that lovely high-octane Euro-gas in their tank.
Hm, well, it’s a weak excuse any way you look at it, but the post and comments seem to be overlooking something and/or getting it backwards.
Let’s go back to an analog speedometer for a second. In a country where the speed limits are in kilometers, it is the normal outside large numbers of the dial that are marked with those units. So you go back to the US after being in a country where the speed limit is 100 or so (kph) and you’re used to seeing the dial point to 100 with regularity.
In the case of Woz and the Prius, it’s a digital readout. It just says 104. In kph that’s a nice reasonable speed, equal to just 64 mph. He didn’t switch the readout to kph. If the readout was in kph at that speed, it would have said 167! If he had switched it, it would have kept him under the speed limit though.
Anyway, point being it isn’t that farfetched an argument. You look at the numbers, thinking they are kph like they are elsewhere in the world. 104 is a reasonable speed in kph. It’s a good excuse, except for the fact that a 40 mph difference in speed is totally obvious in any car, let alone a Prius.
This technique makes for interesting people photography: close-up, brightly lit, incorporating the element of surprise. These are surprised flowers.
Did everyone already forget that Al Gore’s son was arrested doing 100 mph in a Prius just last month?
The only difference in octane is the measuring system used. Europeans use “research octane,” while U.S. gas stations use an average between the research octane and the “motor octane.”
While I have never driven my Prius at its max speed, it has plenty of pep, though I try to drive with a light foot.
Sorry CrazyOne but I cannot buy that. While 100kph is reasonable, one who drives with any regularity would certainly be able to tell the difference between 60mph and 100! To allow the argument that Mr. Wozniak could only judge his speed by a brief glance at the dashboard and not by other visual or even audible cues is, honestly, just silly. I would hope that his “argument” was a joke like people have been saying (including, apparently, the man himself on this illustrious website). Also, Kathy Griffin is still alive?
Flowers seem to get excited easily. They are also very vain.
The argument was a joke to lighten up the courtroom. It was awfully good. I was in km countries more than in the U.S. for an entire year and a half. The Prius on highway 5 is smooth and quiet enough that with no traffic you would have trouble telling that it’s 100 mph. The guage is digital with a huge 100 and a tiny mph next to it, that my eyes can barely see. So it’s not a bad story. But it was offered while pleading guilty, not as an attempt to beat a ticket. I have had at least a half dozen day-long trips since that ticket and have gone the limit (or very close) and gotten very good mileage. I use the lowest octane rating gas and got to San Diego on one 12-gallon tank, averaging 47 mph. This slower driving makes me happy and I have modified my behavior since the ticket.
Kathy was in the car but she called it a pre-us. Just joking again.