Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket? Would getting a speeding ticket change the way you drive, such as making you drive slower in the future, or would you drive just as fast as ever?

In today’s story, one person is working in Japan when they get pulled over and get a speeding ticket.

This has a big impact on how they drive to and from work for the rest of their time there.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

Finally, a real MC story.

I work for a just in time company and was on work assignment in Japan.

They had some strange approaches to prioritizing which safety items needed focus.

They also have a very specific method and format for problem solving. This is important later.

He explains what it’s like to drive in Japan.

If you’ve ever driven in Japan, you know that some “roads” wouldn’t pass as a cart path most anywhere else, and most have very deep gutters that will mess up your car right quick.

My company car was a gorgeous 87hp vitz. I still miss it sometimes.

When idling in drive, it hovered around 22-25kph. Sorry Americans, I don’t know how many it is in freedom units.

The speed limit on the site was 20.

The speedo for the vitz was in the center console and the driveway through the site is quite long and narrow.

I couldn’t watch both easily.

Uh-oh!

One day, they had safety team members out in a literal speed trap.

I got pulled over.

Driving infractions are pretty serious and I am gaijin so they lost it on me (they flagged down lots of people, but only I got yelled at).

I had to write a shame letter and do a problem solving report for root cause and countermeasure.

Sure.

He explained the problem.

My reasoning was I couldn’t watch the speedo and the narrow lanes at the same time.

The idle speed is too high to maintain safe driving.

Countermeasure: my beloved Vitz had a B gear (Jake brake for brake fade on mountain roads). In B, it idled at exactly 10.

They loved the report. It was shared with my working group.

The next time I was on site, I went directly to my car, got on the lot exit to the winding, narrow, single lane driveway and put it in B.

He decided to play it safe.

There was a huge line of cars behind my idling 10kph vitz with the guy directly behind me losing his damned mind.

It took forever to get to the gate.

Although, no one was speeding.

The next morning, my boss said there were many complaints about the white Vitz driving too slow.

I said safety first, and I don’t want to risk another speeding ticket at work.

He refused to speed up.

He said I didn’t have to drive 10kph anymore.

Nope.

Every day I worked on that site, I drove exactly 10 in and exactly 10 out.

I feel bad for screwing everyone else over, but if it’s serious enough to give me a speeding ticket and a shame letter, then it’s serious enough to be diligent about.

He never did speed up.

They made an announcement that the safety gestapo would limit safety audits to activity on site and that the activity was a great success in slowing down unsafe drivers.

I think that was a tacit approval to go back to the old way.

Even then, 10kph in, 10kph out.

It became a running joke in my group though. I think they envied the malicious part of the compliance.

They wouldn’t be so strident against authority as it “looks bad.”

I’m a petty gaijin. I don’t give a care.

They would ask when I was arriving on site, I’d say I’m just pulling in. They would say, I see, we’ll see you in 25 minutes.

If I ever have to go back there, I will do it again.

Safety first.

It doesn’t hurt anything to play it safe.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

What exactly is a Vitz?

Americans aren’t good at converting kph to mph either.

This person wants a hover car. Don’t we all?

And here’s how to convert kilometers to miles.

That was a fun ride.

Just the way we like it.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.