On the Hazards of Driving too Fast


I knew that my driving was awfully fast
And a ticket for speeding seemed sure,
But when the police-car came gracefully past
I wasn't expecting much more.
With a smile that signalled an evil intent
He told me I'd just run the lights.
``And besides, which traffic lights?''
``Those ones just there, the ones that were red,
Those are the ones that I mean.''
But I disagreed with everything that he said,
For when I went through they were green!
Now the policeman was getting rather perplexed -
With brains he wasn't too gifted -
For he didn't know what Doppler expected
That fast bodies can get blue shifted.
Considering my speedometer had measured me driving
One fortieth as fast as light,
It's not too suprising - not quite unexpected
That the colours just didn't look right.

So the moral of this tale of colours and speed
Should be plain, and is clear, and is true :
If you're driving that fast, then please will you heed
That the green light will actually look blue.

Greg Baker


Enjoyed this? Buy a copy of When Medusa Went on Chatroulette for more poems of nuclear physics, time travel, devops and other nerd-geek topics.