Sammy Hagar wants to meet ticket-writing trooper on Northway who inspired solo hit ‘I Can’t Drive 55’

Times Union ^ | 7.15.2024 | Patrick Tine

[1Old Pro]

The "Northway" is I-87 that is widely recognized as the highway that takes you from Albany, NY North up through the Adirondacks, Lake George up to a Lake Placid exit, Plattsburg and up to Montreal Canada.

The former Van Halen singer reflects on writing the hit — and his love of upstate and the Adirondack Mountains

They had been in Greece, Italy and Egypt before a safari in Kenya. “It was a wonderful family vacation,” Hagar said.

The family had flown from Nairobi to London and then on to New York City before one last flight to Albany. All that was left to do was head up the Northway to Lake Placid where Aaron attended North Country School and where Hagar owned a log cabin. The chalet had become an oasis from an increasingly hectic (and successful) touring schedule.

---

TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: adirondacknorthway

[1Old Pro]

Neat Story, and fitting that the government records are so poor they have no retained data on the tickets they write.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

You’d be surprised at what you can see in government police records. I remember one time when I was young (back in the 1980s) processing a missing / stolen luggage report filed by Tom Cruise. I bet there still is a file on it.

[Zuriel]

Back around 96, the steel fabrication shop allowed personal radios at work stations. Most played ‘classic rock’. That song must have been played every hour.

I got so sick of hearing ‘music’ of guys yelling at the top of their lungs into the microphone, that I left earplugs in all day.

[xoxox]

I think it's rather better that every jot and tittle is not archived. or at least, it was not...

[1Old Pro]

You’d be surprised at what you can see in government police records.

Except the Hunter Biden stuff they deleted.

[xoxox]

never understood the appeal of that voice (or style) myself.

[1Old Pro]

That song must have been played every hour. I got so sick of hearing ‘music’ of guys yelling at the top of their lungs into the microphone, that I left earplugs in all day.

Yep, no fan of the song, but as with many songs it has an interesting story behind it.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

You would be surprised by what you do not see in government records from that era. One of the biggest problems in compiling crime statistics in a time series is how much information in the paper records era is simply lost.

[Tell It Right]

Hagar should make a new version saying, “I can’t drive. I’m Joe Biiiiiiiiden”.

[ansel12]

Sammy Hagar - I Can’t Drive 55
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvV3nn_de2k

[Zuriel]

I think ‘I can’t drive 55’ was the admission of many guys like me, decades before anybody had heard that song.

Whether it was influenced from an actual experience or not, millions of people can relate to habitually speeding. So, nomatter how good or bad the song sounds, it had a ready following.

I just wasn’t one in the following.

[Red Badger]

He’s still alive?.........The trooper, not Sammy Hagar.........

[1Old Pro]

He’s still alive?.........The trooper

They can't identify who the trooper was.

[sevinufnine]

There is zero possibility the state police does not have a record of the troopers employed at the time in that district. It’s as bizarre as how the Trump assassin was mysteriously ignored if they can’t produce at least a list of names.

[fini]

"...government records are so poor they have no retained data on the tickets they write."

I think you need to think about the time period we are talking about. Records were not filed away on a computer. There were only paper copies. Imagine the storage problems of having to keep every record. Up until records were put on computer files, it was standard procedure to destroy records after so many years. In the 80s, I was told by a county records clerk that they destroyed records on on a sliding scale. For instance, a felony record it was kept forever. For a non-violent misdemeanor, it was five years and so on.

[Tom Tetroxide]

How about bringing in Bob Rivers who published the parody called, “I Can’t Drive (I’m 65)”?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmrD_t4rCO8

[MichaelRDanger]

Back in the 90’s I was doing IT work and an ex-boss asked if I wanted to do a side job in the evening. It turned out to be a job for a strip bar in Jacksonville, FL. The manager was fascinated with the work I was doing with Flash animated webpages and he offered to show me what he did.

He was a licensed Bails bondman and simply by getting the number off my car’s tag he pulled up what the police can see when they run your tag. It not only showed every car I had ever owned it also showed every car my Dad had ever owned. Under know associates it showed two kids I got into a fight with at the school bus stop while I was in 8th grade. This was in the 90’s when most things were less technical than today. People would be shocked if they knew what the government knows about them...