PLEASE FAVE THE ORIGINAL ARTIST'S SUBMISSION: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/61135800/

Ozark grew up with a dad that loved hot rods, so it was only natural that he got into them to a degree as well. When he was sixteen, he and his dad restored a replica of a Toyota Corolla AE86, complete with a straight-6 and a full mechanical driveline just barely good enough for autobahn driving. Unfortunately, it was totaled in a wreck involving a rather careless driver, so his next replica hot rod was a year-2018 Leon sedan from Iridium. This one had a life as a former endurance race car with a big-displacement turbo-4, a hybrid racing CVT of all things, and power delivery to all four wheels. The red paint he wasn't keen on, but it was at a good price and all it needed to be road-worthy again was a high-voltage battery and a set of ignition coils.

As any hot rodder is wont to commit, Ozark quickly got used to the vehicle's peppy (albeit detuned) 800 horsepower 3.6 liter four-banger - a far cry from the 300 horsepower his previous vehicle and provisional licensing limited him to. Being able to go above the autobahn's minimum speed limit of 500 kilometers per hour was, as some might call it, 'liberating'. Now his daily commute from home to the space port, while working between semesters at the academy, was sliced in half. Unfortunately, that commute cut through the city limits, which imposed an autobahn maximum speed limit of 300 kilometers per hour.

After pulling a fairly long shift at work, Ozark was eager to get home quickly, and took a gamble by staying at speed through the restricted zone... but alas, a nanny drone happened to be around, flagged his car, pulled him off the freeway, and made him sit while a district cop was dispatched to him. A short time later, one such cop arrived. An Equian of the Clydesdale variety, to be precise.

"Evening, officer," Ozark waved as she approached, trying to remain collected enough to have the conversation.

"Good evening, mister Dhrystone," she returned in kind, leaning against his car. "I'm officer Natalie Dallas of the Sapphyrian planetary police. You know why you were pulled over?"

"I... can't imagine why," the red panda coyly replied. "Is there a problem?"

"Sir, the speed limit is 300 - you know that, right?"

"Aah, I didn't think I was going that fast," he shook his head.

The cop looked unamused. "The drones clocked you at seven hundred klicks an hour."

Thinking quickly, Ozark flashed a grin. "Someone's gotta make sure they're doing their jobs. Keep them on their toes, y'know?"

Natalie's expression remained unchanged. "Your attempts at humoring me are admirable, mister Dhrystone, but you and I both know there's no weaseling your way out of any driving restrictions."

"I know," he sighed, "I figured it was worth a shot."

"So why were you speeding?"

"No particular reason, I just wanted a spirited ride home from work."

"At least you're honest." A slight grin spread as she nodded and raised herself to a stand. "Drone reports suggest a home impound for a month, but I'm feeling generous tonight. I'm actually gonna pen you for a two-week suspension. Auto-drive only. You'll need to get to and from work, I reckon?"

"Yes I do, ma'am."

"Then consider this a warning. Next time, let us test our drones' speeder-catching capabilities, okay?"

---

Should I be ashamed to say I put a not insignificant amount of effort into trying to explain how and justify why people in the 32nd century continue to drive combustion-powered vehicles, despite there being much better forms of vehicular transport? Because honestly, if it wasn't for me trying to insert fast 20th and 21st century cars 1000+ years into the future, half my lore wouldn't have made it on paper.

Autobahns are much like American interstate highways in function but with the German autobahn mindset. In short, it's a very high-speed freeway that requires a lot of driver attention and input to navigate, assuming of course that a vehicle is set up to achieve the minimum requirements for it - things such as hard-light aero-shields, special wheels and tires, and enough power to sustain speeds that Hot Wheels cars dream of hitting. Road cars in the far future have many centuries of engineering and development at their disposal, to the point where much of the tech is 'deprecated', which is a fancy legal way of saying it's inherently an open patent. Not every planet has an autobahn infrastructure, but those that do tend to keep a close eye on it. Sapphyria, Ozark's home planet, is one of the few in the Terrasian sector of the Terran Empire that has one.

As much as many would want it to be, the ability to drive is a privilege, and one that isn't actually bought. At the federal level, fines for traffic violations are prohibited (except for the nations of Earth under homeworld preservation laws), so the most a police department can do, short of responding to actual criminal activity, is impose a driving restriction on the driver. This can range from limited opportunities such as driving to specific destinations along specific routes, to a suspension of driving ability for a period, to impounding of the violating vehicle. Since cops can't be everywhere at once, many use drones (often called 'nannies') equipped with basic sapience algorithms to detect and 'detain' vehicles in violation by sending an override message to the legally required onboard auto-driving system. Then a cop is dispatched to confront the driver, discuss what they did wrong, and what the consequences are depending on the reasons for the stop and the driver's record. Most of the time, it's a two-minute transaction; there's very little in the form of traffic law to contest; and won't affect insurance rates (assuming the encounter was non-criminal, of course).

All of that being said, Ozark definitely would've had his fair share of run-ins with 'nannies' and the responding officers. Natalie, a Sapphyrian planetary officer, would very likely have many run-ins go down pretty much like this.

Also, normally Sapphyrian police tend to be armed, but let's pretend she knew going in that Ozark wasn't going to pose a threat. ;)

Art by  Toughset <-- Go watch this guy! :D

Ozark Dhrystone, one-star road warrior, and Natalie Dallas, the prettiest cop on the planet, belong to me! :D