The Vigilantes of Interstate 94

On the 40-mile stretch of highway between Ann Arbor and Detroit, even housewives in curlers pretend they are Mario Andretti. But one morning last week drivers revving up for the dash to Detroit found all lanes blocked by a trio of cars traveling abreast at 55 m.p.h., the legal speed limit. Behind the wheels were Stephen W. Long, Elizabeth Ann Lipski and Bruce Nielson, three friends who had taken it upon themselves to enforce the law. Their cars were decorated with signs reading GAS SHORTAGE and STAY ALIVE AT 55.

The vigilantes of Interstate 94 almost produced the opposite effect. As traffic backed up, drivers risked life and fender to pass the righteous threesome, climbing embankments and zooming along the shoulders. Once in front of their tormentors, some irate motorists immediately slowed to about 15 m.p.h. out of spite. "One semitrailer slammed on his brakes so fast he blew out a tire. I was lucky I didn't crash into him," recalled Lipski. "People got violent. We didn't expect them to try to kill us, but they did." When the procession reached Detroit it stretched half a mile or more and numbered some 600 cars. There was nothing illegal about what had happened. En route back to Ann Arbor, however, Lipski and Long were arrested for going too slowly in a 45 m.p.h. minimum speed zone. The charge: reckless driving.

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