donn@sdchema.UUCP (03/19/84)
I get letters... Subject: Re: Flashing high beams References: <822@hou5d.UUCP>, <1050@sdchema.UUCP> I find the practice of flashing high beams for passing to be quite offensive, and even sometimes dangerous. It can be almost blinding at times, not to mention slightly un-nerving if not anticipated. I will usually move IF CONVENIENT. I resent the impatient attitude that is usually behind such a flashing. Some such "jerks" are bound to cause accidents! It's hard to tell what the sender had in mind from a letter like this, but just to make it perfectly clear, my earlier submission which claimed that one flashes one's high beams to warn ONCOMING traffic when passing was in jest. I imagine that there are people who think this way but I am not one of them. In fact I am a regular wimp on the highway. When several cars queue up behind me on a two-lane road, I try to find a spot on the shoulder to pull over and let them pass. Recently I was toiling up the San Marcos Pass in third gear in my overloaded VW Beetle, and pulled over so that the cars behind me wouldn't have to chance the heavy oncoming traffic while passing me going uphill. It sure is nice to see people wave all five fingers at you instead of just the middle one... Donn Seeley UCSD Chemistry Dept. ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdchema!donn
mam@charm.UUCP (Matthew Marcus) (03/19/84)
<I want your blocks!!>
The basic problem with the whole discussion of flashing beams is that
you can only transmit 1 bit of information per flash. All the "codes"
proposed on the net are "instant" in the sense that they do not take into
account a pattern of flashes, as Morse does. This is for the good reason
that it would take too long to send a code group, and besides, how would
everyone learn the code. What it all boils down to is that a flashing
light is an interrupt -- it says that the sender wants to tell you something.
It is up to the reciever to figure out, using context, what that something
is. That being the case, the whole discussion of the many subtle shades
of meaning truckers are supposed to be able to put into their flashing
( :-) ) is sorta pointless.
{BTL}!charm!mam