ajs@hpfcla.UUCP (01/04/84)
#R:dsd:-22600:hpfcla:14900002:000:1238
hpfcla!ajs Jan 2 18:20:00 1984
== Turn on heavy imitative sarcasm...
Thanks (Mr. Decker) for your story about you fighting all of your
traffic tickets, and your statements like "The cops... would have to
give tickets only when a serious crime is being committed."
Over the years I've tried to drive in such a manner as to avoid getting
tickets. I find that I never get any.
I just naturally drive as safely as I can, and don't have to be "just as
careful" as anyone else. I think that who ever writes articles like
yours should be given a bright orange warning license plate.
== Turn on common sense...
Honestly, do you really think driving a sporty car makes you safer?
That the right way to avoid traffic ticket blues is to learn how to
fight them in court? That your attitude fosters better driving habits
and that, uniformly applied, it would lead to fewer deaths on the
highway?
Sorry if you are offended by this. I'm offended by people who
deliberately drive poorly (like tailgators, may their headlights
implode), and have to fight it any way I can.
Alan Silverstein, Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Systems Division, Colorado
{ihnp4 | hplabs}!hpfcla!ajs, 303-226-3800 x3053, N 40 31'31" W 105 00'43"mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (01/06/84)
Fast driving isn't necessarily bad driving. A fast bad driver won't
last long. Tailgating IS bad driving, but I doubt that fast drivers
in expensive cars will very often risk it. If you want to see GOOD
driving, get off the North American highways, and drive the German
Autobahns for a while. The speed may be twice as fast (literally)
as on our highways, but it feels MUCH safer. Not many oafs clog the
left or middle lane of an autobahn; it is usually such people who
complain about tailgaters, because they are the ones who generate
the frustration that leads to tailgating.
--
Martin Taylor
{allegra,linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmtperelgut@utcsrgv.UUCP (Stephen Perelgut) (01/06/84)
+-
Martin Taylor thinks that fast driving is GOOD and the German autobahn is
an example.
The only time I have seen the autobahn is on TV and in newspapers when there
has been a 130 car pileup. Even the worst stretches of the US. highways don't
get more than 30% of that! The 130 car pileups seem to
occur every couple of years too!
--
Stephen Perelgut Computer Systems Research Group University of Toronto
Usenet: {linus, ihnp4, allegra, decvax, floyd}!utcsrgv!perelgutmmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (01/07/84)
Martin Taylor thinks that fast driving is GOOD and the German autobahn is
an example.
The only time I have seen the autobahn is on TV and in newspapers when there
has been a 130 car pileup. Even the worst stretches of the US. highways don't
get more than 30% of that! The 130 car pileups seem to
occur every couple of years too!
=================
If I said fast driving was GOOD, I misspoke. I intended to say that
it was not in itself BAD. There's a world of difference. My point is
that good lane discipline makes fast driving safer. As for 130-car
pileups, they occur on highways wherever there are erratic fogs,
regardless of speed limits. Didn't I hear about a 250-car pileup
in England only a few weeks ago? The problem is that you don't see
the fog bank coming (I know. I've had it happen more than once) and
when you suddenly get into it you have to choose whether to slow
or not. If you do, the fool behind you hits you, but if you don't,
you hit the fool in front of you. Either way, you are all fools,
and have to await the wrecking trucks (no, that hasn't happened to me).
I seem to have heard of 50-car pileups of the same kind in whiteouts
on the 400.
For my own safety, I drive about the same speed on the autobahn as
here, but I feel MUCH safer there. The reference to double speed
was intended to deal with cars whose speed I measured as they
passed me.
--
Martin Taylor
{allegra,linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt