Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/07/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Road rage often results from efforts to avoid ditzy drivers. We have a cultural dynamic afloat in the US that "slow is safe" and "cautious is good": we never seem to ticket the moron who stops in an acceleration lane to avoid the truck a quarter-mile off driving 25 mph, which stopped driver causes a multiple series of wrecks, though we will become enraged over a person driving 26 mph through a 25 mph residential zone. Fast, aggressive drivers can be extremely safe drivers. The problem is just that the police seem to feel more pleasure in nailing marginal speeders and the like than in pulling folks over for the really dangerous stuff, like not using turn signals when changing lanes or cruising in the passing lane on an Interstate (that's "motorway" to our British members and "four-lane dirt road" to our Canadian brethren and sistren), even though such negligence causes far more accidents than mere speed. The American Interstate system was designed to accomodate 70 mph travel with 1956 sedans. Go find someone who has, say, an old Edsel or Chevy and take it out for a spin. See how vastly better your current vehicle handles than those old crates. By the rational logic of engineering, these same construction standards should allow us to be flowing along at 90 mph or 100 mph today. But, with an aging population, what can we do? My local politicos all have told me that they are deluged whenever a speed-limit issue comes up by buckets of mail and phone calls and even e-mail from all the local retirement communities ... Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!