I like your suggestion, but would like to add a bit. In Germany, it costs
thousands of dollars (exchanged from Mark to $$, you get the point) to get a
license. You actually have to pass a test that is challenging, most fail 3
times. I was amazed at how easy it was for me, when I was 16. Frankly, when I
was 16, I shouldn't have been on the road. The only thing that kept me safe was
the fact that I was driving a '68 4 door Ambassador with a 232 straight 6, 1
barrel carb. That thing was slow! I wasn't. If we would make it harder to get
a license, and our roads were safer (the autobahn is banked, and made of material
that gives it almost as much traction wet as it does dry) then recommended speed
limits would work. What we need is an entire re-thinking of how we as a nation
feel about cars, and we must learn the difference between right and privelage.
How we treat agressive or dangerous drivers is MUCH too lienient. I would prefer
higher speed limits, with huge fines for going just a few over. The way it is
now is too ambigious. Can I go 10 over, 15 over, or will I get pulled for going
21 in a 20? And then there's the B.S. about DWI. I think they should be shot,
the gov't lets them off, so I figure we can find a happy medium: taking their
car/license/ then shooting them.
Sorry about rambling. Relevance===> My dak is getting fixed on Mon, I'm going to
miss it.
Later,
Robert
Jon Steiger wrote:
> At 10:10 AM 5/2/98 -0400, you wrote:
> >To all concerned about radar detectors:
> >
> [...]
>
> Good post, Gene. I agree 100% (and so does my Valentine One) :-)
>
> I think that someone who has a detector has shown that they want
> to be more in touch with what is happening around them. I forget what
> the technology is called, but some detectors can detect emergency
> vehicles and such. PA puts radar guns in their construction warning
> signs (to slow people down, I guess). Similar to the idea conveyed
> by studies that have shown that people who habitually drive faster
> than the speed limit are generally better drivers than the average
> person.
>
> I think the case could probably be made that the artificially low
> speed limits are actually creating a danger to motorists. People
> driving safely at perfectly acceptable speeds (according to the laws
> of physics) can easily be over the politically defined speed limits,
> and a portion of their attention must be used to watch out for
> the police who are enforcing the artificially low speed limits.
> That attention would would be more beneficial if it could be
> directed to the act of driving. Like a mouse who misses a berry
> while running through a field because it was watching for hawks
> flying above...
>
> People may say I'm crazy, but I think that a solid driver
> education program (not like the joke that is in place now; rather than
> sitting around and watching movies, you get sent to something like the
> Skip Barber driving school) and higher speed limits would do wonders
> both for safety and general driver attitude.
> I favor "recommended" speed limits. All speed limit signs would
> be yellow; (you know, like the signs at curves. You can legally go
> through the curve faster than that, but if you cause an accident
> while doing so, you'll get into more trouble than if you caused
> an accident while driving at or under that recommended speed.) The
> recommended speed limits on these signs would be determined by
> engineers, not politicians. They would convey actual information
> that the driver can use to drive safely, rather than being an
> artificial speed to allow the local governents to line their
> pockets with the money of motorists. Of course, anyone would be
> free to go as fast as they like (just like anyone is free now to go
> faster than the recommended speed in a curve), but you will only
> get stopped if you are creating a hazard to others. (You can
> create as much hazard to yourself as you want.)
>
> Alas, this will probably never happen, but its a nice dream. :-)
>
> -Jon-
>
> .--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu -- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---.
> | DoD# 1038, EAA# 518210, NMA# 117376, USUA# A46209, KotWitDoDFAQ, RP-SEL |
> | '96 Dodge Dakota v8 SLT Club Cab, '96 Kolb FireFly 447 (#FF019) |
> `-------------------------------------------------------------------------'
> I do not speak for the SUNY College at Fredonia; any opinions are my own.
-- Mailto:rotrottmann@davidson.edu http://thelma.davidson.edu/rotrottmann/web/default.htm Davidson, NC- Now St. Louis, MO- May 19th 95 Sport 318 Auto 2WD
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