Dip...err, Dim Your Lights, Please!

Dip...err, Dim Your Lights, Please!

Subject: Re: Driving in Great Britain Date: 22 Feb 1998 00:00:00 GMT From: "Joe Garfoot" Organization: University of Bradford Newsgroups: rec.travel.europe References: 1 , 2 , 3 >At night, British drivers seldom dip their lights for approaching traffic. The glare >can get very bad at times. I learned to drive here in the UK about 2 years ago and I believed the same thing for quite a while. Until an approaching car didn't dip their lights and I realised that most other drivers lights' *were* dipped but still very bright. Maybe European headlights are brighter than in the US ? Driving seems to be more aggressive and dangerous in the cities. Personally I try and avoid driving into a city unless it is really necessary. j0e

My Comments

I believe the writer in this case, was trying to send a message across about Europeans' failure to "dip" their bright lights at night. Prior to reading this, I never heard the term "dip" used in this fashion; I tried to look it up in the dictionary, but the meaning that I got didn't really match up. I suppose it is a term used by Europeans? I just took it as meaning something like the term "dim" here in the U.S. This writer also states that dangerous, aggressive driving is higher in the cities. I wonder what city and if this applies to every city? Perhaps this person is making an over-generalization. And, if this is true, why does this type of aggressive driving appear more in cities? What could be the motivation behind this?
I cannot really comment on whether or not I agree with the writer here because I have never been to Europe to experience the driving there. I can, however, comment on whether or not I agree with the writer's statement of cities containing more aggressive driving. Well, for one thing, I agree with this because it is not unusual to see bad driving behaviors portrayed within cities. I rarely travel to the country side, but when I do, I notice that because there are less vehicles traveling about, I would assume that aggressive driving would also be less. Also, I believe that the majority of jobs and workplaces are contained within cities. Furthermore, many drivers are commuting to work daily, which causes traffic, which in turn may bring about aggressive driving.


Back to the Table of Contents

Mining the Generational Curriculum || My Home Page || My Report 1 on: The Psychology of Online Virtual Relationships || My Report 2 on: Safety Activism on the Information Highway || My Report on the Psychology of Newsgroups || My Bookmarks File || My Icons File || Our G8 Class Home Page || Our G8 Index of All Reports || Dr. Leon James Home Page

E-mail me