Attitudes Driving Newsgroups:
The Different Perspectives of the Many Drivers of this World
Rushing into Danger
Re: Observing
Traffic Laws (was Experiencing Road Rage)
Date Mon, 22 Dec 1997 00:14:09 -0800
So here was
someone who was waiting at a stop light waiting to turn right. I was coming
from her right and could see the car but could not see inside. Apparently, she
had her attention to her left to see whether there were any oncoming cars.
Without waiting to see whether there were any pedestrians on the right, she
made a right turn. I screamed and that probably made her stop.
On a run a few weeks ago, I was nearly hit in this same way, not once, but
twice within a few minutes. It finally clicked how stupid it was to zip out in
front of a car coming in from the left. It's not a question of right of way,
but of natural driving habits. PLEASE be aware of this!! I'll never do it
again, with one exception: sometimes there's a line of traffic opposing you, so
you know they won't pull out. Often, one can run behind such a car, but then
make sure no other car is coming from the right beyond it! [ Curt McDowell
]
Comments
I can surely understand what these people experience. There are numerous times when this happens to me. However, if I am ever caught in a situation such as this when I want to cross the street but there is a driver wanting to make a right turn and doesn't see me, I just stay there and wait until I make eye contact with the driver before I cross. Many times though, I am unsuccessful at making eye contact and therefore miss my light. However, when the tables are turned and I am the driver, I often forget about pedestrians as well, and feel that I have the right of way no matter the situation. Only when I come really close to banging someone in this exact situation, I become a cautious driver. However, this cautiousness doesn't last very long. I feel that drivers are like that, and unaware of the dangers they pose when they are in a rush or even just because they are in a covered moving vehicle.
The Ride of Your Life
Re: Road Rage
From "Cybernaut"
Date 7 Jan 1998 17:20:15 GMT
ÊSadly, I saw my very first dangerous encounter between a cyclist and motorist. I don't know who was at fault but it started when the car and cyclist both turned left through a four-way stop; the cyclist I assume was on the right. I'm not even certain he stopped for the stop sign, he may have just whipped through. Anyway, my attention turned to it when I heard the car's horn honk. In my rear view I saw both finishing the turn and straightening out.
The driver
was honking and gesturing at the cyclist who was gesturing back. Then the car
began swerving into the bike, not hitting him but coming close, causing the
cyclist to almost hit the curb. This continued down the road a bit. I stopped
after my turn to see if I could get the car's plate number but they went by too
quickly. I didn't see the cyclist go by but did check to be sure he wasn't
lying in the road. He probably turned off earlier.
Anyway, it was scary to watch. [ TB]
p.s. as an aside I will say this:
as a cyclist I frequently encounter cyclists while I'm driving that are totally
arrogant and putting themselves into dangerous situations. These are usually
the lycroids with $3000 bikes and immature attitudes. Once I even saw one
approach a red light, look both ways and go through only to have missed seeing
an approaching car and
was right in it's path. The car saw him and slammed on the brakes, pulling to
the right to avoid hitting the cyclist. The cyclist, much to my shock, began
yelling and fingering the driver who was equally shocked. Pissed me off to say
the least.
On my trans-am for '98, I plan to have a camera with me, convienient for
instant shots. Anyone who I feel deliberately tries to run me off the road or
hassles me while I'm riding, discretely gets his picture taken, with licience
plate!!!
I hope some of the links below may be useful to fellow newsgroup readers. After
a couple of recent horn blowing engine revving incidents involving firstly an 8
tonne truck and a few days latter a medium sized 4WD both aimed more or less at
me and my bike, clearly (to me and a witness) trying to force me off the road,
I have tried to find a handbook of road/bike rules for my locality without much
success. (see below if you want to read
some of the details)
Comments
How often do things like this happen and we take the lives of others for granted. So many times when I am driving, I encounter stupid bicyclists who think that they own the road. They also think that they are quick on their two-wheeler as well, however, how fast can one on a bicycle actually go?? Not very, well not as fast as a car. There have been incidents when I almost hit bicyclist, only because they like to ride your tail, and then when you decide to turn, they are right there and you almost hit them. I've also seen incidences such as the one described above, and really I think that it's kind of stupid on both parts. The bicyclist for being an unsafe idiotic rider, and for the driver of the car because he's the one in the car and if he bangs the bicyclist on purpose, who would get hurt? The bicyclist of course. I think if bicyclists want to ride recklessly and risk their lives, well that's their problem, but drivers shouldn't in any way provoke an accident.
Trigger Happy Citizens
Re: Road
Rage? Uh, well, maybe.
Date 8 Jan 1998 00:52:59 GMT
Ê
A very similar assault occured in the state of Texas last year after that state
passed its concealed carry of weapons permit, allowing its citizens the means
to defend themselves.
Ê
The biggest difference was that the agressor was hitting the victim in the
face, repeatedly, and very violently.
The victim shot the agressor dead.
Ê
The grand jury said, "Fine with us."
Not long after that a Texas man shot several kids stealing the hubcaps from his
parked car. The grand jury said "fine with us" in that case too. They
have different attitudes about deadly force down there.
Ê
Comments
Wow! Talk about taking lives and thinking lightly of it. I disagree with this incident and feel that no one is allowed to take a life if their lives aren't at risk. In other words, if the kids were armed and dangerous and were threatening this man's life, then by all means, take the law into your own hands. However, this was an incident over hubcaps of a car. Not really worth the lives of several children. Giving citizens the means to defend themselves is a good thing, but some discretion needs to be taken because people will get trigger happy and soon everyone will be killing each other for any reason.
Simply Said
Subject:
solution to road rage
Date Thu, 29 Jan 1998 11:29:43 -0500
Ê
SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT! ...enough said.
Comments
I couldn't agree with him more!! How many times while driving in the left lane do you end up behind someone going 10 mph under the limit? This happens much too often for me, and it causes me to get upset. Often times if you observe, it is these cars that cause the traffic and aggression on the roads. People get mad at the slow driver in the fast lane and then tries to over take them, and sometimes even showing them the birdie. This sometimes causes accidents because the angry drivers tend to do things and not think about their actions until it's too late.
Legislative Intervention for Bad Drivers
Re: solution
to road rage? No.
Date Thu, 29 Jan 1998 11:45:23 -0800
ÊSLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT!Ê ...enough said.Ê [Jimmy Joseph]
We suspect your driving habits and attitude are part of the problem, not the
solution. We propose a much better solution: legislation designed to permantly
revoke driver licences for anyone twice convicted of speeding, tailgating,
improper lane change, or reckless driving within a 10-yr period. First time DUI
offenders should be permanantly denied a licence to drive as well. We're
pushing for such legislative intervention here in California, as well as bills
designed to divert money into better driver's education at the high school
level. Progressive licencing is also in the works here, which should better
encourage safe driving practices among young people. We urge everyone reading
this to support such legislation in order to stem the rising tide of very poor
driving behavior in our country. ö
[JD & Mona ]
Comments
Is something like this really effective?? My opinion is that the drivers who get their licenses taken away will still continue to drive, and recklessly too. I don't think some people really care about a license. They will still get behind the wheel. I know this for a fact because some of my friends are like this. They have had their licenses revoked, but they still continue to drive and they continue to be a hazard on the roads.
Aggressions Flaring
Re: Road Rage
(Was: OAPs and Driving)
Date Thu, 05 Feb 1998 05:41:50 +0000
Ê
Distribution: UK Whether or not it is inflammable, and hence capable of
*chemical* combustion. depends on its concentration within the mixture. Yeah,
and if I put alcohol in a sealed jar with ONLY alcohol inside the jar, it can't
burn.
There would be no source of ignition too. Not necessarily true. Get a lens to
focus the sun's rays to a point and
you have ignition temperature inside the sealed jar. What would the point be
focussed on? More to the point, how could it ignite in the absence of an
oxidising agent such as oxygen? This has already been highlighted by Simon.
What do you hope to gain by merely being imitative. Yet more evidence of Duhgs
cluelessness about matters chemical. Oxidation in the absence of an oxidising
agent! What next?? What is next is me pointing out your complete stupidity in
not addressing the point about an ignition source. Seriously, don't you think
it is about time you got your act together in this thread? How you manage to
hold down the position you claim to have is a complete mystery to me.
[ Doug, London, England, UK, EU? UK Radical Campaigns Jump Page -
Comments
This is just about two people who are flaring up at one another about who knows what. I just thought that it was kind of funny and weird that people who really don't know each other can be so rude to one another. I think this is an example of how people on the roads who don't know each other, but yet they can be so mean to one another by giving each other the finger and swearing at each other. What is our society coming to?? Why is it so hard to get along with people, especially if we don't know them that well or at all for that matter. What has happened to the courtesty???
The Issue of Receiving Welfare
Re: Road Rage
(Was: OAPs and Driving)
Date 4 Feb 98 14:31:23 GMT
You don't need to work to live in a welfare state.
Whaaaaat? Cough! Choke! What?
ha ha ha ha ha hahahah ha ha hahahaah ha ha ha hehehe he he heh
hooohoooohohaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaÊÊÊ aaaaa
hooooo hooooo oh oh oh oh hsahahaha hahahahaahah hahaha hahah hahaha ha ha
hahahaha ha ha ahahaha ha ha ha ha ha hah ahahaha ha ha hahaha ha hahaha hahah
ha hahaha haha
Ok, get this, Doug: The only laws which make sense are those which apply
equally to everyone. So, if everyone in a welfare state stopped working, we
would all carry on living happy and contented lives??????
hahahaha ha ha ha hahahahah ah hahaha ha ha hahaha ha ha ha ha
hahahahhahhahhahhahhahhahah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah
hahaahahahhahahahahahaah haha hhaha aaahaha ha a ha hahah aahah
Comments
Again some disgrunteled
newsgroup writers. I think the respondent has a valid point though. People on
welfare tend to think that they have to be one welfare and that it is something
that the state owes them. I don't mean to offend anyone, however, I find that
people with this state of mind really irritates me. No one owes anyone anything
unless you borrowed something. There are jobs readily available all over the
place. Sure a person on welfare would not live comfortably getting a minimum
wage job, but what can they expect. . .to make $50,000 a year starting pay
right off the bat? I don't think so. Everyone has to start off somewhere, and
if they don't start and decide to ride it on the easy road all their lives,
well they are just cheating the system and themselves from ever becoming
anything important in life.
Living on welfare is okay for those that lost their jobs or homes and have to try to rebuild their lives and who actually make an honest attempt at rebuilding it. But those that don't do anything but sit at home and make more babies to get more money and who think that working at home as a baby factory worker need to get a wake up call. It isn't right and it should be stopped. The laws should give welfare recipients money for only several years and if they don't get jobs by the end of the year then it should just be their problem to find one and the government should stop giving them money. I feel really strongly about this issue and found this topic to be good.
A Detriment to Society
Re: Road Rage
(Was: OAPs and Driving)
Date 4 Feb 98 14:44:56 +0000
Motorways are
the safest kind of roads (although accidents in them are more severe because of
the high speeds). Erm, no; accidents on rural roads are more severe than those
on Motorways, and as well as being much more common. Hang on, what are we
talking about here? Does "severe" mean a 20-car pile-up or does it
mean serious injury?
Are we comparing lots of little accidents with few large ones? I was meaning a
greater porportion of accidents resulting in serious injuries or deaths. We are
comparing a few small ones (6,400 with any injuries on motorways) with a lot of
large accidents (12,000 with serious injuries on rural roads). The average
'cost' of an accident does not vary much amongst various road types -
[ Average costs (Thousand pounds): Urban Rural Mway All Fatal 935 1,025 991
984. Serious 111 131 139 118. Slight 11 13 15 11. All 33 69 50 42 ]
Comments
Accidents big or small nonetheless are important and serious. The numbers of accidents on the road are tremendous. This says something about the way people drive and about their attitudes towards driving. Are we safe drivers or are we just always in a rush to get from point A to point B any way we can? I know that when I am in a rush to get places I drive like a freak and I am a safety hazard on the roads. I can't be the only one like this and I'm sure I'm not either. I don't know what can be done to make people become safer drivers. Does someone close to us need to be killed or injured on the road for us to take a step back and think about our recklessness and how we are a detriment to others. This shouldn't be the way of the world, but sadly it is.
Re:
Road Rage (Was: OAPs and Driving)
Date 03 Feb 1998 13:08:57 +0000
Exactly, depending on where it hits. Also, the more bullets there are at one
time the more likely they are to hit a given sensitive target.
Yes. None of this changes the harmfulness of each individual bullet.Ê ;Same is true for a molecule of a toxin.
ÊOf course, location is all important
and determines if the molecule isÊ toxic
or not. No Doug.
You're squirming again. Location doesn't determine if the bullet could do
damge, it determeines if it does. Toxicity is the potential to do damage. A
poison in a bottle is a toxin, you have to move it to have it actually do
harm,but it's toxicity doesn't change when you do that.
Comments
Okay,
I thought this one was kind of dumb. Why are they talking about bullets and
whether or not a bullet is harmful. Are these people crazy? Guns are never
safe. A shooting bullet from a gun whether it hits you in your arms or legs or
if it hits you in your vital areas are still deadly. To even have a
conversation about the safety of guns has to be the craziest thing ever. But
then again, we all don't think this way. In some places, people raise their
children around guns and even teach them at very young ages to shoot one. How
can people be so naive and unsafe about guns, especially around children.
Reckless Driving. . .Is It Worth the Consequences?
Re:
Observing Traffic Laws (was Experiencing Road Rage)
Date Mon, 22 Dec 1997 09:16:56 -0500
So
here was someone who was waitingÊ at a
stop light waiting to turn right. [...] Without waiting to see whether
Êthere were any pedestrians on the right,
she made a right turn.
I _always_ just run behind the right-turning car, assuming that the driver
doesn't see me (even if I see the whites of their eyes). They are naturally
looking to the left to see if there's traffic coming, so they are not going to
see you. Yes, the law is probably in your favor, but I'd rather spend time
running than phoning a lawyer from a hospital bed! The one time I forgot and
ran in front of the car a few months back, I nearly got hit.
Don't
blame it on "crazy drivers": the guy was clearly sorry. To be
realistic, drivers just aren't looking for you. They _should_ but they don't so
you have to run defensively. One problem I've thought about with the strategy
of running behind a right-turning car is that it decreases your visibility for
other cars, which might be turning/going straight into your path from other
directions. This is especially true when you are running behind an SUV or large
truck. In that case, I try to look at all the traffic which could even think
about running me over. Any thoughts on this? Maybe wear a ten-foot high hat?
Ê
Comments
Being a driver, I admit that looking for pedestrians is a mindless act.
I am not fully aware of pedestrians when I am driving. It is only when I almost
hit one do I realize that they are very much there. I know that this isn't safe
for myself or pedestrians, but I don't know what to do about it. It's something
that I must work on because if I ever hit a pedestrian, well, I could go to
jail if the person dies. That wouldn't be good. I could also get sued and be
working for the rest of my life to give my money to someone else for my
carelessness. It's something to think about for all of us who drive carelessly
and don't think much about pedestrians. This person has a good head on his
shoulders and thinks a lot about his safety and the safety of others.
Public Transportation
Re:
Road Rage (Was: OAPs and Driving)
Date Wed, 04 Feb 1998 06:39:22 +0000
As
to them being inherantly dangerous, life is inherantly dangerous Doug, if you
wish to spend yours wrapped in cotton-wool then that is up to you.
I am not talking about danger to oneself but to others. We nominally have a
right to life and liberty etc., but here we have the selfish owners of motor
vehicles depriving us of that right without proper justification. The
justification is we need to travel to work and we need to work to live.
You don't need to work to live in a welfare state.
Public Transport will never supply all the transport needs of our country Not
all perhaps, but most.
so the car will be with us for some time yet. Unfortunately but is this any
reason to defend it? Its motive power may change but there are no viable
alternatives for all the jobs a car can do. And there are no viable
alternatives to those who have been killed, injured and poisoned so that others
may prosper and enjoy their 'personal freedoms'.
[ Doug, London, England, UK, EU? UK Radical Campaigns Jump Page -
Comments
Public Transportation isn't always the best. I don't think that it poses
any solutions to the way we drive or the amount of cars on the road. It is just
a thing that everyone feels the need to have a car of their own whether or not
it is a necessity. Even people who aren't living comfortable own cars. They
work to pay for their cars, and having public transportation is just there for
emergencies. I myself live close to the University and right along the Bus
Route. However, I refuse to ride the Bus if I don't have to. If I can drive I
do. If I am late for school and don't have time to look for parking, well
that's when the Bus comes in handy. People think that having Mass Transit and
more public means of transportation will help our society, but I have to
disagree with them.
Accidents Don't Discriminate
Re:
Road Rage (Was: OAPs and Driving)
Date Wed, 04 Feb 1998 06:39:24 +0000
As
I said elsewhere, the careless opening of heavy car doors is a farÊ greater hazard than the odd shopping bag. It
is not without significance here that we have a cyclist at odds with a
pedestrian instead of with the much greater menace of car drivers. We have been
conditioned to think that car drivers have a god given right to be on the roads
but that pedestrians are second class citizens who are just a bloody nuisance
to everyone else
I have never considered car drivers to have a god given right and I don't
consider my self second class when I am a pedestrian. There are dangers
everywhere, you stand a good chance of getting mugged on a train, run over by a
bus or taxi or tripping over a broken pavement every time you travel.
It is one thing to die from a natural accident and quite another to die from
the deliberate, knowing actions of others.
Being a biker and a car driver I consider myself to be better trained, I had to
pass three tests after all.
So do some road ragers and drunk drivers. Does that make them any better?
[ Doug, London, England, UK, EU? UK Radical Campaigns Jump Page -
Ê
Comments
How true, how true. Anyone can get injured at anytime. Accidents don't
discriminate. It doesn't matter if you are the smartest person in this world or
the most talented driver, you are not exempt from being hit by a car or any
other type of accident. You have the same chance as any other person at being
involved in an accident. Innocent people get killed everyday by other people on
the roads. It is usually those that are at fault who don't die. This boggles my
mind. I can't for the life of me understand this. There are so many incidences
where innocent people who are driving safely become victims of drunk drivers or
reckless drivers. It isn't fair, but then again, life is never fair. It also
makes me think that if I am a reckless driver, would that make it harder for me
to get killed. I doubt it, but it does cross my mind.
My Opinions of my Classmates
By the looks of the Newsgroup reports of my
classmates, I have to say that we all did an excellent job. Everyone really had
good comments about the Newsgroups that they decided to write about. Again, it
was neat to see how the same project can turn out so differently with the
imaginations of everyone. Everyone seemed to have their own style and everyone
had their own opinions and stances on certain issues. I feel that for myself, I
did my best on this report and I know this because I learned a lot from doing
this report. It made me think about the issues of everyday life, and it was
good to read about the different thoughts of my fellow classmates.
My Suggestions for Future Generations
Again, remember the concept of procrastination and
how it is really bad. Putting a web page report together is somewhat different than
just writing a 4-5 page report. So put some thought and time into doing your
reports and make it the best that you can. This newsgroups report was good
because you learn how to search the web using USENET which is something
different than a regular seach of web pages. Also this report will help you to
see different perspectives of others in this world, and it will make you think
a lot about yourself and your ways of life. Utilize all resources and learn as
much as you can about the world wide web while you can. It is something that
could only benefit you in your life, and by taking this course, you already
took the first step into learning about the wave of the future.
