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Re: The REAL REASON PEOPLE SPEED!




In article <1995Aug3.230739.5911@cmkrnl> Jamie Hanrahan, Kernel Mode Systems wrote:
>Kenny Morse wrote:
>
>> : EXACTLY!  Forget the NMA study.  THIS has more to
>> : do with how speed limits should be set than anything
>> : else.  Get people to respect EACH OTHER, then
>> : they might respect speed laws arrived at fairly.
>
>The paper you quoted has a lot to do with why people are discurteous 
>to each other while driving.  I don't see what this has to do with 
>speeding.  I'm not being "disrespectful" of other drivers by wanting 
>to drive at a reasonable speed for the road (as do they). 
>
>	--- Jamie Hanrahan, Kernel Mode Systems, San Diego CA
>Internet: jeh@cmkrnl.com (JH645)  CompuServe: 74140,2055  
>

Jaime...we keep missing each other on the info superhighway....

The discourteousness of drivers causes them to do the "Me first....
screw you" attitude, which can manifest itself in dangerous ways, 
and THEN speed becomes the factor (Speed in an of itself is only
basically dangerous if you hit something...or get a blow out).

Tonight, I was driving with my best friend.  He was going doen the street
as someone pulled out of a strip mall into the street.  My friend HAD the
fight of way, but this guy was hell bent on cutting in front. My friend said
"Oh no ya dont" and almost allowed this guy to hit him.  Attutudes of
drivers is what I have been talking about all along, while you quote
me stats on whether people will speed up or not if a sign is changed.
I tell you that the current state of drivers attitudes WILL contribute
to more illegal speeding, the higher the speed limits, and you showed me 
the study.

As I told another poster, I do NOT care what anyone says.....I have
seen it for mysef and heard it for myself (and....asked the questions
I was asked to ask in class).  People WILL speed no matter
what the speed limit (as the study suggested), but the reasons
are what I address.  The lack of respect for the system is NOT
rooted in the disrespect for the 55.....its rooted in people's attitudes
towards each other....especially when they are behind the wheel and
MORPH into something other than what they do the rest of the time.

You might be interested to hear that a very pretty female student I
had in class about a year ago told me...and the class, that when she
goes out on a date with a guy....she's putting on her best face....the
guy is putting on his...each wanted each other to like each other.
She said that she decides FINALLY if there will be a date #2, when
she sees  HOW HE DRIVES.  If he is a weaver, a speeder, a finger
waver, then THAT is who he really is, and she might as well find that
out now and make a decision.  Something, eh?

I KNOW 55 is currently unfair. I wish that a group OTHER than the
NMA would band together and get some WAY saner traffic laws
on the books. The NMA does NOT do a good job, sadly, but they
are one of the only ones out there.  The AAA is a much more effective
lobbying organization, but remember, they have their insurance company
at stake too, so their vested interests can be at odds with motorists.

What do we motorists want? To be safe should be the #1 consideration.
#2 is to feel that we can traverse our taxpayer paid roads unencumbered.
And #3, to have laws that make sense for the times in which we live, and
enforced fairly, and NOT selectively.  In California, there are 20 MILLION
licensed drivers...a HUGELY powerful lobby if we would only get it 
together.  But we don't.  We don't even go vote.  THAT makes me
angry and sad.

This anti cop/government stance is a self-defeating attitude.  We disrespect
the police for doing the job we pay them to do....see people breaking the
law, and cite them to deter them.  THEY didn't make the laws!! We get
pissed off at THEM when we get CAUGHT!  Then we expect THEM
to come running when we dial 9-1-1????  Sorry. Doesn't work like that.
They're human beings too, and when they feel that the public doesn't 
support them because they're pissed off at getting caught....it's disheartening.

I reject this argument that many people have been posting, that the disrespect
for the SPEED LAWS is the foundation of lawbreaking on the road.  It is
a factor.....it's not the main one. There is NO entrapment here
to breaking the law.  Its done quite willingly.  Its unnecessary if people
will plan their time better.  Not gonna happen. 

I hope there will be a saner speeding law coming down the pike, so as to
at least put THIS canard to rest.

Kenny Morse
"Mr. Traffic"




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