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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!rlgvax!guy
From: guy@rlgvax.UUCP (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: 55mph & common courtesy
Message-ID: <949@rlgvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 3-Aug-83 18:47:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: rlgvax.949
Posted: Wed Aug  3 18:47:00 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 4-Aug-83 23:57:46 EDT
References: <534@grkermit.UUCP>
Organization: CCI Office Systems Group, Reston, VA
Lines: 66


	look Guy, I don't think any of us (pro 55+) were talking about the guy
	in the 928 doing 50 on a winding mountain road. And as someone said, if
	you ARE sunday driving on a scenic road and there are 1+ cars behind
	you, why NOT pull over for a second and let them by? It'll make everyone
	involved less uptight.

1) If you are assuming I am anti 55+, you didn't read my reply.
2) The impression I got from the original article was that the aforementioned
guy in the 928 was not excluded from this form of "courtesy".
3) Having to pull over to the shoulder because some idiot wants to zip by me
on a one lane road makes ME VERY uptight.  It is very impolite, and frankly,
I'd rather people like that stayed off the road.  They make life unpleasant
for everyone else.

	There is no place for head games while driving.  I think I can safely
	say that the majority of us drivers who resort to getting close to the
	{G,g}uy in front of them as a hint to please pull over to the right have
	at that point gone through the normal hints - (getting moderately close,
	quick flick of the headlights...) only to be ignored or somehow not
	seen.

That's right, there is no place for head games while driving.  So would all you
impolite idiots please refrain from harassing drivers who 1) have NO CHOICE
but to be in the lane they're in and 2) have no interest in going as fast as
you?  The times I've seen tailgaters they almost ALWAYS just pull up and don't
flash their lights.  And I damn well resent your "cute" little "{G,g}uy"
statement.  You are making the assumption that anyone who doesn't share your
attitude (which, as I pointed out in my last article, amounts to "if someone
wants to cut ahead of you in line, for whatever reason, it's only common
courtesy to let them") makes a career out of obstructing traffic.  I don't
hang around in a left-more lane if I don't have to.  However, I also don't
pull aside just so the guy behind me can pull the same stunt on the next guy,
and the next, and the next, ad infinitum.  I see NO point in letting somebody
go by if, due to road conditions, prevailing traffic just isn't moving as fast
as they are.

	The original {point,flame} remains:

	keep an eye on your rear-view mirror. If you are impeding
	someone wanting to get by and it is not unreasonable to
	pull right, *please* do!

I agree.  However, it IS unreasonable to pull right if the only place to pull
is the shoulder of the road.  It IS unreasonable to pull right if the traffic
to the right of you is moving 10MPH below the speed limit.  It IS unreasonable
to pull right if the right-hand lane is an exit-only lane and you don't want
to exit.  It IS unreasonable to pull right if the left-hand lane is an exit
or turn lane and you want to make that exit or turn.

Frankly, if I had to choose between the bozos who drive 45 in the left-hand
lane of a 55MPH road, and the bozos who drive 75 on a road where prevailing
traffic is moving 65 (or the bozos who think you should pull over to the
SHOULDER to let someone not in an emergency situation go by), I'd reluctantly
choose the former.  Neither of them is showing anything vaguely resembling
courtesy, but the former are less arrogant, and contribute less to unsafe
conditions, than the latter.

In short, you show a complete lack of courtesy to anyone else on the road if
you believe that people should always move aside for YOUR convenience despite
the inconvenience to THEM.  And, as such, I don't see why someone who shows
this lack of courtesy deserves the "courtesy" of having everyone pull aside
for them.

	Guy Harris
	{seismo,mcnc,we13,brl-bmd,allegra}!rlgvax!guy