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From: graham@orca.UUCP (Graham Bromley)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: left lane hogging
Message-ID: <1267@orca.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 23-Dec-84 13:26:37 EST
Article-I.D.: orca.1267
Posted: Sun Dec 23 13:26:37 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Dec-84 02:43:41 EST
References: <1401@druxv.UUCP> <568@voder.UUCP>, <768@oliven.UUCP> <283@wjvax.UUCP> <796@amdahl.UUCP>
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR
Lines: 20

> Driving is a cooperative effort, not a confrontational arena...

Well yes it certainly should be, but the fact is that on U.S.
freeways it is a confrontational arena whether you like it or not.
I don't think there's any point making comparisons with European
driving habits. I have heard of numerous instances of drivers
shooting each other to death (literally) over minor traffic
disputes during my six years in the U.S. That kind of thing 
is quite incomprehensible to a European. You'd have to try pretty
hard to get a punch on the nose in Europe (in the U.K. at least). 
My approach is to always assume the worst about the other driver and 
let him/her have his/her own way at all times. There are a lot of
impatient, rude, aggressive, impulsive people around and those kinds 
of people like to vent their frustrations on other drivers. 
Perhaps it's the only chance they get.  Remember too that carrying 
a gun in the glove compartment is not particularly rare in the U.S. 
I knew a guy in Hawaii who was run off the freeway, chased for
miles by a rabid lunatic with a gun, and attacked at a stop light by 
a guy with a machete, all in the course of traffic disputes. 
Aaaaaaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhh!!!!