Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site orca.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!tektronix!orca!graham 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!!!!