Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site terak.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!mcnc!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!hao!noao!terak!doug From: doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: Re: left lane hogging - hints from a sociopath Message-ID: <241@terak.UUCP> Date: Thu, 3-Jan-85 11:15:18 EST Article-I.D.: terak.241 Posted: Thu Jan 3 11:15:18 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 7-Jan-85 02:24:35 EST References: <1401@druxv.UUCP> <568@voder.UUCP> <768@oliven.UUCP> <2446@tekig.UUCP> Organization: Terak Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ, USA Lines: 34 > I am convinced that 90% of driving humanity is in a state of torpid > unawareness when driving, being preoccupied with sex, the radio, their job, > politics, or whatever chatter is going on in their mind. I'm not sure > many of them even fully realize they driving down the road in a car. My home state of Arizona does not require that slower traffic keep to the right, nor that a slow-moving vehicle on a two-lane road pull off when practical to let the cars behind go past. Add in a bunch of two-lane roads, the Phoenix area being the retirement capital of the West, and the huge number of construction vehicles (gravel trucks, road graders, you name it) needed in a booming area, and you have a mess. To make it more frustrating, the "normal" speed limit on city streets is about 35MPH, with 45 being common on the big boulevards. In this environment, I have come to the conclusion that most drivers just don't understand that THEY are part of TRAFFIC. To them, "traffic" is all of those other cars. Even the professional drivers, such as the gravel trucks, drive 20MPH down a 50MPH two-lane road during rush hour for as many miles as they need, even though they drive the same road every day and should know better. Funniest thing I ever saw was a line of cars backed up behind a bozo who wanted to make a left turn. This line was more than half a mile long. The bozo couldn't make his turn because he was being blocked by an equally long line of cars backed up the opposite direction, behind another bozo wanting to make a left turn. Know why HE couldn't turn? Yep, the back-up from the first bozo. From the length of the lines I would guess that the situation had existed for at least 10 minutes. I wonder how much longer it lasted... Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug