Date:         Sat, 24 Sep 2005 12:43:44 -0700
Reply-To:     Roland Melzer <rmelzer@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Roland Melzer <rmelzer@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: [be seen] Road rage cause--Diesel powered vanagons - Driving
              Slow
In-Reply-To:  <fc57dc75c1d4691c097f20bdfccde3a9@knology.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Last night in the dark I almost had the opportunity to be liberated from my
syncro.

At the start of a 2 lane freeway there were 2 on ramps each forming one of
the lanes. A big suburban to my left drifted over (his passenger door right
by my driver's door) without seeing me, or bothering to look, to take the
upcoming off ramp on the right. No directional signal (of course). I had to
slam on the brakes and swerve onto the shoulder. He just moved right as if
nobody was there, and then took the off ramp.

I believe a major factor was my headlights are so anemic that he didn't see
any light in the right lane in front of my Vanagon, and perhaps just assumed
no other vehicle was there. I hit the horn, and it was something like a
squeaky mouse. My impolite verbalizations were equally inaudible.

Therefore, high priority changes for me are:
- powerful headlights
- after market horn
- I also saw somewhere that there are brighter lamps for the tail lights.
- fixed mount, remote control, shotgun aimed through the spoiler (just
kidding, e-mail rage is safer than road rage).

So, time to do the downselect on the various options for the lowest cost
headlight upgrade.

Roland

On 9/22/05, Jim Felder <felder@knology.net> wrote:
>
> If they're saying that slow-moving drivers are the number one excuse
> for or the trigger of road rage, then yeah I agree with CHP. If they're
> saying they're the cause, then I do disagree.
>
> Road rage, like every other self-centered sociological outburst, is
> caused by crappy culture, bad parents, poor genes, abused drugs and/or
> bad potty training but it isn't caused by slow-moving drivers. I'm sure
> that CHP would prefer that every driver on the highways would drive
> faster so they wouldn't have to deal with the results of road rage, but
> if they're saying anyone but the perpetrator is the cause then yes,
> indeed, they are wrong.
>
> I'll bet there isn't one case of road rage in the history of California
> or the nation where a court case was dismissed against a perpetrator on
> the defense "he was driving so slow that he made me empty a clip into
> his car."
>
> Jim
>
> On Sep 22, 2005, at 1:46 PM, Jeffrey Schwaia wrote:
>
> > Take it up with the CHP.
> >
> > Although, I'm fairly certain they didn't just make this stuff up. So I
> > guess it's your opinion against their research. Have at 'em.
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
> > Of Jim Felder
> > Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 11:32 AM
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Subject: Re: Diesel powered vanagons - Driving Slow
> >
> >
> > Come on, saying the cause of road rage is really slow drivers is like
> > saying the cause of theft is really expensive merchandise. It's caused
> > by human s**t, pure and simple.
> >
> > Jim
> >
> > On Sep 22, 2005, at 1:11 PM, Jeffrey Schwaia wrote:
> >
> >> There's a reason people say it: according to the CHP, slow drivers
> >> are the
> >> number one cause of road rage in California. Additionally, a large
> >> percentage of accidents are caused by drivers who do not get up to
> >> highway
> >> speed quickly enough (saw that on some news journal on TV).
> >>
> >> Don't flame me. I'm not defending driving fast or degrading driving
> >> slow.
> >> These are just a few facts that I recently was exposed to.
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >>
> >> Jeff
> >>
> >
>