Funny, those same liberals parents were selling us fast cars and smoking in the 60's.
Posted on 01/27/2005 6:08:40 AM PST by devane617
Aggressive driving along Interstate-75 appears to be more problematic than ever.
"We're seeing the problem of road rage increasing," said Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Norman Parks, who has been patrolling the interstates for almost 15 years.
"It's scary to drive down here," said one driver.
"Weaving, tailgating, cutting people off," said another driver.
"When you get all of that, it can pose real problems," said Parks.
That's why Florida Senator Mike Bennett is pushing for the Road Rage Reduction Act to be made into law. It's designed to reduce the amount of people in the left lane.
"We have a lot of people in the state of Florida who unfortunately, drive in the left-hand lane and block traffic," said Bennett.
Signs in the median advising people to only use the left lane for passing don't seem to be working.
"We need a better tool to specifically deal with this issue," said Parks. If the bill gets passed, there will be more signs like these and bigger ones.
If the bill gets passed, you'll not only see more signs and billboards on the roadways warning drivers to stay out of the left lane, but greater enforcement of that.
"We're trying to figure out a way to increase traffic flow and prevent citizens from accidents and road rage," said Bennett.
Bennett says the Department of Highway Safety's involvement is key to the bill working. If the bill passes, the department will be required to work with the Florida Highway Patrol to educate the public about the new law through an awareness campaign.
Funny, those same liberals parents were selling us fast cars and smoking in the 60's.
I want more anecdotal highway stories. I love 'em!
The only real way to reply to you seems to be "Opinions - everybody's got one!"
But I'll still continue, because I'm just like that....
Your insurance may be high because you live in Austin. I'm sure Houston, Dallas, San Antone are in kinda the same boat.
Wanna see high insurance? You really should check out SF, DC (where I live right now) - or how about a place you wouldn't expect - Augusta, GA!!!
I lived there four years, and I found those idiots to be - BY A LONG SHOT - the worst isolated group of moronic fools behind the wheel...and largely UNINSURED!!!
The uninsured part is what causes the rates to go up - often more than the "bad drivers' or driving conditions in a particular area.
Say what you will - and you will - but regardless of your contentions about Texas drivers (overall as a rather LARGE state full of drivers) they are absolutely NOT anywhere close to the worst in the country!
You may want to consider the standards by which you make judgements, friend.
When in Rome....?
These Mr. Magoos are without exception from New York state where, among its other indicia of cultural vapidity, there is no heritage of staying right, passing left - just as there is no tradition private property rights or human freedom. They have infested Florida, they have the temerity to drive upon the public thoroughfares in broad daylight, and have distorted South Florida into a suburb of the most debased nether regions of New York City.
For their own edification, for the safety of innocent pilgrims on Florida's highways, and for the safety of our posternity, every single one of them, without exception, must be made to take a German course on driving and show the stuff to obtain a German driver's license.
Once on the Autobahn, these self absorbed accidents in waiting will by God soon learn not to get in the left lane and pick their noses.
I agree but its not realistic.....everyone speeds. Its just like DUI....how come there are no DUI check points outside NFL stadiums?? Here are 68K fans....a good many of of them messed up real good(even smelled pot at recent Eagles game).....turned loose on society. Why are there no DUI check points at the exits? Its BS.....all about money and politics.....
My advise for speeders is never go first :-) and leave a good 1/4 mile runner following distance......amazing how many oblivions there are in this country.....
I see people slam their brakes on any time a highway patrol car is spotted. The cops usually don't do anything as long as you aren't doing more than around 5 mph over the speed limit, but too many drivers don't seem to understand that.
At the same time, I can't agree with you that the cop was causing a serious traffic hazard. Highway patrol personnel are going to be driving on the highway from time to time. It's the nature of the job.
The traffic 'back up' comes about because everyone suddenly decides to obey the speed limit because there's a cop. It does get dangerous when they let their impatience get the best of them, and they start tailgating and the like.
I think there's more pleasure in keeping Johnny Nascar from passing me on the right while I'm in the left lane waiting for the slower traffic to get out of the way, but these people driving slow in the left lane should not be on an interstate.
You were perfectly reasonable.
The guy who flahsed his highbeams at you (and then flipped you off) was the south end of a north-bound horse.
>>I see people slam their brakes on any time a highway patrol car is spotted. <<
That is one of the tricks to spotting radar around corners. When coming up on a sweeping curve, I watch the brake lights of the cars in front of me. Invariably, when I see brake lights coming on for no apparent reason, it would be prudent to drop to four over...
You missed the salient point. You're suggesting people be ticketed, and therefore penalized with loss of money, time, etc., on the basis of an assumed motivation. That's a far cry from me suggesting you had a less than important destination when you're driving 95. But you caught me trying to be funny with the donut line. Guilty as charged.
Wow, what a story. Now there's a guy who truly is impervious to others feelings.
>>You're suggesting people be ticketed, and therefore penalized with loss of money, time, etc., on the basis of an assumed motivation.<<
No, I'm not. Legally, I don't care about WHY they are there, only that they are there. If it is illegal, more tickets would be nice.
BTW, as long as Christine is governor of Washington state, I consider this state to be in anarchy. I don't stop at red left turn arrows unless 1) there is oncoming traffic that has the right of way or 2) there is a cop around.
The time savings is enormous, and I like being seen doing it. Nothing like a little good old fasioned civil disobedience...
If you keep reading in Romans, you'll find that God seems to agree with the concept of governing authority being instituted by him for these purposes. As I intimated earlier, the Bible is a whole thing, not a piecemeal collection gotcha quotes for any purpose.
I guess that's fair and not really objectionable. I'd probably say the same for urban freeways where cars are merging on and off at frequent intervals. It's just that too many drivers forget the "rear view mirror" part and camp out in their lane of choice, never moving over until they exit.
A good way to reduce road rage is to ticket people who are pissing others off by attempting to control others driving habbits - stopping the control freaks.
Sounds like you're wanting LEOs to base their ticketing on some assumption of motivation. If you didn't mean that, how would you like to amend your statement?
You are right. I didn't word that post very well. My intention was that they need to be ticketed for what they are doing, as opposed to why they are doing it. The part about why was just my editorial opinion merging it's way into the sentence...
I learn how to drive 150MPH every day to work when living in Italy. The only time the left lane was slow was between 8:00am to 9:00am when the American's were going to work.
The American's would not get out of the left lane. As an American I worked at the American Embassy in Rome and with Navy HQ in Gaeta and Nalopi.
Between Gaeta and Napoli is where I put the petal to the metal. Their is "NO" grey area on the roads in Italy. Get out of the left lane if your not passing and never pass right.
The driving culture in America is "ALL" Grey. The speed limit by law is 65mph yet you can buy a car with 500 to 1000 HP engine that will do 2.2 to 4.5 - 0 to 60 mph.
It will take a year and thousands of dollars to get a Germany drivers license yet in America a 10 minute road test and score 20 out of 25 questions on a computer screen and BINGO your behind a 500 HP Viper at 16 years old.
The only time I almost hit a car in Italy is when I broke the no passing right rule getting around an American snoozing in the left lane. Braking from 125 to 45 is not fun. I will never break that rule again ever, not even in America.
How do I know they were all slow an American drivers. Well, they had special AFI tags and they drove SUV's.
Amazing, they shipped over their SUV's. Not all but some and for the record I still owned the same 1988 Chevy Blazer with 248,000 miles on it today. I'm going for 250K on the same engine.
2003-2005 Viper cockpit.
Let's take a closer look! That is 220 MPH baby!!!
1985 Nissan ad with a 200 HP engine.
I also live in Florida and it has a very similar driving lifestyle as Italy except for the LEFT LANERS.
Oh yeah, the more gas you burn the more state tax is collected.
Drive safe...
Anybody who passes another driver on the shoulder should have their license suspended for 60 days. A whole family was killed last year when some idiot did that and his tire blew on a piece of junk.
And that brings up another thing that bugs me: the person who passes me going a little faster than I'm going, then cuts over in front of me while s/he's less than two seconds in ahead of me. That means s/he's forcing me to tailgate for an extended period of time, until s/he slowly pulls far enought ahead of me to be safe. Just plain stupid, and I think it ought to get a ticket as sure as tailgating does.
>>his tire blew on a piece of junk.<<
That is my biggest concern when I do that. I scan the road carefully and, remember, the reason I am doing it is that we are not going that fast.
The last time I did it was in eastern Montanna with two Minnesota goofballs in SUV's on I-90 doing 50 side by side on purpose. My crime that caused them to do this? After passing them I would move over into the right lane only to have one of them parallel me until I got to the next truck. I would then have to step on it to pass them or find myself following them AND a truck at 65 in a 75 - and that is a LONG drive.
And once I passed them on the shoulder, we were in a chase where I topped out at 135mph. I finally lost them and got off the freeway for gas (around a blind corner where they would not be able to tell if I turned off or not). Never saw them again.
I haven't used the shoulder all that much but when I do, I am very cognisant of the quality of the road surface on the shoulder.
Oh, a side note. My father took me to the airport a month ago for a business trip. He's 76. We were in the Renton s-curves headed south on I-405 with plenty of time to get to the airport. We were in his white ten year old Ford ranger in the HOV lane. He got so ticked at the car in front of us doing 45 because the other lanes were backed up that HE PASSED ON THE INSIDE SHOULDER. I was cracking up.
Chill dad. It's only six miles...
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