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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!hou2g!an
From: an@hou2g.UUCP (A.NGUYEN)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: My last word too T.C.
Message-ID: <158@hou2g.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 1-Feb-84 13:32:21 EST
Article-I.D.: hou2g.158
Posted: Wed Feb  1 13:32:21 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 7-Feb-84 09:29:13 EST
Organization: Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 113



To borrow a quote from a previous article to net.flame:

	Tout choses sont dites deja, mais comme personne n'ecoute,
	il faut toujours recommencer.
	
		A. Gide
		Courtesy of: E. A. Flinn, Arlington, VA

(By the way Mr Flinn, for the just-barely-bilingual among us,
what does "nffubyr," as in "nffubyr of the month," mean?)
	
Evidently some people misunderstood me. It was probably because I
said, "No wonder so many people resort to the BARBARIC [emphasis
added] practice of tailgating to get the slow pokes to move over."
I was NOT flaming in defense of tailgaters. I think tailgating is
a VERY STUPID THING TO DO, not just because of the obvious dangers,
but also because it does not accomplish anything for anyone.

However, I WAS flaming against people who do not understand the
international practice of signalling with headlights. Nobody, repeat,
NOBODY addressed that point, as to why American drivers do not
recognize this sensible way to communicate on the highway. Anyone
who took a stand against me seem to ASSOCIATE HEADLIGHT FLASHING WITH
TAILGATERS. I even went so far as to use some "not nice" words in
asking:

	They NEVER [emphasis added] see you when you flash
	the hi beams at 200 feet, but they ALWAYS [emphasis
	added] see you if you are sitting on their *ss.
	What the blazes is THAT? SELECTIVE mirror watching?

Again, NOBODY, repeat NOBODY suggested any reasons. Perhaps I
should have removed any implications at all that the driver who
flashes his high beams MIGHT be the same one who later tailgates.

There ARE people who tailgate; there ARE people who tailgate, honk
their horns, flash their high beams, and go through assorted
anatomical gestures; but there are also people who are courteous
enough to signal with their headlights from a safe distance, and
patiently wait until the slower driver has a chance to move
over, safely. Headlight flashers DO NOT always tailgate. The
ones that do deserve all the expletives you people managed to
dish out. The ones that don't deserve just as much courtesy
as you could show any other driver on the road.

Some people think that in having to resort to headlight flashing at
all, I am already driving too fast, and therefore endangering their
life unnecessarily. For those, may I quote the following from Mr Alan
Thomson of Ayr, Scotland:

	... This is only in *YOUR* opinion... I would
	also propose that in the opinion of the [faster
	drivers], ninety-nine percent of the [slower
	drivers] are travelling too slow. It's all
	relative you see!! 

And especially for Mr Bernardis of Piscataway NJ, who felt that
he is entitled to drive "anywhere on the road that [he] wants to,"
AND that I deserve the title "a**hole" for wanting to drive "70-
75," may I refer you sir to the following quote from Mr Wheeler:

	Everyone else pays taxes and tolls too.
	These highways are not YOUR [emphasis mine]
	exclusive playground ...

... and other articles on the net about "keep right except
to pass" and driver's ed, etc.

Unnecessary risks are equally a subjective matter. I know people
who abhor small cars because they are "so dangerous," but these
same people never seem to mind driving their 2-ton Buick after
a few drinks. If anyone really want to avoid risks altogether,
he can stay home and never go anywhere at all. Even then he
cannot do anything about Ronnie hitting the BIG RED BUTTON,
so there. I take every precaution I can, and if ANYONE out
there thinks I would put MY OWN LIFE on the line JUST so I
can risk his, he is FULL BLOWN GONZO CRAZY!!!

I never implied that "laws interfere with [my] freedom," as Mr Rosen
insinuated. I know quite well that I am breaking the law, and I have
endured the consequences more than once, except that I am far from
the only one. "Let he who is without sins throw the first stone."
You see, it is difficult to enforce ANY law. That is why we have
policemen out there instead of everyone taking the law into his
own hands.

As for Mr Wheeler, who has the courage to make some downright
slanderous allegations about my "ignorance," "complete disregard
for the safety of anyone on the highway but [myself]," my "antics"
on the road, and the number of people that I have "injured,"
not to mention calling me an "egg sucking cretin ..."  Well,
T.C. baby, by ignoring the only relevant question in my article
and making hasty conclusions about my driving style and attitude
and resorting to childish name calling in public, I think you
have done spendidly well in showing the whole world just who is
THE BIGGEST FOOL! In fact I would be delighted to send a dozen
farm fresh eggs over your way! What size can you handle, T.C. baby?!

(And by the way, I don't like the idea of "being scraped off
the steering wheel," so I ALWAYS wear my seat belt, while I gather
from your own writing that you have not always done so.)

Having said more than my share, without ever getting any valid answers
to my original question ("Why do people not recognize flashing
headlights as a polite signal ????"), I have decided to give up and
make this my last article on this subject. And if Mr Wheeler
is to stand by HIS word also, we can perhaps go on and "sink our teeth"
into a newer and more inflammatory subject ?!

			Au "Sorry I asked" Nguyen