Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site hou2g.UUCP 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