Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1a 7/7/83; site rlgvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!rlgvax!guy From: guy@rlgvax.UUCP (Guy Harris) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: 55mph & common courtesy Message-ID: <970@rlgvax.UUCP> Date: Sat, 6-Aug-83 19:29:17 EDT Article-I.D.: rlgvax.970 Posted: Sat Aug 6 19:29:17 1983 Date-Received: Mon, 8-Aug-83 02:48:31 EDT References: rlgvax.949, <268@dciem.UUCP> Organization: CCI Office Systems Group, Reston, VA Lines: 51 There isn't much similarity between someone who wants to pass a slower driver (no matter what speeds are involved) and someone who wants to cut into a queue, no matter what Guy thinks. Once the slower driver has been passed, there is no further interaction and he isn't delayed or otherwise affected. If someone cuts in ahead of you in a queue, you are delayed by the length of time it takes for that person to be serviced. The queue-cutter is discourteous, the passer isn't unless he resorts to discourteous means in order to pass. I'm getting VERY tired of explaining this, but since people seem to like taking pot shots I guess I have to continue. The original article on the subject of "common courtesy" seemed to imply that if you were on a ONE-LANE ROAD and somebody wanted to go faster than you did, that it was only "common courtesy" to pull aside for them. Where I come from, at least, the only place to pull aside on a one-lane road is the SHOULDER. The shoulder of a road, especially a remote one-lane mountain road, is NOT a pleasant place to drive; therefore, pulling over to the shoulder implies either stopping or slowing down - i.e., disrupting your motion quite a bit. Furthermore, there is often a discontinuity of the road surface between the pavement and the shoulder. Therefore, no matter what anyone thinks, it IS EXTERMELY DISCOURTEOUS to insist that people pull over in this situation. PERIOD. The slower driver IS delayed, and considerably annoyed, if they have to pull over to the shoulder, so it IS analogous to somebody cutting ahead of you in line. The fact that the delay is more of an impulse rather than a step function in the passing case is IRRELEVANT to the question of courtesy. It is like someone knocking you into the curb because they're pushing their way up the street. Yes, once you get up off the curb and dust your coat off, you are no longer affected. This doesn't make a damn bit of difference. Notice that NOWHERE have ANY of us objecting to the original article said that you shouldn't move over when reasonable. It's just that several of the articles implied that you should move over when it is VERY UNREASONABLE; i.e., on a one-lane road. Sorry, Martin, no points for this one. Please reread the correspondence, and address your comments to the issue at hand; should people who want to go faster expect everybody else to move over DESPITE the level of inconvenience to the other people? Courtesy is a two-way street. I agree that interfering with anyone's going a reasonable speed (I'm not getting into the issue of what's "reasonable" here; we shall assume for the sake of this discussion that 45 and 65 could be considered "reasonable" on a major highway, conditions permitting, specifically to avoid discussing THAT issue) is discourteous IF it can be avoided without major inconvenience. This applies EQUALLY to the person going 45MPH in a lane other than the right-hand lane (unless they're trying to stay in or out of an exit lane) AND to the person who wants to go 65 on the aforementioned one-lane mountain road where other people are going 55. Guy Harris {seismo,mcnc,we13,brl-bmd,allegra}!rlgvax!guy