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From: suhre@trw-unix.UUCP (Maurice E. Suhre)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Jekyll/Hyde driving behavior
Message-ID: <383@trw-unix.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 8-Aug-83 15:02:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: trw-unix.383
Posted: Mon Aug  8 15:02:40 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 10-Aug-83 01:58:57 EDT
Organization: TRW EDS, Redondo Beach, CA
Lines: 51

I have a couple of friends who, when they get behind the wheel,
exhibit facets of their personalities that are not normally seen.
It isn't quite as bad as Jeckyll and Hyde, but it is pretty bad.

One is an expert bridge player with the ability to look at the dummy
and plan various lines of play, evaluate probabilities, and all that
sort of stuff.  Do you think he can notice traffic situations
building up and change lanes early?  NOOOOOOO-----he drives as
if his eyes were focused on the hood ornament.  One time we were
going to a bridge tournament, and we met in a parking lot of a 
shopping center.  Instead of exiting where the stoplight is, he
went to an exit with no stoplight.  This now required that we make
a left turn across 4 lanes of traffic trying to get into the other
four lanes of traffic.  This at 6:45 PM on a Thursday!  After sitting
quite a while and much cussing by my friend, he decided to turn right
and thereby go about 3 miles to get on the freeway.

The other believes that speed limits and that sort of stuff is for
the other people, not him.  Oddly enough, I don't believe he is particularly
dangerous.  After all, if you keep a very sharp eye out for cops, you
naturally end up watching everyone else carefully too.  And his reflexes
and coordination are excellent.

I have seen people pull out of the right hand lane when the freeway was
stopped, travel a few yards down what was left of the on-ramp, and then
crowd back into the traffic.  I have NEVER seen this sort of behavior
at a line at a drinking fountain.

Flame turned down-----

I had reflected on what sort of optimization process I and others might 
be using while driving.  Seemed like assuming that we are driving from
point A to point B the following might be considered:

	1.  Minimize travel time.
	2.  Minimize accident probability.
	3.  Minimize citation probability.
	4.  Minimize serious accident probability, not worry so much
	    about "fender bender" type accidents.
	5.  Maximize our feelings of "macho" or similar such term.
	6.  Be sure to "educate" other drivers if they do something
	    stupid (intentionally or unintentionally) or incorrect
	    (at least by our judgement).

What I believe is that most people have not given much thought to what
sort of function they are trying to optimize, and that they may have
changed what they do without even knowing it at a conscious level.
Notice a lot of the discussion about tailgating seems to fall under 
item 6 above.  As an old (48) conservative fuddy duddy, I stress 1-3,
and do not worry about 5 and 6.  If I handle item 2, then 4 is not
applicable.  I also worry about drunk drivers.