Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site ucf-cs.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!duke!ucf-cs!giles
From: giles@ucf-cs.UUCP (Bruce Giles)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Highway driving
Message-ID: <1143@ucf-cs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 10-Jan-84 17:59:05 EST
Article-I.D.: ucf-cs.1143
Posted: Tue Jan 10 17:59:05 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 11-Jan-84 05:33:41 EST
References: <426@pucc-h>
Organization: University of Central Florida
Lines: 42

I wish I had problems with drivers with high beams on!  It seems that every
non-native in Central Florida (around 97.3% and rising) thinks that lights
are optional in rainstorms.  

Why is that a nuisance?  Because during heavy rains cars are frequently
invisible against the road unless they have their lights on.  Combine this
with a typical Florida thunderstorm (we have over *100* per year) and the
natural but stupid tendency of non-natives to slow down below 40 mphs on
the expressways, and you quickly find yourself looking up the tailpipe of
a car you didn't know existed 2 seconds earlier.  (Before anyone says it --
I firmly believe that if you are on a restricted highway and you feel
uncomfortable travelling faster than 40 mph, GET OFF IMMEDIATELY.  None of
this 20 mph nonsense in the rain. I would rather risk a spin-out than being
rear-ended on the expressway.)  I don't care how well *you* can see the road,
if *I* can't see *you*, *you* are a very real threat to *me*!  Of course,
the same holds for you, so I always have my lights on when its even getting
heavily overcast.

Finally, many will note my use of the term 'non-native'.  By that I refer
[primarily] to tourists in Central Florida.  While I realize that they
are important to our local economy, it is very frustrating to be in
traffic where you are the only one who actually lives nearby.  Frequently
I've been on my way to work, to class, etc. and stuck behind some yo-yo
with a New Jersey tag (for instance) gawking at the palm trees, the orange
trees, the local sinkholes downtown, the missile tests at KSC,....

In fact, I was once stuck behind a rental car that stopped at a green
arrow!  I admit that the next lane over had a signalled light on it, which
happened to be red, but a green arrow was clearly visible over our lane.
Of course, I was only on my way to a job interview, so I didn't mind
sitting at a green arrow until the other light turned green also (GRRRR...)


Bruce Giles
---------------------------------------------
UUCP:		decvax!ucf-cs!giles
cs-net:		giles@ucf
ARPA:		giles.ucf-cs@Rand-Relay
Snail:		University of Central Florida 
		Dept of Math, POB 26000
		Orlando, Florida 32816
---------------------------------------------