Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site scgvaxd.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!petrus!bellcore!decvax!tektronix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!trwrb!scgvaxd!chris From: chris@scgvaxd.UUCP (Chris Yoder) Newsgroups: net.legal,net.auto Subject: Re: Radar Surveillance Message-ID: <393@scgvaxd.UUCP> Date: Wed, 28-Aug-85 12:46:03 EDT Article-I.D.: scgvaxd.393 Posted: Wed Aug 28 12:46:03 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 2-Sep-85 03:30:22 EDT References: <1081@homxa.UUCP> <4891@allegra.UUCP> <269@ihlpl.UUCP> <1090@homxa.UUCP> <719@homxb.UUCP> <> <229@proper.UUCP> <260@aoa.UUCP> Reply-To: chris@scgvaxd.UUCP (Chris Yoder) Organization: Hughes Aircraft Co., El Segundo, CA Lines: 57 Xref: watmath net.legal:2238 net.auto:7986 Summary: [Go ahead bug, make my day.] In article <260@aoa.UUCP> carl@aoa.UUCP (Carl Witthoft) writes: >Once again, someone who knows nothing of constitutional law (and apparently >also is unconvinced by the relationship beteween speed limit and highway >deaths) is flaming all over this newsgroup. I'm also amused (??) by the >conflicting desire for "states' rights" and free dollars from the feds. > ***** Flame warning ***** Grrrr. I was going to stay out of this one. I was going to leave well enough alone, but I can no longer. Extreemely minor flame: There is no such thing as "free dollars" form the feds. That money ultimately comes from you and me (actually, from any work that we do). The main reason that I am opposed to the 55 speed limit is because 90% of the people that I know don't obey it (even those that say they do, get on the freeway and do at least 60). I grew up driving under this totally arbitrary limit (it does not reflect the speed at which one can safely drive the road), and thus since the only safe way to drive on the freeway is to move along with the flow (I've yet to drive in a state where that is less than 60-65, and yes, I've driven in > 50% of the states) I become conditioned to exceeding the speed limit by 10 or so mph. I also get the feeling that driving at these speeds is no great wrong because *everybody* does it! This has the effect that now when I get on a surface street, I speed by 10 or so mph because it's "OK" to do so on the highway, even though it may not be anywhere near safe. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the 55 speed limit *teaches* people to break laws, *teaches* them to drive unsafely (on surface streets al least), and keeps police away from protecting our lives and property from violent crime. One might even stretch the point to say that since people get used to breaking an "obviously" stupid law, that they won't feel the restriction not to break other laws since they feel that that law is stupid and *everybody* breaks laws that they think are stupid. The 55 mph speed limit also teaches people to think of the police as thier enemies, not as thier protectors, since one always has to be on the lookout for them when they are driving (and I drive more than I have crimes commited against me). I realize that this could be used as an argument to increase the enforcement of the 55 mph speed limit, but that would only increase the antagonistic relationship between Joe Citizen and the police. NOTE: All of the above is spoken from the psychological impact of actually driving on the highways and byways of this country, not on any numerical data. -- -- Chris Yoder UUCP --- {allegra|ihnp4}!scgvaxd!engvax!chris { The opinions here are representative of Huge Aircrash, not me and *especially* not of my poor little keyboard. 8-)= }