*SERIOUS DISCUSSION* Our Driving laws and realities

OK, I just blew through a driver's ed/Traffic school course.

In fact, I went through a FEW different courses- up until the point when it was time to pay- at which point I decided I had found the one I liked best-

First off- I have two major reasons for making this thread

#1) THE VERY NOTION THAT WE ALL DRIVE AROUND IN DEADLY VEHICLES COMPLETELY UNDER OUR OWN INDIVIDUAL CONTOL IS INSANE IN THE LIGHT OF THE NATURE OF OUR PERSONAL SAFETY

#2) THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ARE LIVING THE 'LIE' OF ACTING LIKE THEY WANT US TO ALL 'OBEY' THE LAW- WHILE AT THE SAME TIME MAKING A MASSIVE PROFIT OFF THE FACT THAT WE 'WILL' BREAK SAID LAW

I'm too tired right now (9:30pm PST) to really go into all the many levels of disgust and disbelief I feel about the very nature of our personal transportation

Let me just say I am VERY interested to see if any of NG.coms members are smart enough to have come to some of the same conclusions as I have...

I agree for the most part but theres no way public transportation can take everyone everywhere, people need their own way of getting around, im partial to bikes, but lets face it, cars are needed.

I totally agree with the second part. They added cameras on major intersections to catch people running red lights hoping that more people will get caught thus making money, but they are losing SO MUCH money off of them because its so easy to get caught it seems like they are used more as a detourant( i spelled that wrong) no one is breaking the law.

I often think while driving around "I could kill those runners if i really wanted to" but luckliy im sane enough not to...does make me worry though.

I'm not sure why it's a law to have to wear seatbelts. It's my own safety that I'm ignoring, so what does it matter to anyone else. I guess I could fly out the windshield and crush someone, but I doubt it.

I also don't see why it is law for all new cars to have airbags. I don't want those either.

The idea of having one or two ton (sometimes way more) heaps of metal flying past each other at 55-70 miles an hour, with nothing but a few feet seperating them is kind of strange to me. But it works for the most part, I guess.

buttasuperb said:

I'm not sure why it's a law to have to wear seatbelts. It's my own safety that I'm ignoring, so what does it matter to anyone else. I guess I could fly out the windshield and crush someone, but I doubt it.

I also don't see why it is law for all new cars to have airbags. I don't want those either.

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Many sociologists beleive that laws designed to protect people from themselves, such as said seatbelt laws or drug laws, don't work in reducing the act at all. In the case of seatbelts, it was just done as a scam to get more money to our law enforement while at the same time looking like a valid attempt to protect people so it gains public support.

Matt

haha, looks like I'm still awake, damned weak ass booze

Well, I read a statistic online during the course which, while had already having been vaguely aware of it, really stuck on me afterwards:

If you add up all the deaths of Americans in all the wars we have ever fought in, from the American Revolution all the way to the first Gulf War, the number of combat dead is way less than the number of traffic fatalities in the US since the dawn of the automobile. And no, I can't find the exact number- but it's, shall we say, sobering

The number of people who's bodies are crushed and mutilated each and every year in this country alone in auto crashes is, when you think about it, really fucking disturbing

People are afraid to board an airplane, where your actual chances of dying in a crash are really, really miniscule- but feel no fear at all in getting behind the wheel of an automobile and going out onto roads and freeways where they literally hold their own lives in their hands.

I mean- when you really, really think about it- the idea that so many of us move about our geography by getting behind the wheel of a 2-3 ton vehicle with NO safeguards against our own mistakes or the mistakes of others is truly phenominal.

It's so fucking funny that we have gotten ourselves into a situation where we have to semi-consiously 'forget' the very nature of driving in order to be able to go out on the road every day just to go to work.

And I live in Los Angeles- and there are so many cars here it boggles the mind. You HAVE to have a car in this part (and most parts) of California.

So, in short, if you live in Southern California you must enter into a sort of shaky bargain with fate in order to go about your daily life.

Fun fun fun till her daddy hauls her wrecked T-Bird away!

So you realized that the government makes money off us breaking traffic laws, and as such makes some really off the wall ones in order to nail us with.

And then when you go to contest your idiotic ticket you get a prosecutor who is nice enough to water down the charge to some wierd ass obscure little violation that gets you no points on your drivers license but incurs a much higher fine.

Of course you pay the higher fine one because it saves you more money in the long run.

As for the number of accidents on the road, well you just got the #1 reason I drive an SUV and that my next car purchase will be for the biggest full sized pickup that I can afford.

JHendrix said:

As for the number of accidents on the road, well you just got the #1 reason I drive an SUV and that my next car purchase will be for the biggest full sized pickup that I can afford.

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YEA, CRUSH ALL OPPOSING CARS!!!

neobuyer said:

#1) THE VERY NOTION THAT WE ALL DRIVE AROUND IN DEADLY VEHICLES COMPLETELY UNDER OUR OWN INDIVIDUAL CONTOL IS INSANE IN THE LIGHT OF THE NATURE OF OUR PERSONAL SAFETY

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Indeed it is, which is why I'm a very cautious, courteous and respectful driver who never goes above the posted speed limit; basically I do my best to provide the safest driving experience possible for both me and the other drivers on the road.

Unfortunately, not everyone shares this same mentality, which is why my father told me something about driving that I hold in the highest regard -- "Accidents are an unavoidable part of driving, if something is going to happen, it is going to happen and there isn't much you can do. But, what you can do to prevent them as much as possible is to act as if the other people on the road are complete morons who can't drive for shit. Because if you're constantly aware that the person in front of you is just going to stop for no reason, take a sharp turn without his blinker or that someone is going run a red light or not stop or yield at their respective signs, then you're already a step ahead of expecting the unexpected."

#2) THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ARE LIVING THE 'LIE' OF ACTING LIKE THEY WANT US TO ALL 'OBEY' THE LAW- WHILE AT THE SAME TIME MAKING A MASSIVE PROFIT OFF THE FACT THAT WE 'WILL' BREAK SAID LAW

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Duh.

So? Don't break the law.

No speeding = no ticket.

Fairly easy to do, I've never gotten one.

buttasuperb said:

YEA, CRUSH ALL OPPOSING CARS!!!

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Sounds like a bonus stage from a video game.

Reminds me why I always cry when I have to destroy the SUV in 3rd Strike.

JHendrix said:

Sounds like a bonus stage from a video game.

Reminds me why I always cry when I have to destroy the SUV in 3rd Strike.

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Fuck it, I'm buying a dump truck. I like sitting 10 feet off the ground when I drive, and if I have an accident I can just roll over the other cars. Good times.

Re: Re: *SERIOUS DISCUSSION* Our Driving laws and realities

Average Joe said:

Duh.

So? Don't break the law.

No speeding = no ticket.

Fairly easy to do, I've never gotten one.

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It's not that I'm bitter over receiving a ticket, and I'm not saying there shouldn't be laws or that people should be allowed to drive however fast they want

My problem is with the billshit sanctimonious additude on the part of all the parties complacent in giving you the ticket. At every level.

The Cops- These guys are just average joes. Really common type people. Huntin', fishin', beer drinkin' and gettin' away with DUI cause they're cops sort of people. YET, when one pulls you over he's not like "Sorry kid, you're busted" or "Hey- what are you gonna do?" (Which is what they should be saying if they had an ounce of humility under their uniforms) but no- they come out with this additude like you are SO in the moral wrong. You are WRONG and they are RIGHT. These glorified blue collar fucks come off with the most rediculous and undeserved, patronizing God-complex I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

The Court, the Judge, etc. Not that I'm surprised the Judges are pompous asses- and they're actually better than the cops are by a mile.

The DMV- soulless, shambling and about as personal as a rusty old tire iron up the ass.

And we come to the Traffic School- same deal as the cops, only much more seeped in absolute bullshit. And it's funny- cause passing the traffic school exam is real easy. But they have to give you this fucking bullshit sermon on how driving is such a privelidge and how the state is so right and good, and how the police are so good. They almost make good driving akin to some sort of relgious adherence. Yet, they too, would be out of business if it weren't for the very laws they're telling you not to break being broken.

My real complaint about the cops, courts and laws is just that they all operate on this overlying bullshit pseudo-moral premise- while at the same time making a huge profit, (indeed one that they cannot survive without) off of motorists breaking the very laws these institutions supposedly do not want them to brake.

It's just all a lie.

And the funny thing is that the joke is truly on the people that have no alternative to driving 1-3 hours a day in their automobiles, just to bring home a paycheck.

A broken, and frankly a stupid system we, in the year 2004, have to deal with.

Re: Re: Re: *SERIOUS DISCUSSION* Our Driving laws and realities

neobuyer said:

It's not that I'm bitter over receiving a ticket, and I'm not saying there shouldn't be laws or that people should be allowed to drive however fast they want

My problem is with the billshit sanctimonious additude on the part of all the parties complacent in giving you the ticket. At every level.

The Cops- These guys are just average joes. Really common type people. Huntin', fishin', beer drinkin' and gettin' away with DUI cause they're cops sort of people. YET, when one pulls you over he's not like "Sorry kid, you're busted" or "Hey- what are you gonna do?" (Which is what they should be saying if they had an ounce of humility under their uniforms) but no- they come out with this additude like you are SO in the moral wrong. You are WRONG and they are RIGHT. These glorified blue collar fucks come off with the most rediculous and undeserved, patronizing God-complex I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

The Court, the Judge, etc. Not that I'm surprised the Judges are pompous asses- and they're actually better than the cops are by a mile.

The DMV- soulless, shambling and about as personal as a rusty old tire iron up the ass.

And we come to the Traffic School- same deal as the cops, only much more seeped in absolute bullshit. And it's funny- cause passing the traffic school exam is real easy. But they have to give you this fucking bullshit sermon on how driving is such a privelidge and how the state is so right and good, and how the police are so good. They almost make good driving akin to some sort of relgious adherence. Yet, they too, would be out of business if it weren't for the very laws they're telling you not to break being broken.

My real complaint about the cops, courts and laws is just that they all operate on this overlying bullshit pseudo-moral premise- while at the same time making a huge profit, (indeed one that they cannot survive without) off of motorists breaking the very laws these institutions supposedly do not want them to brake.

It's just all a lie.

And the funny thing is that the joke is truly on the people that have no alternative to driving 1-3 hours a day in their automobiles, just to bring home a paycheck.

A broken, and frankly a stupid system we, in the year 2004, have to deal with.

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Ahh, but at the same time if those laws were never broken those people and institutions would never have to exist anyway.

In a perfect world, etc. etc. etc.

Yeah, the government makes money off this kind of thing so they can piss the money away on some program that'll bring them more votes come re-election time. You're somehow surprized by all this?

Driving scares the crap out of me. If I am not driving I am always "helping out" (back seat driver so to say) the driver. I do not get into certain vehicles when certain people are driving. I lost a friend telling him to drive like a safe person. He retaliated saying that why should he be so defensive of a driver if everyone else is. A loud argument ensued where I told him that he was a future statistic/murderer. If he could not listen/respect my views on this than our friendship was not worth my time.

ANYWAYS, you want to throw a wrench into the gears: In New Orleans City limits it is LEGAL for all pasangers in a vehicle to drink. I have never in my life till I moved here heard of this shit. I see a driver of a vehicle drinking beer/alchohal at least once a week. I no longer drive when it is not 100% NECESSARY.

Also the seatbelt laws lowered insurance rates a bit, so I cannot complain to much.

If you want driving to be a safe experience you should put a two foot razor sharp spike in the middle of every steering wheel, make every accident fatal, people will do their very best to never ever have an accident.

Shapermc said:

ANYWAYS, you want to throw a wrench into the gears: In New Orleans City limits it is LEGAL for all pasangers in a vehicle to drink. I have never in my life till I moved here heard of this shit. I see a driver of a vehicle drinking beer/alchohal at least once a week. I no longer drive when it is not 100% NECESSARY.

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I see where you're coming from on this, but who is to say that person with a bud in his hand driving down the road is intoxicated. Open intox laws make no sense to me at all, because you can drink 3 beers at the bar and still be within the legal limit, but one in your hand on the road is a huge crime.

I've been known to stop buy the party store on the way home from work to pick up a six pack and crack one open in the car. Breaking an arbitrary law? yes. Unsafe? Doubtful.

Matt

BlackSpy said:

If you want driving to be a safe experience you should put a two foot razor sharp spike in the middle of every steering wheel, make every accident fatal, people will do their very best to never ever have an accident.

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That's an interesting alternative to the air bag.

Matt

BlackSpy said:

If you want driving to be a safe experience you should put a two foot razor sharp spike in the middle of every steering wheel, make every accident fatal, people will do their very best to never ever have an accident.

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I like it... but us Americans would make it a rubber spike, and it would probably squeak, or dispense candy when hit.

-Nick

JHendrix said:

Sounds like a bonus stage from a video game.

Reminds me why I always cry when I have to destroy the SUV in 3rd Strike.

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Don't cry. It's a Japanese SUV. Just Laugh knowing that you really can fuck up a Lexus SUV with your bare fists.

buttasuperb said:

I'm not sure why it's a law to have to wear seatbelts. It's my own safety that I'm ignoring, so what does it matter to anyone else. I guess I could fly out the windshield and crush someone, but I doubt it.

I also don't see why it is law for all new cars to have airbags. I don't want those either.

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No seatbelts + no airbags = higher mortality/injury rate for accidents.

Which means when some jackass rides around without a seatbelt or airbags and winds up in the hospital, the insurance companies have to shell out assloads of money when he drives into a tree.

Which means much higher liability and insurance rates for everybody else...that's the main issue. Why should everyone else have to pay double for extra insurance because you don't want to take 5 seconds to put your belt on?

So when do we get to take a dump on the US helathcare system and what a scam doctors and medical insurance companies are?

who's up for moving to Europe?

Freakit said:

who's up for moving to Europe?

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look out, autobahn...

It's WAY to easy to get a license here, and 16 IS TOO YOUNG.

c.t.h said:

It's WAY to easy to get a license here, and 16 IS TOO YOUNG.

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yeah seriously, you shoud have to be at least 21 to drive.. and the written test should be 100 questions along with a psych exam & a simulation 'hell day' driving exam, along with the normal driving test... oh and the drinking age limit should be 25.