… paralyzed whenever they see a cop car-jamming on their brakes to slow to 50 in a 60MPH zone, won’t make a right turn on red, when there isn’t any restriction, etc…”

Those are two irritating behaviors. I finally broke my wife of the habit of doing the former by getting her to understand that a cop that already has someone pulled over is already busy – as long as you’re not behaving outrageously, he (or she) isn’t going to pay you any attention. The latter is most often committed by little old ladies or newly-licensed drivers that haven’t had enough experience behind the wheel to be confident in themselves.

I know I’ll probably be mercilessly flamed for saying this, but I believe that, after age 65 people should be required to pass a road test at least every tow years. And at age 75, yearly. It doesn’t matter if someone has been driving without mishap for fifty years, if they reach a point that they can no longer do so safely, then they should have the privilege of driving denied them.

I’m also not a single-minded stickler for the rules. If the speed limit on the interstate is 65, but all of the traffic is traveling at 75, I will try to match the flow of traffic. If, however, weather or road conditions are such that If I don’t believe it is safe to travel over – let’s say fifty – then I won’t. I once nearly crashed into a cliff in very heavy fog, because I was going too fast for the conditions; I’ve been passed by people during raging snowstorms only to see the same vehicles off of the road a mile further along.

I recently saw an ambulance stuck behind cars at a stoplight. There was a concrete median. The cars in front would not pull out into the intersection to let the ambulance pass until the light turned green. Absolute MORONS afraid to bend the rules to let the ambulance pass.

I think the people on this thread are some of the better drivers. They understand that paying attention is sometimes better than following the letter of the law. I think the people that are driving you nuts, are the people who DON’T know the law, and are paralyzed whenever they see a cop car-jamming on their brakes to slow to 50 in a 60MPH zone, won’t make a right turn on red, when there isn’t any restriction, etc.

“Matt is trying to convince us that if a semi-truck has lost his brakes behind us, and we are at a Stoplight that says “No Right Turn On Red”, it is better to get run over than get out of the way.”

That is just stupid. I hope you realize that. Rules can and sometimes must be suspended in cases of emergency, especially if there is a danger of people losing their lives.

After the 1978 blizzard, many people in this area were completely isolated, some for over a week. The roads were impassable to vehicles, phone and power lines were down. Snowmobile clubs in the area volunteered to undertake the effort to reach these people. They carried supplies in to people that were trapped, they evacuated people that were without power and heat, they rescued people in need of medical attention.

Normally, in this state, using a snowmobile on a public road is grounds for a ticket or possibly arrest. These snowmobilers were commended for their actions. The rule was suspended during the emergency. Their actions saved lives, they didn’t endanger them. I hope that even you can understand the difference between a temporary suspension of rules – such as doing whatever is necessary to get out of the way of an out-of-control truck – and flagrantly ignoring them because they don’t suit you personally.

And on maturity? “I’ll do what I please and screw anybody that doesn’t like it” is a pretty immature attitude, don’t you think?

(”I don’t really have to think about it any more”).
Sounds like Matt is part of the problem drivers.

(”looking for escape routes”)
I hope you’re going to signal first and not swerve or speed up to avoid the trouble. Afterall, “breaking the law is breaking the law”

Matt is trying to convince us that if a semi-truck has lost his brakes behind us, and we are at a Stoplight that says “No Right Turn On Red”, it is better to get run over than get out of the way.

(”how many friends and family members have you had killed by a**holes that ignore the rules?”)I wager there is almost as many people killed by EXACTLY following the traffic laws.

{Joe, et. al., how many friends and family members have you had killed by a**holes that ignore the rules? None, I wager.}

Criminal acts are not limited to the highway. We have all had friends or relatives killed as the result of “rule-breaking.” One need look farther than Walter Cronkite’s or Huntley-Brinkley’s reporting of the war in Vietnam, accelerated in large part by the Gulf of Tonkin “incident.” Even closer is the invasion of Iraq, clearly illegal under international law. How many tens of thousands have died as a result of those criminal acts?

{ The “I don’t like that rule so I won’t obey it” mindset shows a complete disregard for others; it shows recklessness; it demonstrates immaturity and it takes lives. Give me all of the self-righteous excuses for bad behavior you want to, the simple fact of the matter is that breaking the law is breaking the law. And no amount of self-important posturing is going to change that fact.}

What you don’t seem to want to understand is that the mere act of “speeding” endangers nobody. If that were the case, we would all be dead because all of us have exceeded the limit, many of us with regularity. Call it selfish if you wish but that is what drives advances in transportation and advances in productivity, one measure of which is how much we can reduce the time spent in peripheral activities such as transportation.

It is not about being self-righteous; it is not reckless; it has nothing to do with maturity because drivers of all ages exceed the limit; and it is not “bad behavior,” except in your mind.

If we adopted your attitude that “breaking the law is breaking the law,” then this nation would not even exist because those patriots who protested the government’s taxation policies by destroying all that tea in Boston Harbor would not have done so just because it was “breaking the law.” What you fail to understand is that much of the traffic code is unwarranted by public need, counterproductive, and excused by specious reasoning to justify what is little more than a money-grab. The problem is not driver behavior; the problem is the law itself.

{There is a system in this country whereby people can affect change if they are dissatisfied with the rules. Oh, sorry, that would require lazy people to get off of their butts and actually DO something. Besides behaving like outlaws.}

I have already done that. I helped the NMA rescind the stupid and dangerous NMSL. I have lobbied in four different states for rational and scientific traffic codes. I have also been denied access to legislators in Texas and California because I had not contributed to their campaigns. So don’t preach to me about the system because the campaign contribution has replaced the ballot box as the currency of democracy.
Legislators, law enforcement, insurance industry and the self-righteous prigs of the anti-motorist industry all benefit from limits that are set too low to be scientifically justified, actually costing lives and economic damage. Yet, they continue to put hundreds of millions into efforts to maintain a demonstrably flawed system because they make hundreds of billions from it. They are willing to sell your life and your liberty just so they can add another few cents to their P/E ratio or another employee under their political power umbrella.

How dare you criticize us for “bad behavior” when your own house reeks of greed and corruption.

There is a system in this country whereby people can affect change if they are dissatisfied with the rules. Oh, sorry, that would require lazy people to get off of their butts and actually DO something. Besides behaving like outlaws.

Matt responds:

{There is nothing “reasonable” about breaking the law. I hope I never have to travel a road that YOU are on. With luck, you’ll amass enough speeding tickets that the state will take you’re [sic] license. One less sociopath on the road.}

You have made myriad mistakes in your assumptions:
• If the law is unreasonable, especially to the point of absurdity, not following it is perfectly reasonable.
• If the law requires me to drive at significantly less than the scientifically determined safest speed, then the law is an ass.
• You should desire that all drivers are like me. I’ve been driving since I was 14 years old, 12 if you count farm trucks and tractors; that is 50 years. I have 2 million+ miles, zero at-fault crashes and only a dozen or so citations, all for speeding, never for any unreasonable acts and certainly nothing even close to dangerous.
• Be careful what you wish for.

Matt- If you are a cop…”

You’d be a lot more credible if you’d read posts before making comments. I have already said that I am not and never have been a cop.

“By James Young on Feb 9, 2008

I ignore speed limits because I want and need to drive reasonably.”

There is nothing “reasonable” about breaking the law. I hope I never have to travel a road that YOU are on. With luck, you’ll amass enough speeding tickets that the state will take you’re license. One less sociopath on the road.

“By Joey on Feb 10, 2008

I keep my vehicle well maintained (tires, brakes, lights, etc.) and, as I drive, I always keep in the back of my mind an escape route, if the unexpected should happen.”

I do the same – the majority don’t. looking for escape routes is so second nature to me that I don’t really have to think about it any more. It only makes sense, considering the number of people on the road that believe they are above the law.