re: Daytime Running Lights

[tnas@dtpdirect.nl (Tom Nas, DTP Direct bv)]

>What's next? Horns that will hunk every 5 seconds after poeple are pretty
>much conditioned with these DRLs? And next? Government requires car
>manufactuers to paint the car in neon, glow-in-the-dark paint? (Hmmm...
>which I recall, that long time ago MB did found that orange-painted models
>has the least accident rate of all car colors...)

>Why not go to the source of the problem -- namely, not letting "lamers" to
>pass and hold driver's license -- and get it over with?

I seem to keep agreeing with Bob... In fact, I was thinking about this very
subject since I got last week's AutoWeek (Dutch ed). It seems that there
are plans in this country to re-test people on a regular basis. It was
mentioned in this article that the biggest concern was people not knowing
the latest rules, but I'm more concerned about people who drive
inattentive, or are phisically unfit to drive. Hooray! This re-test is the
solution! I'll gladly cooperate with this scheme (it's for my own safety
too!!) and when the day comes that my reaction times get too long, or my
eyes are getting too bad to drive, I'll certainly hand in my licence.
Mobility cannot be valued over safety!

On another -related- subject: in the near future we're getting a law here
that says that when you hit a pedestrian or cyclist with your car, you're
liable for the damage (and any damages lawsuit outcome), whether the
accident is your fault or not.
This, IMHO, doesn't increase road safety. Yeah, of course people will
notice cyclists a little more, but the main problems here are schoolgoing
children on their bikes behaving like kamikazes, and cyclists thinking they
are invulnerable: no lights at night, crossing the street right in front of
you, turning suddenly without signalling... IMO the main problem is the
cyclists themselves. Before you say 'Yeah, another driver ranting at other
road users', I'd have to say that this has been my opinion for many years,
being a pedestrian, cyclist, motorcyclist and now driving my car. You're
not giving more rights to cyclists, but depriving other road users of their
rights.

BTW While driving tests and education are more stringent here in the
Netherlands than in the USA, we've got more than our share of idiots on the
road. Most are A. young and have had their licence for less than a year, B.
are challenged in the brain department, C. spend 90% of their waking lives
on the road and develop an 'I'm God' driving style or D. are well past the
age of safe driving vis-a-vis their physical condition.
A. Drives a hopped up old GTI-type vehicle, B. Drives anything, anywhere
and is the most dangerous, C. Drives a large, fast car with the front fogs
on all the time and can be found exclusively in the outside lane, and D. is
easily recognised by the strange 'sniffing the windscreen for freshness'
driving attitude.

Ooops... rant mode off.

Tom
1988 80 1.8S (never been in contact with other road users while in my posession)

 _______________________________________________________________________
   Tom W. Nas, graphic design                        tnas@dtpdirect.nl
   DTP Direct bv                              Voice +31 (55) 5 790 799
   Apeldoorn, the Netherlands                   Fax +31 (55) 5 790 125

          Lt. George: 'Sir, what do we do when we step on a mine?'

    Capt. Blackadder: 'Well, the usual procedure is to jump sixty feet in
                      the air, and scatter yourself over a large area.'

                                                 'Blackadder goes forth'