signals

[Mike Arman <armanmik@n-jcenter.com>]

Figured I'd add my 2 cents worth of gasoline to the signal/don't signal
flame war I see brewing here . . .

First: speed, or rather "ideal" speed. Local town (Holly Hill, FL, adjacent
to Daytona Beach) has three main N-S roads. The nicest one is next to the
river, and the speed limit was 35 MPH, everyone was happy. Alas, Holly
Hill's entire tax base is speeding tickets (no oceanfront condos), so they
lowered the speed limit to 25 MPH one fine day.

In a conversation about this with Florida DOT engineer, he related that "90%
of the drivers on a given road will drive within 5 MPH of the optimum,
safest speed no matter what the posted speed limit is." This means that -
shock and horror! - we drivers seem to know what we're doing! Absolute
anathema to the "Nanny State" we have growing all around us (does that make
me a vehicular libertarian?). Note that I'm not advocating abolishing speed
limits or anything, but simply stating that often posted speed limits have
nothing to do with vehicle safety - but we knew that - can we recite
"revenue enhancement"?

Second: In my mis-spent youth, I rode motorycles for many tens of thousands
of miles. What I learned was this:
        1. The average driver is totally comatose
        2. The average driver is totally unpredictable
        3. The average driver has no idea how to drive.
My solution for survival can be summed up as follows:

        "Never put yourself in a position or situation where another driver
has to actually DO something to avoid killing you."

Here's how I drive - I assume I am TOTALLY COMPLETELY INVISIBLE. I drive
about 5 MPH faster than the flow of traffic, gently and quietly change lanes
(often without signaling) and "sneak" around. I always try to be "somewhere
else" when six morons simultaneously try to get off the same exit from the
left lane. My solution for dealing with left-lane 50 mph robots is cruise up
behind them (not too close), and if they show no signs of seeing me (most
don't) ease over to the right before I'm close enough to make them aware of
me, slide past them on the right at a few MPH faster than they are going
(much faster than that wakes them up), pull ahead for some distance (don't
disturb them!), then ease over to the left lane again and disappear in the
distance. (Obviously this only works when the roads are not really crowded.)

I NEVER drive in a "pack" - not in front, middle, or back. I try to stay in
between clumps of traffic, and quietly thread my way through them when I
overtake them. I also watch my mirrors, and when some hotshot comes charging
up behind me, I move over and let him pass - and I usually pass him later
while he is busy explaining his haste to the highway patrol.

Results - no accidents and no tickets since 1972, when I got a ticket for
going 42 in a 35 in North Miami Beach - on a BMW motorcycle. I don't use a
CB or a radar detector. Heck, if I got stopped now, I wouldn't even know how
to act! (Put my hands up? Get out? Stay in? Smile?)

The idea is to NOT interact with other drivers - just not be there. Let 'em
fight with someone else.

Anyway, this works for ME - I don't know if it will suit other drivers, but
I offer it as my experience. (There is not "A" way to enlightenment - there
are MANY ways! - apologies to Buddha or David Carradine or someone.)

Regards

Mike Arman