Re: Aggressive Drivers, from their POV (no Audi content and looong)

[MSV96@aol.com]

No qoutes, just a rambling of my .02 worth on this sensative subject:

This is an interesting and sensitive subject to me though not much Audi
content. On Friday 2/8/97 there was a very interesting (and scary) legal
precedent set here in my town (Santa Cruz, CA.). A man was just aquitted of
murder (a point blank shooting, though there was apparently a tussle over the
gun) after an altercation on our state Hwy. 17. This road is 12 miles long, 2
lanes each way, divided, windy (many turns with speed sugestions of 40mph),
and travels over a mountain pass from San Jose to Santa Cruz. This road is
heavily traveled by on-edge commutors (I know, I was one for many years)
combined with very slow moving (20-30mph max up the hill) double trailer sand
trucks which typically run 10 round trips daily. This road probably best
typifies this scary trend of agressive driving and is considored one of the
most dangerous roads in CA. Most commutors on this road live in fear twice a
day but have very little choice with Santa Cruz being so much nicer a place
to live (IMHO) but Silicon Valley having the better job oportunities. The
incident that occured happened at night, about 1:00 am. The man who was
killed was apparently drunk and driving very aggressivly and didn’t like
something the other driver did. Thus a high speed chase ensued, both drivers
continued this well past the end of this road and on down state Hwy. 1. The
other driver was being chased at this point (by a Mercury Capri Miata-like
thing) and exited off the freeway. Not thinking clearly, he drove around and
re-entered the freeway going the other way (driving about the same distance
as a local police station...). The facts of what ensued are not clear...the
man who shot had a gun, he aproached the car of the agressor (they both
sounded pretty agressive to me) and a tussle ensued. In the end, a man was
killed, and the man who shot was NOT found guilty of murder, his defense
being that he feared for his life.

I have mellowed an enourmous amount with age...(I am only 38 now though) and
drove with the worst of them in my early 20’s and had the points on my record
to prove it...not something I am proud of aside from the fact that I survived
and didn’t hurt anyone or any (well not much) property. I still drive what
many would consider fast, and some too fast. However, I drive very smoothly,
always signal, and am always predictable on the road to my fellow drivers.
Knocking on everything in sight, I can say that I have had only 1 moving
violation since 1984, and no accidents (aside from a brain fade incident with
a pole backing out of a parking space in 1989). I try to refrain from loosing
emotional control of myself though it is not easy at times. I try to be
patiant with left-lane-bandits and only pass on the right when there is no
other choice, and then with extreme caution. Like many who have written on
this subject in the past, I agree that the only place to truly explore a
car’s limits is on a race track...but this doesn’t mean no fun and rewarding
driving experiences on the street-moderation is the key like anything in
life. With roads becoming more and more crowded we must all learn to get
along!!!!

Why is this such a sensitive subject for me? Well, aside from my love of all
things automotive (especialy quattros and Porsches), I am a father of 2 young
children whom I love very much, and I am a serious bicyclist and bicycle
commuter. As a group, bicyclists are subject to road rage like no other, and
we can’t defend ourselves very well aside from being humble, relinquishing
our rights of way, and riding as well as we can to not be perceived as a
detriment to car driver’s use of the roads which we try to share. Bad drivers
come in many flavors and I see and experience them every day-riding or
driving!

In CA. we have “the basic speed law” which implies you must travel at a speed
“safe for conditions”. On many roads around here that is 15 mph (or more)
faster than the speed limit as that is the speed of traffic, and (IMO) moving
slower and not part of the flow presents an unsafe for conditions situation.
This is why (again in CA.) you can fight a radar ticket for speeding if you
are traveling within the 85th percentile average speed. If you are in a high
traffic area, it is far safer (and smarter) to travel at the average speed
than it is to lollygag along at the posted speed limit if the average speed
is higher-this causes road-rage and incidents like the long ramble I just
wrote about. Tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic, etc. has no place on
a busy public road, but then neither does obstinately obeying posted speed
limits in spite of conditions (faster or slower), yakking on your cel-phone,
putting on make-up, reading the newspaper, and generaly not paying much
attention while lumpering your appliance (bummers, minivans, and adnohs
mostly around here) down the road.

Laslty, a car operated in an unsafe manner is a weapon...same as the gun
which killed the man in the story above. On my morning ride to work today, it
dawned on me that with the precedent now set, that I could actualy carry a
gun and protect myself from obnoxious drivers and perhaps get away with it.
Scares me...of course I won’t be doing that as I don’t even own a gun and
don’t believe in them for personal protection-another subject that I’ll shy
away from here.

I’m sorry about the long-windedness of this diatribe and the (possible) WOB.
This was a rant I had to get off my shoulders and seems applicable to the
thread at hand.

Required Audi content: If as quattro enthusiasts wish to enjoy things like
Kanc runs, trips to Pikes Peak, and the like...we all must try to restrain
from this road-rage taking over our emotions (I know just how hard that can
be too), keep our cars down below 7 or 8 tenth’s on the street (and even then
with no one around), and try and share the road with everyone no matter how
much it might pi** us off. Road Rage scares me worse than just about anything
as it directly effects two of the things I truly enjoy in life, driving a q,
and riding a bicycle...it should scare all of us!

Mike Veglia
85 4ksq (and yes, I drive it fast...but within my, my car’s, and road
condition limitations)