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I ride motorcycles on Caly freeways, being afraid
is not the issue. The issue is fear of incompetents who are herding
vehicles of which they probably have little or no control, most of whom would be
a danger to others even driving a compact car. You place them in these 3
and 4 ton trucks and if you have no fear of them, you are most likely as
stupid as they are. Fear, or perhaps intense respect is a
better way of saying it, generates caution which has saved me many
times. However I am afraid for my wife even if she were to drive a much
larger car, because any of these so called SUV's and large pickup trucks are
deadly to any car that they may hit, and they do hit many because of the
ill handling, braking characteristics of them, and the
incompetent, aggressive lamebrains who are behind the wheel of so many of
them. And to suggest that she or I purchase one of them to protect our
lives is a poor response, as it is well known that the death rate is far higher
for SUV and pickup drivers and passengers than for automobiles. This even
in spite of the fact that in a collision between a car and one of them, the car
usually gets the worst of it. SUV's and their brethren suffer from a
far higher accident and fatality rate(again aggressive drivers and poor
handling) and their tendency to tip over under almost any circumstance(witness
the so called Firestone/Explorer fiasco). Most of which the deaths were
not because of the tires but because the SUV's rolled over because of any tire
failure that would not have fazed an automobile, and again likely that their
drivers did have the wit to keep the vehicle sunny side up after a tire
failure. Driving these things requires a far different skill set than
driving a car and if you have never observed these morons in action then you are
not paying attention either. Ironically these owners in their
blissful ignorance have some misguided belief that they are safer in these
vehicles because they believe that when they hit an auto, it is the auto driver
who will be killed, not them. I guess that is the American way, "pull up
the rope, I'm in the boat".
Oh what the hell, this country probably only
suffers an additional 5,000 traffic deaths annually(hell we killing 17,000
annually because of drunks on the road and alcohol is still
legal) because of these vehicles compared to if all people were driving
automobiles. I guess in the great scheme of things that killing almost
twice the number killed annually as were killed in the WTC bombing, we can live
with that, so people can continue to sit up high.
Please do not get me totally wrong. I firmly
believe there is a valid use and place for pickup trucks and SUV's.
Commercial use, hunting, pulling a boat, camping etc. I only find their
use for daily purposes totally moronic and all to deadly to the rest of
us.
A few years ago, a San Francisco couple were
convicted of murder because their dogs had attacked and killed a
lady. The prosecutions argument which the jury bought off on, was that
as "everyone" knew that this particular breed of dog could be
dangerous, and they owned them anyway, they were being reckless to the extreme
and therefore were guilty of murder, and again they were convicted of 2nd degree
murder.
Roger Schaaf
300 B
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 9:58
PM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] FW: [FWDLK] All this
late model and future discussion...
It must be sad to spent
your life afraid.
I know what you mean about cars and
trucks around you on your motorcycle.
I quit riding my HD in the city after my
neighbor was rear-ended on his cycle
while riding next to me. But
life goes on. I ride when and where I feel safe.
Why don't you and your wife purchase some
larger vehicles and stop being fearful
of everything around you ?
Tom S
From: Forward Look Mopar Discussion List on
behalf of Roger Schaaf
Sent: Thu 3/22/2007 11:53 PM
To:
L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] FW: [FWDLK] All
this late model and future discussion...
Mike
Sorry that you may have misread my missive. I
never said or meant to imply that those who owned these vehicles were
riff raff. However for me when I am riding a motorcycle down a
Calyfornua freeway at 70 miles per hour, and one of these scows is on my tail
about 10 feet behind me, and passing me on both sides atr 90, all I can
think is, can this tailgating or speeding vehicle with the handling
characteristics of a stagecoach really stop as fast as I can if I should ever
need to slow quickly. It often appears that the larger the vehicle,
the more aggressive and invulnerable the driver seems and we all see
it everyday.
When I drive my B, I never fail to maintain at
least a car length behind any vehicle I am following for each 10 mph of
speed. Seems that most of our Caly drivers have not a clue about the
laws of physics and all to often it is someone driving one of these vehicles
who are reckless and intimidating, so yes I suppose I(and probably
millions of others) are somewhat jaded and afraid of them(and hate them), and
have a somewhat negative opinion. Oh yes, did I mention that I lost a
brother to a drunken driver who broadsided him. This driver was driving
an SUV. If it had been a mere car(that had real bumpers
of the height mandated by the FEDs for automobiles--which again SUV's get a
pass on), he probably would have walked away. As it was, this SUV just
crawled right up over the protective side impact bars in the passenger
door(where my brother was sitting) and right into the automobile. Yes, I
know being drunk was the crime, driving the SUV was not, but my brother died
nevertheless and he could/would still be alive if struck by a drunk in an
automobile.
Ask yourself just how comfortable you are with
your family members out on the roads in their small Hondas, Chevy's, and
Audi's with all these huge vehicles. It scares me everyday to see my
wife go off to work with some 34 roundtrip miles of freeway to
drive, and she is driving her small car and I know what danger she is exposed
to.
Some would say that I am just being
paranoid. However another wag once said that: "Paranoia is merely an
enlightened sense of awareness".
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