"John Gaquin" wrote in
:


"Skywise" wrote in message

I have had no problems since I adopted my current driving style.


...When I started riding, I played
it 'safe'. I also had a lot of close calls. I had people
who would actually try to run me off the road for what
reason, I have no idea.

Patience? For idiots who by their inability to drive are
endangering my life? You want me to have patience?!?! HA!

Maturity? Well, let's see here. I could either blow my
top and start beating the **** out of people when they
nearly kill me on the road. or....

Maybe it's some kind of SoCal thing. You ought to drop in on
rec.autos.driving. There are about 4-5 people (I think 3 from
California) there sound a great deal like you in general outlook, if not
in detail. They regale the whole newsgroup with almost daily tales of
near-death experiences, always at the hands of some other totally
witless, incompetent, oblivious driver. They've even invented cutsie
nicknames for the different types of drivers who inconvenience them, or
don't see the traffic world in quite the "right" way. They refuse to
even consider that their own driving style, self-described (in their
case) as including abrupt acceleration and braking, rapid lane changing,
etc., may have just a little bit to do with their virtually constant
brushes with danger. It's always the other idiots, and their
incompetent driving, that force these guys into horrendous
circumstances.

Thank you for mentioning this. I am acutely aware of the
posibility that it was my driving that caused the problems.
Like I already said, I've been riding for 20 years and have
had time to try different things.

Actually, it could be said that it was my driving that caused
the problems in the past. I used to think that because I was
trying to obey the laws and be a good driver, so was everyone
else, and thus I drove accordingly. Looking back, that was
a very ignorant and naive way of seeing things. I know better
now, and have changed my driving accordingly.


BTW, I note your other, seismic related sites. Is your background there
professional or other? I used to be rather involved in that stuff, a
long time ago.

Just a hobby. Although I disagree, some over in sci.geo.earthquakes
have refered to me as the resident expert. There's far smarter folks
in there than I. They just keep quiet. My forte lately has been the
debunking of quack quake predictions and predictors.

As you may have noticed, I have many technical and scientific related
interests. I also have a growing interest in critical and scientific
thinking. I've applied those skills to my driving situation and that's
how I learned that what I do now works. Empirical evidence. I don't
just 'think' or 'feel' that it works. I 'know' it does. Every now and
then I still try reverting back to "good" driving, and it usually
doesn't take long before the evidence changes me back.

Something I'd like to say is that although Morgans has apparently
been riding a few years longer than I, the difference is that we
have our experiences in different locations. It's quite likely
that our views are due simply to our unique experiences, which
makes neither of us 'right' or 'wrong'.

I just don't care for his holier-than-thou attitude about it,
suggesting that I could get shot at. What he apparently fails
to realize is that it's that kind of attitude that causes the
problems we have on the road.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?