[Magdalen] another train wreck

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

Driving is currently considered a right, not a privilege.

I have had, for some time, the perception that we try to eliminate
accidents by over-regulating.

We have stop signs where the unobstructed view makes a yield sign
appropriate.

We have speed limits absurdly low.

We have created a nation of scofflaws.  They know the obvious truth: that
stop sign ought not to be there, and they ignore it.  The speed limit is
wrong, and they ignore it.

The response is to set limits all the lower, and putting in more stop signs.

The speed limit all over the ground of the Culinary Institute of America,
where Christine used to work, is ten miles per hour.  I determined that I
was not physically able to make my car go that slowly.  In some trailer
parks, the speed limit is five miles per hour.

Municipalities are responsible for posting limits and signage.  If there is
any kind of an accident, the lawyers examine those signs to see if they can
find the municipality (money bags) at fault for part or all of the
accident. So that's a strong motivation for any gummint to choose the most
restrictive possible limitations.  There is no motivation whatsoever for
these groups to use less restrictions, and thus we have 45mph limits of
highways built for 65. And on those roads you have folks going at 40 (just
to be on the safe side) and folks doing 70.  Can you say "prescription for
an accident!" ?

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better
for people coming behind you, and you don’t do it, you're wasting your time
on this Earth.”  -- *Roberto Clemente

On Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at 9:05 AM, Roger Stokes <roger.stokes65 at btinternet.com>
wrote:

> On 05/02/2015 13:21, Jim Guthrie wrote:
>
>>
>> It should be noted that some have suggested that the traditional red
>> flashers be replaced with ordinary traffic lights. The highway engineers
>> reject that idea as way too dangerous, since so many motorists ignore the
>> lights (and gates) at crossings, and they fear that using traffic lights
>> would only result in motorists ignoring them at highway intersections as
>> well.
>>
>
> You mean they always observe regular traffic lights at the moment? Only
> this morning I saw somebody going across a light that must have been red
> for him as mine was turning green and there is an all-red period.
>
>
>> They set a very low bar for the intelligence of motorists.
>>
>
> An accurate bar in many cases.
>
> Roger
>