Proposal to the Gov and WSP

I hope the police get to see the many responses from people on this board and see how scared the public is in dealing with them, even scared to loose their lives as normal law abiding citizens. No one is perfect and we do make some errors like J walking late at night in dangerous areas. Sure, stop us and say that might be dangerous or give us to lift to the garage in those areas, but DO NOT ABUSE US, just because you can. Image is important and unfortunately based on the responses, it is not too good.

 

Isn't that what half the Troopers want anyway? Some self-esteem? Half of these guys would follow you for an hour out of their way on their Harley just to threaten you because you passed them.
-Colin

 

While I agree with you Mod, your suggestion is too extreme given where we are today....it won't fly. I'd LOVE to see it happen, but it won't.
That being said, maybe toning down the $2000 license and you may be there.

I also think another incentive would be to make it ILLEGAL for funds collected from traffic fleecing be used for things related to police department budgets. Part of me thinks they do what they do so they can get new toys and hire more cops.

 

i'm down for this

 

...as am I. Sprechen ze deutsch?
-Colin

 

Yes, and tax the businesses to pay for this,
the EU has very good tax on the business and the people, very big tax is good for this!

 

I simply do not understand our willingness, as a country, to allow 15.5 year-olds access to public roads. The training/testing is pathetic here, and completely incongruent with the dangers that young drivers place on our whole society. I think it would be safer for society to lower the drinking age to 15 than to allow this section of society access to our roads. There is proof that brain development is not even complete at that age, and further proof that, esp in the case of boys, there is no establishment of sound cause/effect management -- they're wired for reaction/do rather than think/do. I was dangerous enough at 17 to be let on the roads after 20 hours of instruction -- I wouldn't be here today (Darwin having had his wicked way with me) if I had been put in a motor-vehicle at 15/16.

It's amazing that this society is so obssessed over the dangers to health from smoking or drinking, and protecting our kids from danger (eg helmets on bikes, product safety recalls etc) and yet it's like "hey, strap on this 4000lb machine and have at it!".

 

I completely agree.

 

...after turning 19 last week, and being a few years out of the whole "I have car, I am the coolest kid around" perspective of life, I have to agree. I don't have a problem admitting that at 16, I was not a courteous, safe, or humble driver in any way. I was irresponsible, rampid, rude, and just plain immature. Now, especially after driving 100 miles a day for two years now- I've had a better idea of what it takes, and how to drive a car.

...and really, sometimes, I wish I could go back and appologize to some drivers.

I highly doubt I would've said any of this at 16, but looking back now, I was just a statistic among teenage drivers.

 

Let's also start re-testing older drivers. I don't know, start at age 65 and up with testing every other year. I see more older drivers who are unsafe versus young idiots.

 

And while we're at it, would it be TOO much to ask that basic English reading skills are included as part of the test ?

[Gotta go, I hear the fervent demented ramblings of a horde of "politically correct" extremists!]

 

Just out of curiosity, what percentage of our population here in WA State, do you think, can afford to do what you are suggesting here? Should we just rename Interstate-5 to Interstate-Mordalo, or what section of I-405 do you prefer to have as your own personal freeway?

 

A very good case can be made for raising the driving age. Clinton would probably be for this... or, maybe not... or maybe only UW's should get one as she argued for (or against?) last night. [How's that for expanding the argument ]

As much as I would have complained as a victim of license denial at 16, it would not have introduced a hardship for myself or my family. Exceptions could be made for hardships as they are now.

Insurance companies, governmental entities, politicians, and many other interests that perceive a revenue gap would attempt to nix this plan. Even as holistic analytics are brought to bear that indicate a "raising of all ships", change resistance would be fierce.

 

+1000000 LOL

 

Funny that you mention this. When I took the test in CA there was plenty of manual is English, but when I took the exam here in WA (Seattle) there were no driving manuals in English. There were a few in Spanish and some in Russian. I took the one in Spanish, and it was the worst translation I have ever read.

 

The first time I took the written test, when I was still 15, they acutally gave it to me in Spanish on the computer, and when I told them I couldn't really understand the majority of it- they told me to go get another number and wait to take it in English...

...I left.

-Colin

 

There was another story on the news tonight that just goes to show how close we are coming......


http://www.komotv.com/news/10983591.html

How long is it going to be before some nut pulls someone over and winds up killing them? The simple solution has already been mentioned by Michael in his original post!

 

A main emphasis I would like to see publicized & enforced is the European tradition of staying in the slower lanes unless you are passing someone. That would really assist traffic flow, but then drivers would have to finally pay attention to traffic around them! Suppose that could ever happen?

 

Yes I agree that driving courses would help in our battle with some idiots on the road. I don't agree that it should be a requirement. Possibly if courses of this nature are taken than the insurance companies should step up and give larger discounts to those with the 2 day events under their belt. You can't add such a large expense to the 95% of americans that are just happy to pay their fuel bills. Most on a board like this don't understand this. I have 50+ employees and only about 15 of them could possibly think about a driving course. You can't possibly deny transportation to someone wanting to feed and shelter their family. With 6 cars in the garage I would like to see Allstate recognize my racing and my driving skills with a nice 20-40% greater discount that they already give. just my 2 cents.