HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: rob@zorro.cecer.army.mil (Rob Knauerhase)
Subject: Re: Flashing Headlights
Organization: US Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Labs
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 20:06:02 GMT

In <1992Nov10.173720.5180@linus.mitre.org> troyer@mitre.org (Tom Royer) writes:
>A slight variation on this thread.  What's the
>best way to signal an on-coming driver that
>s/he should turn ON the lights?

Turning your lights off/on (as you mentioned) is probably the best signal.
The two concerns, though, are (1) it might be illegal (see other post) and
(2) the other guy might not _want_ his lights on.  Not everyone agrees when
lights should be turned on, and it's a little paternalistic to assume that
you know better than the other guy does.

Rob
--
[by day]                                [by day, by night, by weekend...]
rob@amber.cecer.army.mil                knauer@cs.uiuc.edu
Office of Grass Integration             Gigabit Study Group
Construction Engineering Research Labs  Department of Computer Science
US Army Corps of Engineers (USA-CERL)   U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
 "Eat, drink, and be merry; for tomorrow, ye will be taxed."  America, I
  hope 'change' was worth it...
From: dos@major.panix.com (Dave O'Shea)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: Quick Poll
Date: Sun, 08 Nov 92 22:08:33 EST
Organization: ACME products - artillery division

kenny@osf.org (Kenneth Crudup) writes:

> Quick poll- how many of you out there turn off *everything* in your car
> (radio, heater fan, etc.) before you shut the engine off?
> 
> More importantly, why?

I only do it for a couple of days after I do a lot of flying. Shutting
down an aircraft, you get into an automatic habit - radios, xponder,
fuel pump, loran, avionics master, pull mixture to lean, shut down mags,
lights, and finally master. So far, I have not gotten confused over
whether I steer with my feet or hands, yet. :)


--
"A leopard never changes his stripes" 
           -- Al Gore, candidate for vice-president
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: dmunroe@vcd.hp.com (Dave Munroe)
Subject: New hand signals (was: Re: Following for Company)
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 17:53:00 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard

In article <1992Nov2.133613.8274@mips2.ma30.bull.com> K.Buck@ma30.bull.com writes:

>if people had a simple WAY to say _please_ and _sorry_ when they were
>driving, i think they'd use it and there'd be less anger exhibited on
>the roads.

I don't know about "please", but not long ago a magazine article recommended
the "peace sign" (index and middle finger in a "V") as a signal for saying
"sorry".  Personally, I think that gesture could be easily misinterpreted
in its meaning, or be seen incorrectly as The Finger.

For "sorry", I'd prefer what I call the "open hand" signal, where your
arm is raised at the elbow and all five fingers are extended.

I offer a prize of 4 million photons to anyone coming up with a successful
way of alerting the driver ahead of you that his turn indicator is flashing.

-Dave


Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: bodie@plains (Justin M. Bodie)
Subject: Re: WIDE turns
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 17:04:43 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computing Network
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

paula@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (paula.valley) writes:
: Could someone give me ANY feasible reason as to why someone who does
: not drive a semi need to swerve to the right when making a left turn
: or vice-versa.  It seems lately a lot of people are doing this even
: if the turn they are making is plenty wide enough to avoid swerving.
: That is, besides the fact that MANY people in this area (Metro) are
: totally inept at driving and parking.

Well, I don't know if this is "feasable" but it's North Dakota. 
Apparently, farmers here when they are out in their fields plowing or
seeding or whatever, need to swerve their tractors a little ways to the
left in order to make a right turn, so the plower behind the tractor makes
a nice round row end.  Consequently, this practice often ends up in the
farmers' on the road driving, which annoys me and countless other city
dwellers in North Dakota.

Let me know what you think of this!

Justin :-)

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 |=========> Justin M. Bodie <========== | Slide shows: boring             |
 |Student: North Dakota State, Fargo, ND | We come from Hiawatha!!         |
 |===  email bodie@plains.nodak.edu ===  | Water can be fun..              |
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
From: hagger@cs.umd.edu (Paul Hagger)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: Night vision
Keywords: Where is that lane??
Date: 13 Nov 92 14:31:25 GMT
Article-I.D.: mimsy.62022
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742

In article <1du6n9INNlta@gilligan.East.Sun.COM> mike@gilligan.East.Sun.COM (Mike Roncadori) writes:
>
>Anyway, one of the roads we were on has a long slowdown lane for
>a neighborhood, and the markings have been worn thin over time.
>I deviated left, like the markings go, but this fella continued
>into the slowdown lane. I thought "Great... I'm finally rid of
>this guy!". I was now about 2 feet from his rear window, passing
>him. Suddenly, as he comes to the end of the slowdown lane, he
>snatches his car hard left and almost hits me. He must have thought
>that he was still in the proper lane.
>
>-- Mike

Now that rush hour extends well past sunset, the frequency of my night
driving experiences has reminded me of one of my pet peeves with the
US National Highway & Traffic Safety Institute.

From the statistics I have heard, 90+% of accidents occur in restricted
visibilty situations (rain/night/fog/whatever).  And around here, the
road markings are hard enough to see just when it's dark, let alone when
it is raining and dark.  This is not just a problem for vision impaired
drivers, but for all of us.

I was wondering why the US has not imposed equivalent road marking
requirements as I have experienced in Europe.  I know that England has
"cat's eyes" between the dashed lines in the center of the road.  These
small reflectors are placed in holes cut in the road, and when a car
drives over them, it pushes them down and washes them (the casing they
sit in works kind of like the human eyelid, only the eye moves and not
the covering).

Does anybody know if the US ever attempted to improve the visibilty of
road markings in any way?  And if not, why not?

-hagger
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: hoffberg@hera.aps.anl.gov (Mike G. Hoffberg)
Subject: Radar Detectors
Summary: what to buy
Organization: Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago Illinois
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 19:59:28 GMT


I know that there are reviews of the radar detectors in one of
Octobers car magazines, but I was wondering what everyone thought of
the one they have.

I am looking for a Radar Detector.  I guess it should be one of the
three banded ones (X, K, Ka).  I don't know how much driving I will be
doing in Canada, so I don't think that I will need a "stealth" model.

There are four that come to mind:
Valentine One
Passport (3200?)
Bel tri-band
K40

It seems that the Valentine and the Passport have at least a 3 month
delivery schedule.  Are they worth it?

Should I just buy a Bel?

Should I pay the rediculous amount to get the K40?

Right now I am using an original Escort (they don't seem to ever break
or fail, this has been on the dash for a long time).

If people e-mail me, I will post the summerized replies.

MIKE


-- 
Michael Hoffberg               /.\ <Build APS>   ~\   /~  "Jeez, am I the
hoffberg@phebos.aps.anl.gov   // \\ Argonne        \ /     only one who paid
hoffberg@anlaps.aps.anl.gov  //_O_\\ National       |      full price?" F.F.
                            /__| |__\ Lab   Obbyn! _|_ Obbyn!
From: mike@gilligan.East.Sun.COM (Mike Roncadori)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Night vision
Date: 12 Nov 1992 13:10:49 -0500
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc., Vienna, VA.
NNTP-Posting-Host: gilligan.east.sun.com
Keywords: Where is that lane??

I had a very unpleasant experience while driving home last night:

I was following a driver who obviously could not see well, be-
cause every time he approached a curve, oncoming vehicle, crest
of a hill, he would do what I call "brake dancing". Since this
is a single-lane road, packed with outbound commuters, his actions
were very frustrating to me an all those following me, I'm sure.

Anyway, one of the roads we were on has a long slowdown lane for
a neighborhood, and the markings have been worn thin over time.
I deviated left, like the markings go, but this fella continued
into the slowdown lane. I thought "Great... I'm finally rid of
this guy!". I was now about 2 feet from his rear window, passing
him. Suddenly, as he comes to the end of the slowdown lane, he
snatches his car hard left and almost hits me. He must have thought
that he was still in the proper lane. Luckily, I presumed him to
be a dip s&^t, and immediately braked to let him back in.

What it left me thinking was that it seems the DMV does not really
test night vision at all. You peer down a backlit viewer, and read
some numbers, but you never really have to do anything like find
a badly worn road marker on a rainy night. This should be easy
enough to simulate, and then restrict people with uncorrectable
night vision to daylight hours. Seems like just asking someone
to read some poorly lit eye charts might suffice for testing this.

Do y'all think it's reasonable to test for nighttime vision? What
about restricting bad night vision folks to daylight driving?

-- Mike

----------------------------------------------------------------
My opinions - noy my employer's
From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: French cars
Followup-To: rec.autos
Date: 5 Nov 1992 11:16 PST
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
Summary: Appliance, Anchor, Forego, and Least Car
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

>...I had a 1983 Alliance...it was not solidly constructed...

During a period when I traveled on business quite a bit, several US
rent-a-car companies were infatuated with these awful cars.  The best
I can say is that they were well-rounded in their mediocrity.  Never
have I driven a car that gave me such a strong impression that I could
rip it entirely apart with my bare hands.  Or such a strong desire to
do exactly that.

I'm told that Renault makes some decent cars for the European market.
They never seem to make it over here, though.  

Some of the problem with marketing French cars over here evidently
stems from their reputation for poor reliability and for not having
enough engine.  (Hello, Simca?)  But a lot if it, I'd wager, is an
American aesthetic distaste for French industrial design.  French
style is popular here in personal items and in services, but not 
machinery.  One can easily picture a wealthy American putting on 
Givenchy duds and a Vacheron & Constantin watch, grabbing a Hermes 
or Louis Vuitton bag, and heading out on Air France... but driving 
there in a Peugeot?  Not likely, hence Peugeot's surrender as the 
last French holdout in the American car market.  We just prefer our
machinery to look American or German, with minority preferences for
English or Italian.  Don't ask me why.

C'est la vie,
--Joe
"Just another personal opinion from the People's Republic of Berkeley"
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving,rec.autos,rec.autos.tech
From: vetter@mtu.edu (STEVEN J. VETTER)
Subject: Re: ++WHISTLER 680/780/880++Which???!!!
Organization: Michigan Technological University
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 21:56:16 GMT

mgarber@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Max D Garber) writes:
>I am looking to upgrade my current radar and saw the following very appealing
>choices (All WHISTLER):
>
>     680=> Tri-Band
>     780=> Tri-Band
>     880=> Tri-Band
>
>Now, I used to have a WHISTLER 2SE and LOVED it.  Can someone give me the run-
>down on these three Radars.  Obviously, the 680 is the least $ and the 880 is 
>the most


  My experience would be to avoid the entire whistler line.  I owned a 680 and 
  it was the most worthless piece of SH_T in the Northern Hemisphere.  Among the
  problems were:

	1.  That annoying "stylish" molded plastic cover to the led's always 
	    reflected the sun, no matter how dim, making it impossible to see
	    the led's.
	2.  Not that this was such a problem because it only had a three stage
	    led display that would go from one to three with no stops in between.
	3.  It had less sensitivity than the $50 "Fuzzbuster" I bought the day
	    before I turned 16.
	4.  And it kept going off (just one bleep, enough to really piss you off)
	    in the middle of empty desolate roads where a cow bell might be the 
	    only thing that could possibly set it off.  And these bleeps were
	    completely random.

  If you've had good experience with Whistler products before, keep it that way and
  stay away from this line.

  vetter@mtu.edu

  PS- I'M F___ING COLD !!! 
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: jpc@philabs.philips.com (John P. Curcio;6442;3.55;)
Subject: Flame warning! (WAS: Re: Paying a Reasonable Price for Gas)
Organization: Philips Laboratories, Briarcliff Manor, NY.
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 14:09:46 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.211812.16727@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> tex@r-node.ts.org writes:
>No..the Japeneese guy wasn't right about the USA...he is a damn 
>LOOSER. If you do some research into that asshole who said Americans
>are lazy...you'll see he had his job handed down to him becuase he did
>favors for the government...why not have a damn monarch? That is about what
>japan is. The people of japan do work hard, and so do the americans, but
>the damn government in japan is flat out self centered. 

Oh, right-- and our government is of the people, and for the people?
Don't believe everything you read...

>Just remember, the USA is the greatest country in the UNIVERSE..and we
>are the leaders of the universe!

Wow.... and what exactly did you do to contribute to this?  It's people
like you who make the US look bad.  Hell, if you could even spell
"Japanese" and "loser" correctly, maybe people would take you
seriously.  Let's hope that'll never happen....

-JPC


-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John P. Curcio 		          Go Bruins!		   Philips Laboratories
jpc@philabs.philips.com 			           345 Scarborough Road
(914) 945-6442               	 		     Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: scs8@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Sebastian C Sears)
Subject: Re: LIDAR demo on Discovery Channel
Reply-To: scs8@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Sebastian C Sears)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 18:45:54 GMT

In article <f0bq8b=@dixie.com> jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond) writes:
	[stuff cut]
>The next segment had potential but as usual was presented with a large
>piggy slant.  It was to show a Cobra LIDAR detector against the gun.
>It was a contrived test with the test car being the only one on
>the road and the cop knowing which target to shoot.  Nontheless I would
>have called it a draw.  The driver would have had to have been fast
>but I believe he could have braked out of it.
>
>Another thought crossed my mind as I was watching this.  Hard braking
>at the instant of alarm would cause the car to brake OUT of the field
>of view of the LIDAR, particularly if the cop is panning smoothly.  
>Hard braking should be an even better defence than with conventional radar.


	Although this may work, it has to be smooth. You have to train yourself
	to brake hard without stomping on the brakes in reflex. I know from
	experience that, without any other data, a cop can pull you over for
	braking hard when hit with a radar gun. They *can* and *will* dredge
	up some bullshit law you broke, because they (in all their infinite
	pig wisdom) *know* you were being naughty. :-(

-------
"Don't believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear."  -  Lou Reed
Sea-Bass Sears --> scs8@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu --> DoD#516 <-- |Stanley, ID.|
'79 Yamaha XS750F -- '85 Toyota 4Runner -- Perception Corsica  |  NYC, NY.  |
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: kenny@osf.org (Kenneth Crudup)
Subject: Re: Quick Poll
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 21:24:36 GMT

A lot of the responses I got from those who say they shut everything off were
along the lines of "reducing the battery drain" when you first start the car
(note, of course, I wasn't referring to headlights and always-on things like
that). (I guess the rest of you are just retentives :-).

My Merkur shuts off power to everything when the key goes to the "start"
position, so that no matter what's on, there's no additional battery drain.

I assume every car isn't like the way Ford does it?

-- 
Kenny Crudup, Contractor, OSF DCE QA
OSF, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142	+1 617 621 7306
kenny@osf.osf.org			OSF has nothing to do with this post.
	  Religion: The longest-running gag ever played on Mankind.
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: lpickup@xanadu.btv.ibm.com (Lance Pickup)
Subject: Re: How To Drive the RIGHT way!
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 15:58:03 GMT
Distribution: usa
Reply-To: lpickup@vnet.ibm.com
Organization: IBM Technology Products

In article <1992Nov12.235151.28508@lmpsbbs.comm.mot.com>, shultz_ed@macmail1.rtsg.mot.com writes:
|> In article <Zyg4TB4w164w@cellar.org> blu@cellar.org (Dan Reed) writes:
|> >
|> >                   High Speed driving Tips, by Dan Reed
|> >                                 (Humor)
|>
|> EXCELLENT!!!
|>
|> However, I have a corollary to rule #1 "Don't ever use turn signals".  There
|> are two cases where you may use turn signals.  1.  AFTER you have entered a
|> turn lane.  or 2.  AFTER you are at least half way between lanes when changing
|> lanes.  In both of these cases, you do not convey any extra information to
|> other drivers that they may use to figure out what the F*** you are trying to
|> do until it is obvious to everyone!
|>
|> -Ed S.

Here's one more time when you may use turn signals:  At a signaled
intersection where there are two lanes going in your direction, and
no turn only lanes, and you are in the left lane, do not use your
turn signal until: (a) you are at a complete stop and (b) you notice
that a car behind you has noticed that you do not have your left turn
signal on so has decided to avoid the long line of cars going straight
in the right lane and pulls in behind you.  When both (a) and (b) are
true, then and only then may you signal your intention to turn left
thus causing the person behind you who gave up his spot in the right
lane to have to wait a whole cycle of the light for you to make your
turn.
--
    ...Lance

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lance Pickup                VNET/IBM Internet: lpickup@btv
IBM/Vendor Systems                   Internet: lpickup@vnet.ibm.com
Technology Products
Burlington, VT                          Phone: (802) 769-7104 (tie 446)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: bqueiser@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Brian J Queiser)
Subject: Re: Quick Poll
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 15:22:00 GMT

kenny@osf.org (Kenneth Crudup) writes:
>Quick poll- how many of you out there turn off *everything* in your car
>(radio, heater fan, etc.) before you shut the engine off?
>
>More importantly, why?

Hey Ken, don't you turn everything off before you kill the engine?
It gives your turbo time to spool down without oil starvation, no?
I already turn off the A/C or DEF if its on, but I leave the vent on low.
This keeps the starter from working too hard and lets some fresh air
into the car while its off.  Radio usually gets turned down or off so I 
don't blast myself the next morning.  When I get my XR4, I'm gonna do the 
same thing, only slower.  :^)

Regards,

Brian

bqueiser@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am the engineer, I can choose K.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Department of Engineering Mechanics
Ohio State University
Columbus, OH
From: tedebear@leland.Stanford.EDU (Theodore Chen)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: LIDAR demo on Discovery Channel
Date: 12 Nov 92 06:05:07 GMT
Article-I.D.: leland.1992Nov12.060507.16070
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA


how long does it take for the LIDAR unit to acquire a reading
when the pig gets a lock?
how much time do you have to nail the brakes once your LIDAR
detector goes off?
From: dos@major.panix.com (Dave O'Shea)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: ABS vs RADAR
Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 11:11:41 EST
Organization: ACME products - artillery division

russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) writes:

> In article <w9!qjhm@dixie.com> jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond) writes:
> 
> >More importantly, why in the world would anyone want to ban radar?
> >The last thing I'd ever want would be to see the pigs with some kind
> >of speed detection device that could NOT be easily detected by the
> >victims.
> 
> Plus, it has the extra added bonus of causing cataracts and testicular
> cancer in the chronically exposed pig.  MORE power to police radar
> (hurts them more and lets us detect it further away...)

We should get a petition started to make sure that all new police radar units
are equipped with high-power, 360-degree radiators to make sure they catch all
those bad speeders. :)

Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: bcacciol@wizard.Berkeley.EDU (Mr B Natural)
Subject: Re: ***Police intimidation ???
Reply-To: bcacciol@1.com
Organization: none
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 13:20:21 GMT

In article <1992Nov10.035845.61@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>,
hasch@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Veljko Roskar) writes:
> 
> 
> An ugly incident with the Baltimore's "finest" happened
> to me on an early Sunday afternoon while looking for
> parking before an Orioles game.

WHAT I WOULD DO:

1. Plead "Not Guilty".

2. Bring wife and 10-month old with you. I STRONGLY URGE YOU TO
   DO THIS. 

3. Do not raise your voice or otherwise appear strident.

4. If you can, ask the officer for a description of your vehicle
   and/or your exact violation. If he fudges or forgets details such
   as these, he'll appear less credible.
   
5.You also need to know what would have been gained by turning around
  and coming back (that is, repeating the behavior). If it was a
  violation in the first place, why would the officer ask you to
  repeat it?

6. Dress casual.

Good luck.

bc