HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto)
Subject: Re: Tailgaters abound!
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 92 20:23:54 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park

In article <Bv4ys7.JD9@news.cso.uiuc.edu> tmkk@uiuc.edu (Khan) writes:
>
>Picture in your mind a typical chokeoff merge situation. A mile back
>from the merge, cars are tooling contentedly along, usually with a
>decent amount of space around their vehicles. Very easy for someone to
>slip in without causing a disruption.

But when he does, those behind him open up some space, which
propagates back as long as the traffic is heavy.

>As the vehicles draw closer to the chokeoff point, traffic slows down
>(if for no other reason than some grandmother in a Lincoln Town Car is
>afraid her big behemoth won't make it through the narrow passage after
>the chokeoff). When cars ahead slow down, cars behind reduce their
>following distances. The intervehicle gaps become smaller. At some
>point, the gaps will shrink so small that cars can no longer merge
>without disruption. This is why you see people in the through lane
>having to slow down or stop to open up a gap for the beggar to come
>in.

If the road is near capacity, the chokeoff point will actually be at
stop and go in the through lane.  The late merger can take advantage
of this by pulling ahead of someone who is stopped (and couldn't use
the space ahead of him due to inertia).

>There's no way the last minute merger is blame free in this situation.
>Most, if not all, of the problem was caused by his actions.

No, the problem is caused by the road conditions, not any of the
individual drivers.  As has been pointed out by many, if the wide
section is near capacity, then the narrow section is going to be
overcapacity, and THAT is what causes the problems.  Just watch the
throughput in the narrow part.

The last minute merger may be hurting all those people he passed.  But
he helps himself by at least as much.  It's near zero-sum

If you don't like being taken advantage of, do the late merge
yourself.  If enough people do it, the backup will be the same length
in both lanes, and the dilemma will go away.  Throughput remains the
same, but the backup on the wide section is shorter-- which is good,
as it localizes its effect and keeps it from interfering with prior
exits, etc.
-- 
Matthew T. Russotto	russotto@eng.umd.edu	russotto@wam.umd.edu
Some news readers expect "Disclaimer:" here.
Just say NO to police searches and seizures.  Make them use force.
(not responsible for bodily harm resulting from following above advice)
From: pvmason@cco.caltech.edu (Peter V. Mason)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: Signalling one's desire to pass
Date: 6 Oct 1992 06:01:41 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: alumni.caltech.edu

In article <1992Oct2.063352.10523@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au> kappa@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Glenn Capuano) writes:
>Kevin Quinn (kevinq@Ingres.COM) wrote:
>> In article <1992Oct1.163946.1@bronco.fnal.gov> colombo@bronco.fnal.gov writes:
>
>	I've been reading this thread with interest, please excuse my
>ignorance, in the US, is it not allowed or considered bad driving to
>pass on the right of a slower driver on a divided road? If not, why bother
>flashing lights or using a left blinker when you could just pass on the right?
>	In Australia, it's both allowable and acceptable to pass on the
>left (the right lane being the "fast" lane), my VTA rules book just states
>that you have to be a bit more careful because you're in the other
>driver's blind spot for longer.
>
>Regards,
>	Glenn Capuano
>

This subject came up a month ago when a German visitor wanted to
know about differences in driving in Europe and America. 

I'd be interested in doing a survey.  Is it illegal in your state to
pass a car driving in the left lane in the right lane on a 4 lane surface street?  
On a  freeway?

Post to my e-mail address and if there are enough responses, I'll
post a summary.  Indicate your degree of certainly. 1 = I heard a rumor,
5 = I just read it in a current copy of the vehicle code.  I'd prefer
4's and 5's. 

Pete Mason
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: tonym@world.std.com (Tony Matt)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Spotted in CT (was: tips for Indiana, Ohio ?)
Date: 5 Oct 92 23:02:29 GMT
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA

Spiros Triantafyllopoulos writes:
> ashaw@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (andrew.shaw) writes:
>> rjwade@rainbow.ecn.purdue.edu (Robert J. Wade) writes:
>>>[In re unmarked Mustangs and Camaros]
>>>gee, how nice that our tax dollars buy the police sports cars 
>>> 
>>Maybe some are seized under the "pre-trial asset-forfeiture program".
> 
>Nope. They're all brand new...
>
>I seem to recall that in the Boston area a few years ago they used
>pre-trial asset forfeiture cars. I remember a netter being nailed by a
>BAKERY VAN wielding a radar gun... Or at least using the bakery van
>as a no-can-guess radar platform vehicle...

Connecticut supposedly uses/used such cars, but in my 100 or so round-trips
on I-84, I've seen little evidence of them (one Monte Carlo that may have
been part of a trap).  Not that I go through there that often...

What I did see just last Thursday was an MX-6 as part of a trap.  It was
crossing from the median strip to bag someone, while a Crown Vic was on 
the right-hand shoulder across from it.  That's the first non-Big-Three-
badged vehicle I've seen used by any State Police.  Perhaps they got 
approval to buy the MX-6 because it's assembled in the US.

Massachusetts, meanwhile, seems to be predominantly Crown Vics and Mustangs,
with a few (previous generation) Caprices and Ford vans in the mix.
Xref: sparky rec.autos.driving:5809 rec.autos:23161
From: met@ariel.its.unimelb.EDU.AU (Meteorology General)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving,rec.autos
Subject: Re: (Defeating) The Club
Date: 2 Oct 92 08:31:09 GMT
Followup-To: rec.autos.driving
Organization: University of Melbourne Dept of Meteorology

In article <1992Oct1.163523.23402@linus.mitre.org> ptrei@bistromath.mitre.org (Peter Trei) writes:
<some other stuff>
>
>    The club is pretty uncuttable, but a bolt cutter will take a
>segment out of the steering wheel in seconds. The club can then be
>pulled off.
>
>   It'll probably defeat the casual joy rider, and cause the serious
>car thief to look elsewhere if you have a common model, but if a
>serious thief wants YOUR car, forget it.
>
>							Peter Trei
I was told at a science and technology fair here how the club could
be defeated quite easily. A metal pipe of the appropriate diameter
is slipped onto the "handle" end of the club, then using the extra
leverage you simply push and pull backwards and forwards until the
realtively weak "handle" breaks off, taking with it the end that 
loops over the top (if you have the handle pointing at the windscreen)
of the steering wheel. Apparently all the strength in the club is in
the extendable bar that goes across the sterring wheel, but it is
relatively weak in the "handle" dept. Of course the guy telling 
me all this was the inventor of a new type of car "lock" that 
effectively disabled the brake and/or (I cant remember) accelerator.

Aside from this though, I agree whole heartedly with the statement that
it is a deterent for the joy rider. I parked my car in a railway station
parking lot every working day for 2 years and never had any problems
with the club on. However I would estimate that nearly every week I 
would see the broken glass on the ground etc where someone had broken
into, and usually stolen, another car. A friend who parked there only
once had her car broken into, but the idiots gave up stealing it when
they had completely demolished the steering column trying to get off
the standard lock on the column (and it was only an old VW station wagon)
-- really the work of professionals! :-)
 


Andrew B. Watkins                    |    `To strive, to seek, to find and
awatkins@mullara.met.unimelb.edu.au  |     not to yield'  
awatkins@buster.met.unimelb.edu.au   |                  - Lord Tennyson 



Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: deanb@pecan10.cray.com (Dean Barker)
Subject: Truckers ARE professionals
Originator: deanb@pecan10
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: 2 Oct 92 11:31:57 CDT



tmkk@uiuc.edu (Khan) writes:

> The unfortunate reality on American roads today is that so many drivers
> are completely clueless as to make any such conventions useless. Take,
> for example, the "it's safe to merge back into the right lane" flash
> that truckers use. When truck A passes truck B, truck B will dip its
> headlights to inform truck A that its trailer is clear of truck B's cab
> and that truck A may safely merge back into the right lane. Truck A will
> respond by blinking his "thank you" lights which line the edges of his
> trailer.
> 
> Try this signal with your average car driver. At best you'll gt a
> dumbfounded look; at worst, the guy will get pissed off and try to run
> you off the road.
> 
> This type of intervehicle communication works with truckers because they
> are serious about the driving task - they're professionals, after all.

This is true. Like or not truckers are professionals and we should all take
some lessons of highway etiquette from truckers. I get tired of people bashing
truckers, yes, there are some bad truck drivers, but on the whole they are
the best drivers on the road. The truckers dip their lights to let a fellow
truck driver know that it is clear to change lanes. Why don't more motorists
do this for truckers? Do you realize how difficult it is for the driver to 
know when his trailer clears your car? The truckers always keep right except
to pass, why don't more motorists do this? Give the truckers some respect. 
Don't ride along side them for miles and then get pissed when they start to
make a lane change into you. How do you expect them to know you are there when
you are riding in their blind spot?


kiel_jeff@macmail1.rtsg.mot.com writes:
>  I have observed that
> most of these drivers have found that trucks are easy prey.  They can not
> accelerate quickly enough to keep the distance between themselves and the next
> car in line small enough to prevent other cars from merging into the lane.


This is another example of not giving truckers respect. It is harder to stop
a loaded 18-wheeler, that is why the truckers tend to leave more space 
between the truck and the car in front of them. So what do people do? Yep,
they lane change right in front of the truck. This is a pet-peeve of truckers,
I know, I hear them on the CB all the time. Then when a truck rear-ends a
car, everybody blames the trucker, when in reality Joe Blow lane changed in
front of the truck taking up the space that he/she left for braking.

Truckers may be foul-mouthed, sexist, rednecks...but they are professional
drivers. Like it or not.

-Dean
From: schludermann@sscvx1.ssc.gov
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: INFO:Drivers rights package from uniden?
Date: 5 Oct 92 23:21:05 GMT
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory


   Does anyone know if uniden has a legal rights package similar to Cincinatti
Microwaves Escort program? If not How could I get Cincinatti Microwaves Escort
program?
                               Kris
From: karmira@natinst.com (Apostolos Karmirantzos)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Thank you at night (was Re: Signalling one's desire to pass)
Date: 2 Oct 1992 18:46:31 -0500
Organization: National Instruments, Austin, TX
NNTP-Posting-Host: falcon.natinst.com

  What do you think is the appropriate way to signal a thank you at night
to someone who went right to allow you to pass. If it's day, I just wave
my hand, but what about at night?
	Apostolos
-- 
Karmirantzos Apostolos		e-mail: karmiran@natinst.com
-- 
Karmirantzos Apostolos		e-mail: karmiran@natinst.com
From: bense@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Ron Bense)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: H. Ross Perot's proposed gas tax
Date: 6 Oct 92 13:50:26 GMT
Reply-To: bense@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Ronald Bense)
Organization: Carderock Division, NSWC, Bethesda, MD

In rec.autos.driving, jbn@photon.com (Joe Naiman) writes:
>In case you missed this morning's Wall Street Journal, Henry Ross Pee-rot
>wants to have a Federal gasoline tax of 50 cents a gallon.

When you really think about it, raising the gas tax by $.10 a year from
$.145 per gallon now to $.6145 in five years is not all bad. It will
cause pick-ups (my person most hated vehicle right after vans) and vans
to become more scarce, while cars won't really be affected that much.
Right now I pay ~$100 per month for gas, @$1.32, at $1.82, that would
be $138. Not that much, except I would prefer that it be placed against
the pricipal of the deficit, and not used for anything else. (IOW, a
balanced budget would have to also account for the interest of the deficit,
and all new funds generated would have to go towards the priciple.)

Ron                          Think about this one (seen on a bumper sticker):
			     The road to hell is bumper-to-bumper
			     Make a U-turn to God.
The irony is priceless.
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: kappa@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Glenn Capuano)
Subject: Re: Signalling one's desire to pass
Organization: Monash University General Access Unix
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 06:33:52 GMT

Kevin Quinn (kevinq@Ingres.COM) wrote:
> In article <1992Oct1.163946.1@bronco.fnal.gov> colombo@bronco.fnal.gov writes:
> >Anyway, the problem in the USA is that it's generally considered
> >annoying by the driver being flashed.  
> 
> Just here?  You should see all the billboards in Germany pointing out the
> annoyance and discourtesy of flashing high beams... *and* the trick of
> turning on your left blinker, to give the hint to the guy in front.

	I've been reading this thread with interest, please excuse my
ignorance, in the US, is it not allowed or considered bad driving to
pass on the right of a slower driver on a divided road? If not, why bother
flashing lights or using a left blinker when you could just pass on the right?
	In Australia, it's both allowable and acceptable to pass on the
left (the right lane being the "fast" lane), my VTA rules book just states
that you have to be a bit more careful because you're in the other
driver's blind spot for longer.

Regards,
	Glenn Capuano
From: blu@cellar.org (Dan Reed)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: Stopping Photo Radar?
Date: 29 Sep 92 13:00:27 GMT
Organization: The Cellar BBS and public access system

jefftb@hpmwtd.sr.hp.com (Jeff Brown) writes:

> 
>    I have heard of the hair spray thing being used in Italy. 
>    How about everyone wear Grocho eye glasses w/ the big eyebrows, or
>    Richard Nixon masks or maybe Gorrila suits when you drive. They have to 
>    match drivers license pictures with vehicle regestraion to get a convictio
>    anyway. Also then you give'em th bird when you fly by.:')


How about a brick tossed out the window?  How about a shotgun?  How about 
running the KaPRS over?

----- 
 Dan Reed (Blu-Max) blu@cellar.org - AutoCad Geek - VW Lover - InlineSkater 
68 Cougar XR-7, 89 VW Golf, 72 Honda CL360Twin, Ti/99/4a, Vextrex, Timex
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: jimb@access.digex.com (Jim Brooking)
Subject: Re: Tailgaters abound!
Organization: National Commitee to Keep Slower Traffic Right
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 21:08:04 GMT

In article <j1=pm_f@lynx.unm.edu> dgalb@carina.unm.edu (David Galbraith CIRT) writes:
>
>I tend to leave a large following distance in stop and go traffic.  Why? 
>I find its easier to adjust my speed with out shifting, hitting the brake,
>what have you.

Me too.  I get so annoyed with folks that are constantly going from
brake to gas and back.  I make a game out of seeing how far I can
go without hitting my brakes.  8^)  Somebody around here (net) once
said something like, "Brake usage is inversely proportional to
the person's ability to drive."  8^) 8^)
-- 
jimb@access.digex.com  | (Cage) 1991 323se     ZCP-710   |     Comus Road
Merry Land (MD) U.S.A. | (Bike) 1986 GSXR750    (sold)   |     ClarksBURG
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              NeXTstep 3.0:  Have you hugged *your* object today?
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: tmkk@uiuc.edu (Khan)
Subject: Re: on which side of the road do you drive
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 14:25:53 GMT


In article <22566@galaxy.ucr.edu> judson@watnxt2.ucr.edu (Michael Judson) writes:
>In article <1992Sep28.021823.24772@sol.UVic.CA> atovorni@engr.UVic.CA (Andreas   
>Tovornik) writes:
>
>>    Originally, most cars were built with right hand drive. This means that
>> the custom was to drive on the left-hand side of the road, all over the
>> world.
>> 
>Are you sure about this?  I don't know if my facts are straight, but what I
>heard contradicts your version, though please don't flame me if I am wrong,
>which I may very well be.

I thought the first cars had their steering wheels and controls IN THE
CENTER, just like the horse-drawn carriages they were modeled after.

Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: tmkk@uiuc.edu (Khan)
Subject: Re: Thank you at night (was Re: Signalling one's desire to pass)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 20:11:18 GMT


In article <1992Oct6.144017.20126@njitgw.njit.edu> crl0195@hertz.njit.edu (Curt R Lindmark) writes:
>In article <BvpDH4.9z0@news.cso.uiuc.edu> tmkk@uiuc.edu (Khan) writes:
>>
>>In article <1aqf5iINNuv@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> ah335@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Richard Banks) writes:
>>>
>>>In a previous article, karmira@natinst.com (Apostolos Karmirantzos) says:
>>>
>>>>  What do you think is the appropriate way to signal a thank you at night
					       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>>to someone who went right to allow you to pass. If it's day, I just wave
>>>>my hand, but what about at night?
>>>
>>>Never, never use hand signals unless you absolutely must.
>>>It's a bad feeling when you have to stop your car in the middle of traffic to
>>>go pick up your arm laying in the road that other motorists are running over.
>>
>>Pardon me for asking, but how does waving a "thank you" by raising your
>>right hand so that it is visible to the driver behind you through your
>>rear window and then waving it result in your arm becoming severed from
>>your body and teleported out of your vehicle into the road where it is
>>then run over by other cars?
>
>I think what the person had in mind was "legal hand signals":

That may be, but these hand signals have absolutely nothing to do with
what the prior poster was asking about (which was my whole point in
asking the question ;-).

>Also, the former would be really neat for use: e.g.
>When the radar detector comes on, automatically print
>"Warning: Radar contact reported" to the back..

Yeah, that's perfect when the source of the radar signal is a cop who
has been following you, pacing your speed, and has only pinged you with
the radar gun to reinforce the reading he obtained from his speedometer.
Especially when one is in Virginia. ;-)

>or, after you have passed a speed trap, print
>"Warning: Speedtrap ahead" to the left and front.

Or printing out "Hey, Jerk, KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS" when you pass (on
the right) the bozo who has parked his lard butt in the passing lane
going a mere 55 MPH. ;-)

>Naturally, you might be charged with obstruction of justice should you do
>so, so do so at your own risk.

Agreed, use such a communications device solely at your own risk! ;-)

Xref: sparky rec.autos.driving:5756 sci.physics:15711
From: shaig@Think.COM (Shai Guday)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Laser Jammer Sighting?
Date: 30 Sep 1992 18:57:58 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: merlin.think.com

With all this talk of laser jamming,  I was wondering whether or not this
is in fact a viable option.  Simply put,  is it possible to emit a
harmless (to other motorists and passersby) infra-red light source
that would cause LIDAR detectors to fail?

This must be addressed on a number of levels:
1. Electro-optics
2. The structure of the gun.
3. An unfocused wide-spread emission.

	Any takers?
From: blu@cellar.org (Dan Reed)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: SPEECH ON SPEEDING W/IMPUNITY
Date: 1 Oct 92 18:53:47 GMT
Organization: The Cellar BBS and public access system

conser@CS.ColoState.EDU (glenn eldon conser) writes:

> In article <54cTRB2w165w@major.panix.com> dos@major.panix.com (Dave O'Shea) w
> 
> [other good advice deleted]
> [munch]
> 
> >11. Resist the urge to do a high-speed pass by a marginally slow driver. 
> >You'll be angry, and busily flipping him the bird while you *should* be 
> >watching for smokey.
> 
> True.  You should never pass anyone with a great amount of speed difference 
> between your cars.  Why?  The innocent looking guy in that Caravan could be
> an off-duty cop with a pencil and a phone!
> 

That what FOP stickers are for!  *Never* piss off a person with a FOP 
sticker.

----- 
 Dan Reed (Blu-Max) blu@cellar.org - AutoCad Geek - VW Lover - InlineSkater 
68 Cougar XR-7, 89 VW Golf, 72 Honda CL360Twin, Ti/99/4a, Vextrex, Timex
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: tmkk@uiuc.edu (Khan)
Subject: Re: Tailgaters abound!
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 12:56:04 GMT


In article <1992Sep28.174159.19409@linus.mitre.org> ptrei@bistromath.mitre.org (Peter Trei) writes:
>>Someone wanna tell us lay people what that really means? ;-)
>
>     "Laminar" in this context is used to describe smooth flows of
>fluid. It is the opposite of "turbulent".

[Excellent explanation deleted.]

>     A simplistic treatment of traffic flow is as an ideal Newtonian
>liquid. In reality it deviates in many cases, acting more like a
>thixotropic fluid.

Now, the big question: how does a thixotropic fluid behave when the test
tube it's flowing through reaches a funnel with half the cross sectional
area as the tube? How does the flow rate through the funnel compare to
the flow through the larger tube behind? What happens if one fluid
molecule cuts off another fluid molecule just before entering the
funnel? ;-)

Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto)
Subject: Re: Tailgaters abound!
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 92 20:34:55 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park

In article <1992Sep25.143102.16803@osf.org> kenny@osf.org (Kenneth Crudup) writes:
>In article <ILH.92Sep24180421@winnie-the-pooh.lcs.mit.edu>
>ilh@lcs.mit.edu writes:
>>Once you reach stop-and-go, throughput is terrible, causing more stop-and-go
>>(positive feedback).  They studied standing waves of stop-and-go that
>>persisted for hours after the accident had been removed.  Sometimes these
>>waves even travelled backwards significant distances.
>
>Everyone together now: Driver Stupidity. This makes no sense.

Nope, it does.  Traffic has wavelike behavior.  Once you have the
resonant pattern established, more constant input can keep it going.

-- 
Matthew T. Russotto	russotto@eng.umd.edu	russotto@wam.umd.edu
Some news readers expect "Disclaimer:" here.
Just say NO to police searches and seizures.  Make them use force.
(not responsible for bodily harm resulting from following above advice)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving,ca.driving,soc.culture.indian