Let me get this right... You HATE that "Big Brother" mandates the third
brake light and DRL, but you WANT him to mandate helmets for everyone?!?!?
As far as I'm concerned let Darwin sort them all out. Personally I wore a
full face helmet every time I rode, but I don't want the government telling
me that I MUST wear a helmet - or a seatbelt either for that matter.
Just stirring the pot a little more!! :-)
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-autox@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-autox@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of Eric Linnhoff
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 1999 3:20 AM
To: autox@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: DRL's Warning: BIG RANT!
>The reason I asked that was about 15 to 20 years ago there was an
aftermarket safety item that could be purchased for about $15 that you
hooked up into your motorcycle brake light. It would cause the brake light
to flash whenever you triggerd the brake light via applying the brakes. When
you were off the brakes , the light just kept a steady low beam tallight.
>Bill Schmidt cs rx7 kc reg
============================
This reminds me of yet another VERY obnoxious aftermarket (I'm assuming)
automotive accessory that irritates the living snot out of me far beyond
that of those deep reverse gold plated spoke wheels that start at the edge
of the fender and go out from there, producing four beautiful roostertails
in the rain and a turning radius that could make a semi driver laugh.
What, pray tell, could chafe my backside this much you ask?
Those third brake lights that, when the brake pedal is initially applied,
flash a certain number of times (I've seen 3 and 4) and then stay on
steadily. Or worse yet, the ones that always flash and never stay on
steadily.
What a useless and performance degrading product these are. If you're gonna
mandate the third brake lights, as big brother has seen fit to do, then why
let people degrade their safety performance capabilities by installing these
flashers. I've not found them to draw my attention to them nearly as much
as a steadily lit brake light. In fact, I'm actually less prone to see
these particular lights unless I happen to be looking directly at them.
Peripheral vision, by its very nature, is more sensitive to a steady light
pulse than a flashing one.
By far the best new brake light accessory that I've seen (and IMHO should be
required) is the LED brake lights as opposed to the standard 100+ year old
incandescent bulbs. Now THOSE are some bright attention grabbing lights!!
And what a great (gag) idea these DRLs are. Gee, just what we need.
Another thing to make motorcyclists LESS visible to stupid drivers. I
finally decided to give up my urban motorcycling habits after my fourth time
of flying over some idiots hood.
"I didn't see you" was always their claim. Duh, obviously you didn't see me
or you wouldn't have pulled right out in front of me. It got to the point
that I was always riding around paranoid (and not really having much fun)
with two fingers of my right hand on the front brake lever and my left thumb
resting lightly on the horn button (which got pressed briefly at every
intersection in a futile attempt to get noticed by the cross traffic) all
the while having my high beam on. BTW, I long ago learned to immediately
trash the useless factory "meep meep" motorcycle horns in favor of a pair of
generic auto parts store 130db "GM style" dual tone horns that could
actually be heard more than twenty feet away.
And yes I always wore a helmet. I went through over $1200 worth of
perfectly good helmets and don't regret a single penny of those
expenditures. I couldn't go three blocks without wearing a full face helmet
or the wind would make my eyes tear so badly that I just plain couldn't see.
Even with the visor in the "up" position the aerodynamic shape of the helmet
helped make the air flow around the sides of my head instead of directly
into my eyes. In my opinion, helmet laws should be considered mandatory as
they greatly increase your odds of survival in case of an accident. Except
in California where they don't have to wear them if they don't want to. ;^)
And another thing. What's with these rich (a highly relative term I
realize) idiots in their newer Lexii, Infinitys, Mercedeseses, Bimmers, etc
that drive around for weeks with a headlight or tail light burned out. Are
people really that stupid and inattentive these days that they aren't
noticing these important safety items? Apparently excessive amounts of
money tends to dull the senses. (BTW, these are the same folks who
generally have cell phones glued to their ears.) I know that I won't let a
burned out light on my car go unanswered more than 24 hours unless I'm so
far out in the boonies that there aren't any parts stores.
And then there's those fools who insist upon driving around for weeks on
their temporary "donut" spares. ARGH!!!!
Or, and.....................My God, why hast thou forsaken me?
There, I feel a little better now. ;^) Gosh, is it spring yet?
See you on course.
Eric Linnhoff in KC
#69DS TLS #13
'98 Neon R/T
<eric10mm@qni.com>
Then we race together. We can ride forever
Wrapped in horsepower, driving into fury
Changing gear I pull you tighter to me
I'm your turbo lover. Tell me there's no other.
I'm your turbo lover. Better run for cover
===============================
"Turbo" by Judas Priest
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