driving in California/California drivers, the end of a myth : a French driver's experience (Brea: lease, crime)

[cobmw]

Speed cameras and police everywhere - France sounds like a great place. Perhaps putting up with California driving habits is the price necessary in order to have the little bit of freedom we have left in America. You can keep socialist France and the heavy-handed governments found in Europe. I'll take my chances with Califrornia drivers.

[Winston Smith]

Too bad about your CA road experience, gildossantos. But what you describe is the primary reason I don't drive hardly at all any more. I'd rather deal with the relative slowness of trains and transit than drive a car on the highways. Next time, consider the train and scheduled tour buses to the various points of interest. Be aware, however, that CA's trains, though much better than some states, won't be to Europe's excellent standards, so bring a good sense of humor. One thing for sure, the train is a much friendlier experience than the insanity on the roads. Your fellow passengers won't be trying to throw you off the train the way car drivers try to run each other off the roads.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by cobmw

Speed cameras and police everywhere - France sounds like a great place. Perhaps putting up with California driving habits is the price necessary in order to have the little bit of freedom we have left in America. You can keep socialist France and the heavy-handed governments found in Europe. I'll take my chances with Califrornia drivers.

Socialist...heavy-handed governments in Europe? There may have been a time, but not in today's Europe (with the possible exception of one or two former Soviet states).

[cobmw]

There are 30,000 speed cameras in Europe. Enjoy your drive and be sure to smile. In Finland speeding fines are determined by your income. A low wage earner pays a few hundred bucks for speeding while a successful, hard working stiff pay thousands of dollars for the same ticket (true!). Heavy-handed government controls on employers have made much of Europe a high unemployment zone. Socialism at its worst.

[clongirl]

So what if there are speed cameras (never seen one in Ireland, however). If it's gonna create a safer driving experience with fewer drive by shootings, fewer cheaters in the car pool lanes and jerks that try to run you off the freeway or run stop signs. I say put up more cameras. If you aren't doing anything wrong on our freeways then why fear them? I'll give up a bit of implied freedom for more safety for my family.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by cobmw

There are 30,000 speed cameras in Europe. Enjoy your drive and be sure to smile. In Finland speeding fines are determined by your income. A low wage earner pays a few hundred bucks for speeding while a successful, hard working stiff pay thousands of dollars for the same ticket (true!). Heavy-handed government controls on employers have made much of Europe a high unemployment zone. Socialism at its worst.

Sorry, cobmw, but speed cameras and traffic cops do not a socialist and heavy-handed government make. As to Finland's speed fines, I call it JUSTICE! The infraction is the same, so why shouldn't the punishment be equally stinging across economic lines? Great law, I think.

[cobmw]

Give up a bit of your freedom for safety? You deserve neither.

Fines based on economic status. Obama you're in!

[cobmw]

Well at least with the lot that seems to make up California voters.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by cobmw

Give up a bit of your freedom for safety? You deserve neither.

Fines based on economic status. Obama you're in!

Quoting Benjamin Franklin out of context and applying that to traffic safety is, well, at least funny. I'd prefer to modify the quote in terms of traffic and respect for the rule of law, "give up your regard for the safety of others on the road and you deserve neither freedom nor a license!"

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on Finnish traffic laws, which I find infinitely just. Call me an American purist, but I find it an unfair system that imposes less punishment for richer offenders.

[sonarrat]

It's all relative. It never makes me nervous to drive on I-280. Yes, the occasional speed demon in a BMW M5 will pass you on the right going 90+, but it's mostly respectful and orderly. But cross the bay and get on the Nimitz, and it's a different story. Rice rockets weave around inches from your bumper, motorcycles split lanes going absolutely as fast as their machines can propel them, and there's about one fatal accident a week just due to the aggressive driving habits.