Guest Post by Eric Peters
More evidence that the American Automobile Association (AAA) ought to have its license revoked comes in the form of “summer safety tips” offered to teenaged drivers from AAA’s Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Bet you can guess.
Observe speed limits –
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
This is a great way to be involved in an accident, since you’ll be causing a mobile pile-up all around you. You’ll be tailgated and passed with inches to spare by irate drivers whom you’ve irritated with your law-abiding but slow-motion, obstructive driving. Note carefully: It doesn’t matter that tailgating and abrupt passing maneuvers with inches to spare isn’t safe – or legal. People are going to tailgate and weave around you if you slow-poke. 
Also, if you drive the speed limit, cops will assume you have been drinking or are carting illegal wares. Because no one drives the speed limit. Therefore, driving the speed limit is a surefire way to get pulled for no legal reason – but because it is “suspicious.”
Be aware (no thanks to AAA) that car speedometers almost always read slightly faster than you are actually traveling – typically by about 3 or so MPH. They are set this way because the alternative – reading slightly slower than you are actually driving – would create massive liability issues for the car companies, who would be legally liable for speeding tickets issued to drivers who thought they were within the law but actually were not.
Point being, if you drive the speed limit, you are probably driving slightly below the speed limit – and this is absolutely considered suspicious by cops.The courts have even ruled along these lines.
Never drive the speed limit.
The reason almost everyone is “speeding” is because the posted limit is almost always under-posted by at least 5-10 MPH. People ignore stupid laws. If you obey this stupid law, other cars will be passing you – and bunching up behind you.
Which is . . . dangerous.
And obvious, to any thinking brain. Just like the fact that there are differences between the sexes that transcend genitalia – but just as politically incorrect to acknowledge, especially in an official pronunciamento directed at teen drivers. Rather than give them the straight dope, that the safest speed is the speed of traffic – whatever that happens to be and posted limits be damned – they must be fed dangerous nonsense for the sake of appeasing the PC powers-that-be.
It is exactly like the Reefer Madness idiocy of my youth. And the youth realize it’s idiocy, incidentally.
Or so one hopes.
Buckle up –
The holy catechism of the Safety Cult.
It is quite true that wearing a seat belt will generally – but not always – lessen injuries in the event you crash. They also sometimes kill you, though – and that fact is never talked about by “experts” in the presence of teenagers because, gosh, they might actually decide to weigh the risks against the benefits – and make up their own minds. Can’t have that.
Independent judgment must be smothered. Mindless rule-following must be instilled.
And seat belts confer no safety benefit whatever if you don’t wreck. It is very interesting that avoiding accidents is not among the AAA’s safety tips.
And most “accidents” are avoidable. Chiefly because they are not accidental. A tree struck by lightning at exactly the moment your car happens to be passing underneath a heavy bough – which then falls on your car’s roof, crushing it – that is an accident. A deer bounding into your car’s flanks is an accident.
Most wrecks, on the other hand, are the result of various avoidable incompetences behind the wheel and thus not accidental.
One wonders why the Safety Solons of AAA do not discuss maintaining a safe following distance between one’s car and the car ahead? Even with modern idiot-proofing technologies such as anti-lock brakes, a car needs “x” distance (and time) to achieve a complete stop. The closer you are – and the faster you are moving – the lower your chances of being able to stop in time. But not a mention of the old – but still ironclad valid – Three Second Rule.
Pick a stationary object such as a telephone pole or road sign and note when the car ahead reaches it, then begin counting seconds. If less than three seconds elapse before you reach the same spot, you are following too closely – ABS or not. Increase the following distance and you will have time to stop if the car ahead suddenly stops.
Why doesn’t AAA mention this?
Or, lane discipline?
No injunctions about the danger – or the obnoxiousness – of squatting like a toad in the left lane when it’s obvious – or would be, if you looked in the rearview – that there are cars stacking up behind you, probably tailgating.
Move right, let them by.
It is safe, it diffuses road rage. Why doesn’t AAA mention it?
Surely it is of more relevance as a saaaaaaafety issue than “…be sure to have current insurance identification in your car” and “… be especially cautious in construction work zones”… as opposed to running through them at Top Speed, drunk, with one hand on the wheel.
How about teaching new drivers the OODA loop?
A mere mention of a fact that might wake up unconscious drivers of all ages: roughly 1/200 people behind the wheel are impaired in some manner, and that’s just in the middle of a normal workday. Make that late on a Friday or Saturday night, and it’s more like 1/50.
The solution to this is incredibly defensive driving that includes watching not only all the cars coming at you, but also the cars behind you.
My guy’s biggest peeve: people who don’t use the turn signals!
Wow, sheltered life.
Guess the author has never seen someone thrown out of a vehicle laying in the middle of the road in a pool of blood dead as hell, when the simple fact is that wearing a seat belt would have saved their life.
When a vehicle starts flipping, a human is coming out the back window, I’ve seen it happen three times.
I have seen this more than twice, but mandating has a direct result of ticketing for the purpose of taking money, often from the people that can least afford it. Police and the people who make up the laws do not care about you. They care about how much money this law brings into their coffers.
Bob.
My friend illana wasnt wearing her seatbelt when she had a minor accident just after dark. Ejected her from the car and they didnt find her in the woods until morning. Another friend had a heart attack, no belt on, went off the road, ejected and cut in half. Tom hit a tree, drunk, no belt, also fatal. Not to mention I lost control driving 100 mph like an idiot, hit a mail box, lost control, rolled down the embankment 30 feet, destroyed the car. Belt on, cut my fingers from flying glass cranking on the wheel trying to get the car back under control. The belt kept me planted in the seat. I lived. When I was a kid, dads 71 dodge p/u door flew open in a turn and I flew out and landed in the grass. No belt back then for an eight year old. Go ahead, be anti seatbelt. Culling of the herd is natural.
Ginger, with all due respect, the author DOES acknowledge that seat belts will keep you from being tossed out of the car, HOWEVER he also makes the more salient point that to AVOID the ACCIDENT in the first place is far more desirable. He also mentioned – borne out statistically BTW – that most collisions that would result in the seat belts usefulness are caused by human error in the drivers seat. For every incident where a seat belt has saved someone from being tossed out of the cars windshield, there are at least as many incidents of people being killed by not being able to escape a vehicle BECAUSE of or being injured BECAUSE of the seat belt. The author is simply stating the obvious – if you are going to be commandeering a 3000 lb missile, you should be encouraged to use good judgement above all else, and not just blindly follow these PC safety rules, because real life is a lot more complicated, and judgement is necessary for better and safer outcomes. Please don’t be a sheeple….
I totally agree that adults should have the free choice of wearing seat belts, or doing whatever the heck they want if it does not infringe on others. It’s a freedom thing. But not teenagers under 18. I may have posted this before but 3 weeks ago a drunk driver rear ended my 16yo son and his girlfriend at a stop sign, not even slowing down and plowed him into a telephone pole. Both ends of vehicle crumpled, airbags deployed. If not for seatbelts and airbags they could have been thrown and died. Luckily both only ended up with moderate concussions (hit from behind head snaps back, telephone pole head snaps forward, air bag head snaps back). Defensive driving is great, but can’t account for everything. When they are adults, fine, do what the fuck you want – no seatbelts, heroin (not while driving), whatever – but not under 18, they need to learn and get experience. That was not a call you want to get at night as a parent. I am blessed it was not much worse.
“I totally agree that adults should have the free choice of wearing seat belts, or doing whatever the heck they want if it does not infringe on others. It’s a freedom thing.”
Do you think the people scraping their dead, dismembered, bloody carcasses off the road are being infringed upon? Hows about this, exercise your freedom not to wear a seat belt but if you get tossed from a car during an accident, you or your estate pays a $10,000 fee to be split between the first two cops and paramedics to arrive on scene? If your carcass remains in your car by seat belt or by chance, no fee. I’ve been on the scene of a number of fatal accidents. I’ve seen everything from a little road rash to decapitations and “what the fuck is that?”. It’s not fun.
Cops and paramedics choose their profession. That’s what they do. Not seeing your logic in extra fees for doing their job.
If you ever saw what he is talking about you would support it. Its messy and fucked up, and the dreams about it are rough. I saw the old man go off the road. My wife was following me down to where his car stopped and I couldnt stop her fast enuf. To see a man split in half, and all the insides spilling out on the ground. Its not like taking a deer, and all the entrails come out in a bag. Its not like that at all. The first guys from the fire station were shaking and crying. Its appalling man.
Your argument is that a seatbelt should be mandatory because the first responders might get PTSD from the sight of a mangled corpse?
It shouldn’t be the cops or paramedics or coroners job to scrape up the carcasses of freedom exercising idiots. It should fall to the next of kin. Make their kin come clean up the remains. Failure to do so results in a lien against the estate of the deceased that must be satisfied before the carcass is released for burial.
It’s not their responsibility. It’s their job. They signed up for the job because they get PAID to do it and felt that the tasks required for the job were worth the compensation.
Don’t pretend like they are out there doing this “because nobody else will”. Under your system private businesses would be started to do the cleanup for people in place of next of kin… and you know what… they very well might do it cheaper than the current system. So despite you proposing it semi-sarcastically to mock… it’s not a terrible idea.
— “you or your estate pays a $10,000 fee to be split between the first two cops and paramedics to arrive on scene?”
You’re being obtuse. That fee is pre-paid already by all of us doofus. Including on shifts where nothing happens.
I am going to say this as tactfully as I can – YOU CANNOT LEGISLATE GOOD JUDGEMENT – Period, full stop.
If someone ends up dead, because they are not respecting the vehicle, you can set as many laws, regulations and have police behind every bush, and you will still have bad outcomes. People cut off limbs all the time with power tools. Do we need power tool police? Come on.
If you, as a parent feel that your teen driver is NOT responsible enough to make good decisions behind the wheel of a high speed moving piece of iron with lots of horse power, then it is YOUR responsibility, as an adult, to forbid them from getting a vehicle, and license. You know, you can still do that sort of thing. Until they are 18, they can’t just do whatever they want. It is not the governments responsibility, nor should it be to take the place of a responsible parent’s judgement. You can highlight all of the “life saving” stories you want, and the foolishness of not doing this or that, but it still starts and stops with parental responsibility and wisdom above all else.
Freedom isn’t free. It comes with responsibility. Instead of a fee then, a call is placed to the next of kin to come recover the carcass of their freedom exercising relative. The responding officer can let them know whether to bring a shovel, bucket, hefty bags etc depending on conditions at the scene. If they fail to recover the carcass in a timely manner the state will do so and place an immediate lien against the estate of the deceased which must be paid before the carcass is released for burial. After 120 days the carcass is cremated and buried in a paupers grave.
Actually, here in southern California AAA used to run tv commercials about avoiding road rage by moving over. They parodied tailgating too by showing an impatient idiot operating a shopping cart in a market just like a tailgating driver.
Agree about speed limits, though. Most streets are under-posted and you can usually count on 5 over being invisible to Leo.
Yep, encouraging young, inexperienced drivers to “observe the speed limit” is the worst advice ever because assholes like Eric Peters OWN the fucking road. I’m all for speeding in appropriate situations and do it quite often. I also drive the speed limit quite often when conditions dictate. I rarely ever experience assholes like ERIC PETERS endangering my life and others by passing me with inches to spare or tailgaiting me like he needs me to slow to a crawl, pull over and kick his fucking ass. On those occasions I typically get their tag number, call 911 and give a description of the driver, car and tag number to the dispatcher. Sometimes I even get to see assholes like ERIC PETERS pulled over several miles down the road. I wonder if that delays them more than simply waiting for an appropriate place to pass or just driving the speed limit?
He’ll probably die wrapped around a big pine tree in an unregognizable, shapeless, bloody mess like the guy I saw on Hwy 441 in central SC one fine afternoon. Tow truck hauled that car away in three pieces, the smallest of which was the driver and passenger doors wrapped half way around a tree with the ERIC PETERS of drivers sandwiched in between. Those two doors sandwiched together weren’t even as wide as the former humans hips that were smashed in between them. I’m sure his high speed joyride was interrupted by some kid doing the speed limit.
Sorry officer I was speeding so that you wouldn’t think I was drinking and driving or carrying illegal contraband. I was just trying to make your job easier officer, honest. Can I be on my way now? I’ll have to try that one next time I get pulled over.
Eric iz only pretending to take the smart pills his momma bought him. He throws them away later, thinks we don’t notice.
Eric lives in some back woods / butt fucking little burg in Virginia. And he wants to drive fast on all those 2 lane blacktops. For all of us who live in cities, even smaller cities, there’s too many cars on the road. When there is a spot, where you can speed, it literally a half mile or so. This is when the assholes want to go 70/75 in a 60 mph zone. A minute later, I’m right behind them – there is nowhere to go.
Eric Peters (AKA Einstein) most memorable quote: “And seat belts confer no safety benefit whatever if you don’t wreck.”
Duh… nobody plans to wreck a car. It happens because of all sorts of circumstances that are unpredictable. To drive without a seat belt is to deny the laws of physics.
Don’t buy homeowners insurance, because it offers no benefit if your house doesn’t burn down.
Its not sound advice. In those conditions you are a blown tire away from being wrapped around a tree.
Here’s the advice my old man gave me:
Go the speed of traffic, if nobody is around do 5-8mph over the speed limit.
Eric Peters is a stroke of the highest order with zero common sense. Every other article he pens demands no fucking speed limits and carte Blanche to drive anyway he sees fit. He believes every other driver on the road is impeding his driving freedom. I’ll have a toast when I read this asshole wraps his fuckin mustang around a tree.
Somebody tailgates me too close I slow down, screw em. 99% of the time there’s a light in the next 1/2 mile and if they pass I’m right on their ass 10 miles down the road at some other light. Eric is the ass who thinks they are saving time by being an ass. He also thinks people should jump out of the right lane when he comes screaming up an entrance ramp and pushing his way onto the road. F him, I might slow down and let them in but I don’t move over, it’s his job to blend into traffic when safe, not mine to let him in. I’ve experienced Eric thinking people on the PA turnpike. During a downpour a nice BMW zooms by doing 80, I could barely see through the rain and a mile down the road there’s a nice BMW resting on it’s roof by the road. Yup saving time, hanging by a seat belt upside down.
As for accident avoidance, I have a female friend who had 12 accidents in her first two years driving, none her fault, but maybe if she wasn’t drunk or high on coke or meth she could have avoided them all together. That was 40 years ago, now the problem is Prozac and other anti-depressants. These drugs and seatbelts and air bags make soccer moms and other idiots not care about consequences of their stupidity and allows them to drive without thinking. Sure they’ll probably walk away from the accident and insurance will pay for a new car, so why drive smart, they’ll live through it get a new car and be on their merry way obliviously, stupidly again.
P.S.
I’ll drive as slow as I want and I hope Eric gets behind me and tailgates especially if I’m in my 73 caddy deville and when I slam on my brakes for that invisible deer, I’ll laugh as I drive off and leave his crumpled Mustang in the middle of the road, he’ll then have another reason to write another idiotic rant about how everybody doesn’t respect his obvious superior driving talent. FU Eric
One more question, What part of libertarianism allows for you to tell someone else how to f’ing drive? What part of mind your own business allows someone to not mind their own f”ing business.
gooberstein- You are my kind of asshole. 🙂