Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 12:52:47 -0600 (CST)
From: pdanes@ix.netcom.com (Peter Lyle Danes)
Subject: NHTSADWI
To: quig@usff.com

Just got done reading the the DWI page you put up. It's good to see that the boys at NHTSA are busy finding still more ways to protect us from ourselves. I was beginning to have dangerous thoughts, like feeling that somehow my safety might be my own responsibility. Notice that they seem worried about all these single-vehicle accidents, in spite of all the usual disclaimers that such accidents are few in total number. Yeah, they are, and if such an accident happens to me, it's my own stupid fault! How about if they worked on accidents that are not our fault, like those fucking cagers running over us all the time. I suppose that would be too much like real work. Heaven forbid that they should actually do something useful. It's probably against their charter.

There is so much to argue with in that article that this note would probably be several times as long as the actual article if I picked on everything in it, so I'll stick to just a few points.

Weaving: Sure, drunk bikers weave. So do riders (1) on our famous rains grooves, (2) buffeted when passing or getting passed by vehicles with a large frontal area, (3) avoiding junk on the road, (4) in a crosswind, (5) with squirmy passengers, and (6) who have taken the advice of a certain riding course. (The exact source of this last one has faded from my mind, but I do remember that the advice went something like "... and a gentle weaving motion from side to side will enhance visibility to other motorists." Yeah, right. Wouldn't it be great if the source of that turned out to be an old NHTSA program. Good material for a conspiracy theory - teach them to weave, then teach cops to roust them for weaving - but somehow I think that is giving the clowns at NHTSA too much credit for brains.)

Difficulty dismounting: Hours in the saddle on a cold day can make slow and clumsy clods out of the best rider. Your legs don't get much exercise on street bike so they stiffen up. Try explaining that to a cop that just got out of his nice warm cage and has never been on a bike in his life.

Wobbling at or leaving a stop: Some riders have short legs, guys! Lots of intersections have loose junk, potholes or oil slicks that maybe we don't want to ride through. Trolley and train tracks sometimes require swerving to cross them at an angle that won't dump us.

Wrong way streets: Well, ok. Somebody driving the wrong way down a one-way street probably isn't paying much attention. People that do a lot of that, though, are not likely to be a problem to anybody for very long.

Urinating by the road: For God's sake! Pissing means that you're drunk? Apparently I've never been sober in my entire life.

Oh hell, I could go on like this for hours. You've probably got better things to do than read my ranting. Incidentally, I looked at the source code on that page and I like the style. Do you do this yourself or do you use one of those WYSIWYG editors that do it for you?

Pete