But then any car makers not US owned is an "import" there right? Like a Honda? or BMW? even though they are assembled there? You also call your "football" a contact sport. Have you watched Rugby? It kinda similar, but a lot harder and there is no padding - The foot of padding kinda stops the contact really now doesn't it?
Allan :-)
On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 20:26:35 +1200, "Allan Williams" ran around screaming and yelling:
i'd kinda agree...but padding or not if some brute 300 pounder slams your ass to the ground, i would consider that at the very least "contact"... JT
Does Japan have a drivers test for licensing? I ask because the accident rate for Malaysian and Chinese tourists and students here (USA) is HUGE. These people literally do not know how to drive!
....what does the rate of accidents with Chinese students have to do with the level of driving skills in Japenese citizens????
...Gareth
Well, the accident rates in Malasia and China are horrible because there is no driver's test and I was wondering (not assuming) that the Far Eastern cultures were similar in that regard, and also wondered if accidents might not account in part for the high-turnover of Japanese-owned cars. You see, the Japanese are loath to repair a fender-bender and usually replace the car.
That said, Iowa ain't much better in terms of lousy drivers but they drive their wrecks forever.
England taxes the people so much the Rugby players can't afford pads. Thankfully, us Americans were smart enough to leave that stupid country and start the NFL where padded Football players can make millions of dollars just for signing a contract. I'd like to see a game where an American Football team plays an English Rugby team. Split the halves up between the different games and see who wins.
John S. . Yes Japan has drivers lic tests and I doubt most here in the US could pass it. I had one for over two years while I was there and their laws and the physical test itself are very complete and exact with their laws. Also, most of our cars could not pass their safety tests without modification at the time I was there. A real eye opener for me. This does not apply to other countries in the far east though. Dennis
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The regular driving test was easy compared to the one for a motorcycle license. We had to ride up a teeter-totter about 8" wide & 16' long, BALANCE, horizontal for a few seconds, then down the other side. I knew plenty of pilots who failed the depth perception test.
Some insisted the test was jacked-up to keep us sailors off the highway but I saw the civilian testing center at Yokohama and it was same thing, maybe even a bit harder than the one at Yokosuka. And I saw lots of Japanese run the course with a perfect score.
-R.S.Hoover
Motorcyle riding tests have been weakened in the USA and I'm convinced that's one big reasons for recent rises in accidents. It's a shame that people show up for the tests in the smallest bike they can get away with (usually a little 250cc), get their license (usually marginaly) then go off to ride some ungodly LeadWing or full-dress Harley they can't handle. I rode for twenty years then let my motorcycle license lapse when I was supporting a family (and building my last bike over a period of years). Years later when I renewed I rode the bike I built to the test. The civilians laughed, amazed, embarassed. The cops running the tests only looked cooly skeptical. It was my stripped-down '56 Harley chop. This one The cop ran me through a rigorous test of all the bikes required components and nodded me into the test range. I could ride that bike up the thin side of a 2x4, stop hard, do the slalom. So I'm boasting, but damn it nowadays I see people riding feet down trying to stop, backing up like a f***ss waddling duck, coasting through stop signs because they are afraid to stop, and being just plain stupid because they never learned to ride. We otta take their licenses away and make 'em walk home. Oh, and I'll second John Muir: anyone who wants to drive a car otta be strapped to the front of a VW bus for 200 miles of city and canyon driving, just for for starters.
I must have missed that part. But I love that image!
Max (wishing I still had that Motoguzzi)
On Mon, 03 May 2004 21:22:06 -0500, snipped-for-privacy@xyzzy.stafford.net (jjs) ran around screaming and yelling:
this is true in Virginia....our written test is pretty good, but the road course is lacking....twelve years ago when i got my motorcycle license i showed up at the DMV with a 650 honda "silverwing"....the instructors said "we usually have a motorcyclist follow us when we are road testing an applicant for their drivers license, but we don't have any road test right now"....so i think okay..and say "what do you need me to do"...he said "that is a pretty big bike, go down the hill here(was a side road) turn into that gravel lot, turn around and come back up. If you don't drop it you pass"...needless to say i passed easily....was it a good test of riding ability? heck no...did i care? not at the time, i wanted my MC license...do i see alot of incompetant MC riders on the street these days? yep...just like me when i started out...i owned an offroad motorcylce for six years before i decided i wanted to ride on the street, most now just get a sportbike when they are still NEW to driving period, because thier friends do, then go out and tear themselves up on the street...a shame really...our local community college has a motorcycle riding class that meets on saturdays, and comes higly recommended for any new rider...Virginia is considering making the course mandatory...i hope they do...
The English?? Try NZ or Samoa!
Allan :-)
On Mon, 03 May 2004 21:22:06 -0500, snipped-for-privacy@xyzzy.stafford.net (jjs) scribbled this interesting note:
You forgot how so many love to ride on the grease slick. Most motorcycle riders these days scare me so much I try my best to stay away from them since even I (a non-motorcycle rider from way back) know that probably sooner rather than later whatever motorcyclist I happen to see is going to hit the pavement and I don't want him anywhere near me when he does!
-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)
That's a Texas thang. We got no grease slick here. It gets scraped off with the snow plow.
Now, bikers passing a snow plow - that's a real trip! Good way to get killed. If ya can't pass it, ya shouldn't eat it!
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