A Really Truly Radical Thought...

[Anonymous]

ValleyX--

I'll take your word for the good driving record. I don't doubt it for a second. I'm proud of my clean record too, and I'll admit that I think I'm better than the average driver also. I wonder, though, what would happen if all of us were to drive down the same highway together for a few miles. Think we'd find flaws in each other's performance? I'm willing to bet we would. The point, at least in part, is that we're all human, and we all make mistakes. If we're lucky, our mistakes result in close calls and nothing more. If we're learning from them, we're improving. Those young ladies that you're talking about are suffering from the same malady that we all did at that age: overconfidence. If they're not utterly stupid, they'll learn.

Consider this, though. Is it possible that railroaders are generally better drivers than most people? After all, we're used to obeying very strict operating rules, and safety is the number one rule of all. We don't get a traffic ticket when we break the rules, we get fired! Talk about incentive.... But that's my point. When I say education and enforcement, I know all the pitfalls. As unlikely as it is to happen, I still say that's the only practical course of action. Maybe the very first part of the education process needs to be on how many ways there are to lose your license. Incentive, incentive, incentive....

--JD

[daveklepper]

Mrf. Schmidt. You might look into the question of whether public transportation for your farm town was provided during WWII. A lot of small towns lost rural and intercitiy local bus service after WWII when patronage declined as rationing was removed. Also, most intercity buses now use the Interstate Highways instead of passing though and serving small towns.