Monday, January 16, 2012

966 Death Knell for the Clicker

966 Death Knell for the Clicker

The bloated Pennsylvania legislature has finally gotten around to outlawing directional signals, joining 23 other states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. But some law breaking Pennsylvanians haven’t gotten the message and continue to use them, probably out of habit.  That said, these criminal drivers have to be brought to heel. Or justice.  Or something.

We salute the law abiding and alert citizens who obey and we urge everyone else to join.  After all, using signals takes all of the mystery out of driving, leaving it just another mundane chore.  

This progressive move to put more of the unexpected, the intrigue and excitement into driving started in Northern California and has moved slowly east like a weather system.  It is the good citizens of San Francisco who first realized that directional signals were an annoyance, a distraction and no one believed them, anyway.

The Sacramento legislature acted quickly and long ago to get rid of those annoying clicker things.  In fact, California has the strictest laws in the nation against the use of signals and cars built to California’s emission standards don’t even have signals any longer.  A few old fashioned drivers have re-learned hand signals or purchased after-market directional signal add-ons, which also are illegal in California.

Now, once again, Pennsylvania is dragged kicking and screaming into the present day.  What a disgrace!  You’re on the turnpike or maybe Route 80 doing a good clip and some schmuck is parallel pacing you... you know he’s trying to move into your lane, so you slow a bit and let him in.  What’s wrong with that?  The guy has to flash his blinker at you before you’ll show him how courteous you can be?  Nonsense!  

Progress at last.  Putting the mystery back into the romance of vehicular transportation.

Plus outlawing blinker signals makes you more alert.   You never know what the guy in the next lane or approaching the next corner is going to do until he does it.  But what fun it is to guess!

Shrapnel:

--Say it isn’t so!  The maker of Hostess Twinkies and Wonder Bread has declared Ch. 11 bankruptcy, blaming -- who else -- the unions.  But can you imagine a world without this stuff?

Today is Martin Luther King Day, and usually, we devote a full post to cautioning against trying to co-opt Dr. King’s mind and putting words in his mouth, trying to second guess what he would have said about anything.  There’s nothing new to say about the subject.  But since this is a presidential election year, you might want to see what was said in the previous presidential election year, 2008.

Have You Noticed...? When TV promotes a program that isn’t a repeat it’s described as “all new” as opposed to... what... a partially new Law & Order SVU … or a mostly or somewhat new... or sort-of new Dateline?

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2012

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4759 The Supreme Court

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