I think many people don't know about the headlight law, I have to admit I didn't until I moved here.  This is why I am happy you brought it to our attention. As for tailgating, there is nothing that tees me off more, this too is very dangerous.  I am like you, in fact it irritates me to hear people complain about trivial things, I see a lot of bitching about little things here on this very web site, it's almost laughable. Traffic safety is important, accidents on our roads KILL people. 

World peace?  You are my kind of guy.   btw, I love the picture of the train you took.....very cool.   good post.. thank you.

I'm not positive but I think that law with the headlights has only been in law for the past few years in California.  Also, most people, not all, don't know about the new laws until they have to take a written test to renew, or when they go to traffic school.  My father use to pick up a new booklet at the DMV every year and we would sit down and go over the new laws.  Even as an adult he would make me do this.  But unfortunately I too haven't been keeping up on the new laws since my father moved.  I believe you can go on line and find out each year what the new laws and regulations are.  Yes, tailgating is so dangerous and not necessary.  I live on a street that is obviously a residential area with an elementary school, one the biggest parks in town, and a kindergarten on it and people tailgate like crazy and drive like it's a race car track.  I have gotten so mad that I have actually stood at the curb and yelled at people.  Obviously this doesn't so any good, but it helps me sometimes.  I have just found out that here in my city a person can call the police with a license # and they will contact that person.  I have thought this too.   There are small children everywhere including my own.  I told me husband I want to sit on the porch with a pellet rifle and shoot the tires (it's normally the same cars).  But of course that would be wrong.....it's just dream.

WOW, what a gorgeous picture!!!!

I think alot of people need to go back to driver's ed and re-learn to drive!!! And learn the laws of the road again. I have many pet peeves about other driver's but my biggest one is when they cannot stop when a bus has red lights flashing. EVERY single day i have 3 buses that stop at my house to pick up my children. And when each bus puts on their red flashing lites there is atleast one moron that keeps driving by, sometimes there are 2 to 5 cars that fail to stop. It just irritates me sooo much when someone doesnt stop for a bus. It is almost like they are off in space and dont see it or they just dont care. The sad part is that someday they could hit a child and seriously injur or cause death.

 

Unfortunately, all of the traffic law education in the world would probably do little good, except for those folks that honestly weren't aware of new laws. The problem is that certain things, like driving in a terrible rain without headlights, or tailgating, fall under the realm of using common sense, it simply isn't safe to do those things, and it shouldn't take education to make that known. I come across folks everyday that exercise very little of it. I maintain that if everyone just used a little more common sense, the world would be a much better place. :) The other issue at hand is personal responsibility and accountability (or lack thereof). Lots of people will take things as far as they can, continuing to push the limits, until there is a crackdown. For example, there are many intersections in my neighborhood where people roll right through the stop signs when turning right (including lots of mothers taking their children to school!). The problem subsides greatly when the CHP hangs out and nabs people. But they only do that once every few months, and after a few days, the problem is right back where it was before the latest round of tickets. When I come to Tehachapi, I usually take San Francisquito Canyon through the hills to get to the desert. It's a beautiful drive, very nice and relaxing. That is, unless you are driving southbound in the morning or northbound in the evening. Then it is absolute hell as local residents are trying to get to work, or home from work. It's an absolute racetrack, and a tailgating frenzy. And there is a stretch of that road that slows down to 35mph for a few miles while it goes thorugh a residential area. There are signs posted everywhere, some official, some from residents. There are even signs that show your speed electronically and flash it when you are exceding the limit. Some people do slow down, but many do not. In fact some people get downright indignant behind me, even when I speed up to 40mph to try to appease them. The point being that in most of these cases, there is little if any enforcement. And while more cops and better enforcement would help quash these problems, why can't folks take it easier in the first place? Sparks you are right, there is a lot of BMC'ing (B---h, Moan, and Complain) about trivial things, and I could go on for hours, not BMC'ing myself, but discussing why folks do what they do, and about life in general and what I've learned, up to this point anyway! :) Let's all make an effort (myself included) to say hello to folks on the street or in your travels, or at the drive through. I know from personal experience that a little kindess to strangers goes a long way.

People just think they are invincible behind the wheel. I have bemoaned about  tailgater, speeders, and the complete idiots who pass people on the 202 on this blog site and the newspaper.  Also spoke with city officials, Cal trans, and everyone who could possibly improve the safety of the 202, and just got a lot of bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo for the most part. The the recent  proposal to increase a 1/2 cent sales tax to fix the roads was voted down by the people of Kern County. Can't figure that one out, but, so be it.

Unfortunately. I fear they won't get it until they end up underneath the back end of some else's car (hopefully not yours) or in a twisted piled heap of metal on the road somewhere!  Just be careful out there because their are those who think they know better, and don't mind taking their lives and our lives in their hands to get somewhere 15 seconds earlier.

Can you post some more train pictures if you have them? This is really cool! Thanks.

C~

Christine, yes I will be posting more pictures soon. I'm taking pictures again of trains, and I also have hundreds of pictures of the past 20 years that I am scanning in for my website www.GregLoskorn.com (which is due for a huge update). BTW, is there an easy way to post some pix here, without making a 'blog' out of them?