Another Geezer Driver Plows Into Crowd - 6 dead 19 injured - KillerRELEASED of course

[Murderous Speeding Drunken Distrac]

B1ackwater wrote:
>That corner where TN/NC/SC/GA come
> together is getting a double-dose now - retiring yankees
> AND retirees coming up from Florida looking for a touch
> of "real winter".

Wow, you guessed where I live. =))

--

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

 

[necromancer]

B1ackwater:
> Everywhere from southern Tennessee down has experienced a
> huge migration of elderly yankees. Arizona, Nevada and
> Florida still absorb the bulk, but Georgia and Arkansas
> aren't far behind. That corner where TN/NC/SC/GA come
> together is getting a double-dose now - retiring yankees
> AND retirees coming up from Florida looking for a touch
> of "real winter". Find some demographics on Blairsville GA.

Don't I know it. I'm 30 miles north of the FL line on IH95 and you
should see the housing development that is going up along the corridor
in the last couple of years (that coupled with IH95 being widened from
the FL line to the SC line). The only reason I can fugure for it is
retirees either fleeing FL or coming here instead of going to FL to
retire, because there sure as hell isn't any industry (or an infulx of
non-service related jobs) moving in around here (except for maybe the
Port of Brunswick).

 

[Murderous Speeding Drunken Distrac]

necromancer wrote:
> B1ackwater:
>> Everywhere from southern Tennessee down has experienced a
>> huge migration of elderly yankees. Arizona, Nevada and
>> Florida still absorb the bulk, but Georgia and Arkansas
>> aren't far behind. That corner where TN/NC/SC/GA come
>> together is getting a double-dose now - retiring yankees
>> AND retirees coming up from Florida looking for a touch
>> of "real winter". Find some demographics on Blairsville GA.
>
>Don't I know it. I'm 30 miles north of the FL line on IH95 and you
>should see the housing development that is going up along the corridor
>in the last couple of years (that coupled with IH95 being widened from
>the FL line to the SC line). The only reason I can fugure for it is
>retirees either fleeing FL or coming here instead of going to FL to
>retire, because there sure as hell isn't any industry (or an infulx of
>non-service related jobs) moving in around here (except for maybe the
>Port of Brunswick).

Earlier tonight I was speaking with a developer who's main areas are
the corners B1ackwater wrote about. He's knocking down million$$$ off
those guys, and he said he can't keep up with the demand. :-/

Indeed, my father bought an acre and a half in the area at $15,000
about 10 years ago. The two adjacent lots, of roughly the same size,
just sold for $100,000+ each, and that's undeveloped property. At
least his lot is the best of the three, as his looks down on the
others. =))


--

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

 

[B1ackwater]

On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:00:48 -0700, "Bo Raxo"
<crimenewscenter@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>"B1ackwater" <bw@barrk.net> wrote in message
>news:46d40f5d.4991750@news.east.earthlink.net...
> >
>> Luckily Edgar Allen Poe didn't have that junk - or we'd
>> have gotten "The Cheerful Little Bluebird" instead of
>> "The Raven". Picasso would never have had a "blue period",
>> Rodin would have sculpted "Staring Out The Window" instead
>> of "The Thinker" and "Ahab" would have made friends with
>> the whale
>>
>
>That gets a standing ovation!!!
>
> >
>> A written mini-exam ... something that can be done
>> in a minute or two ... wouldn't be a terrible thing.
>> It can be disguised as a refresher on traffic signs
>> and very basic rules, but it would REALLY be a test
>> for "senility" (natural or drug-induced).
>>
>
>Eh, not a bad start, but I see so many geezers who physically just can't
>drive - they can't even turn their heads to the side to see what's there.
>The mind might be find, but they move at the speed of a glacier.
>
>> I don't think a physical driving test at each renewal
>> is practical. It would require hiring a LOT of inspectors
>> and, truthfully, a lot of people freeze-up when someone
>> is evaluating their driving ability. SOME sort of brief
>> test starting at age 65 and repeated every three to five
>> years wouldn't be a terrible burden though. Just have
>> 'em drive a generous circle of cones or loop through
>> parking-lot lanes and then stop at a stop sign. If they
>> can't - they ought not be on the highway.
>>
>
>We had those driving simulators in high school - sit in the chair, 20 or 30
>at a time, watch the screen, operate the controls as needed. The computer
>spit out a score. What would it cost to put one of those in the parking lot
>of every DMV, a couple of hundred thou? And another couple of hundred thou
>a year to staff it?
>
>Schedule at least the geezers, if not all drivers, to go through the thing
>at renewal. If you flunk, then you put then in a real car with a real
>inspector. You could run them through in groups of 25 each, three sets an
>hour, 8 hours a day, that's 600 people per day per DMV office. The savings
>to society in reduced accidents would make it pay for itself in the big
>picture, and I can think of worse uses for my tax dollars.


Two problems :

Firstly, the current crop of geezers aren't tech savvy.
A simulator would confuse them horribly.

Secondly, simulators - affordable ones - STILL aren't
enough like real driving to be a fair test.

>> Just go to your local supermarket or mall and WATCH the
>> people navigate the parking lot. A suprising number can't.
>> They'll go north on the southbound section, stop randomly
>> or almost (or not 'almost') hit parked cars, people ...
>> and that's all at five miles an hour. Scary !
>>
>
>Try riding a motorcycle through that supermarket lot. The geezers - it's
>always geezers - randomly pull out of parking spots or drive through a
>paired set of empty spots from one side to the other, with the theory that
>if they don't look, they won't see you, and if they don't see you, then it's
>not their fault if they hit you. It's a crazy theory. I can't tell you
>how many times some tiny gnome in a large, old, very clean large American
>car has almost run me down, and they say - every time - "I didn't see you."
>
>I ask them if their mirrors are defective. No? I ask them if I'm
>invisible. No? Then, you mean, you didn't see me because you didn't look?
>Oh, well, maybe then the answer is - you should have been looking where you
>were going.


I do ride motorcycles, they're my primary transportation,
so I know all about parking lots - more dangerous than the
interstates.

However, I also know that people see what they're LOOKING FOR.
They're looking for a big box with wheels on it, not a little
motorcycle. Consequently, they look but they don't see.

Human vision is "perception", filtered through zillions of
neural nets, not a security camera. If the nets aren't primed
to see anything but big rolling boxes then they ain't gonna SEE
anything but big rolling boxes (unless YOU make an effort).
Stage magicians rely on these peculiarities of perception
so they can do one thing while the audience is looking at
or for something else. Good for them, bad for riders, peds
and bicyclists.

>> With luck, in ten or twelve years you'll be able to get
>> in your car and say "Drive me to the Quick-e-Mart" and
>> it will do so flawlessly. THAT will solve a LOT of
>> sticky problems !
>>
>
>You know the lawyers will screw that up - imagine the lawsuits when you ask
>it to go to the Qwik-E-Mart, it takes you to the Qwik-E-Lube, and some fool
>ends up ingesting a Squishy full of 5W-40.

Shakespears suggestion about lawyers comes to mind ... long
overdue

Still, based on the last two DARPA competitions for autonomous
vehicles, expect self-driving cars within a 10-15 year window.
Some of the newer cars already have auto-braking, but the e-IQ
to navigate a pothole & 18-wheeler-infested highway is only now
emerging.

 

[B1ackwater]

On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:05:17 -0400, necromancer
<55_sux@worldofnecromancer_nospam_noway.org> wrote:

> B1ackwater:
>> Everywhere from southern Tennessee down has experienced a
>> huge migration of elderly yankees. Arizona, Nevada and
>> Florida still absorb the bulk, but Georgia and Arkansas
>> aren't far behind. That corner where TN/NC/SC/GA come
>> together is getting a double-dose now - retiring yankees
>> AND retirees coming up from Florida looking for a touch
>> of "real winter". Find some demographics on Blairsville GA.
>
>Don't I know it. I'm 30 miles north of the FL line on IH95 and you
>should see the housing development that is going up along the corridor
>in the last couple of years (that coupled with IH95 being widened from
>the FL line to the SC line). The only reason I can fugure for it is
>retirees either fleeing FL or coming here instead of going to FL to
>retire, because there sure as hell isn't any industry (or an infulx of
>non-service related jobs) moving in around here (except for maybe the
>Port of Brunswick).

I get down that corridor fairly often. I think the issue
is the terrible property taxes and "impact fees" in Florida.
The new governor SAID he'd fix it ... but didn't. Local
governments still waste money by the oceanfulls on kickback
projects and lining the pockets of the already-rich and
show no inclination to change their ways. Won't be long
before the peasants show up at city hall with torches
and farm implements ...

So, Georgia, MS, 'Bama, Arkansas and such are a LOT easier
on the retirement fund. East Texas ought to be kind of nice
too but seems to get overlooked - low rolling grassy
landscape, OK temperatures.

Wouldn't want to live within 30 miles of Brunswick though,
the STINK from the papermills - YIKES !!!!!

 

[B1ackwater]

On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:18:37 -0400, "Murderous Speeding Drunken
Distracted Driver (Hector Goldstein)"
<drunk_and_distracted@the_wheel.com> wrote:

>necromancer wrote:
>> B1ackwater:
>>> Everywhere from southern Tennessee down has experienced a
>>> huge migration of elderly yankees. Arizona, Nevada and
>>> Florida still absorb the bulk, but Georgia and Arkansas
>>> aren't far behind. That corner where TN/NC/SC/GA come
>>> together is getting a double-dose now - retiring yankees
>>> AND retirees coming up from Florida looking for a touch
>>> of "real winter". Find some demographics on Blairsville GA.
>>
>>Don't I know it. I'm 30 miles north of the FL line on IH95 and you
>>should see the housing development that is going up along the corridor
>>in the last couple of years (that coupled with IH95 being widened from
>>the FL line to the SC line). The only reason I can fugure for it is
>>retirees either fleeing FL or coming here instead of going to FL to
>>retire, because there sure as hell isn't any industry (or an infulx of
>>non-service related jobs) moving in around here (except for maybe the
>>Port of Brunswick).
>
>Earlier tonight I was speaking with a developer who's main areas are
>the corners B1ackwater wrote about. He's knocking down million$$$ off
>those guys, and he said he can't keep up with the demand. :-/
>
>Indeed, my father bought an acre and a half in the area at $15,000
>about 10 years ago. The two adjacent lots, of roughly the same size,
>just sold for $100,000+ each, and that's undeveloped property. At
>least his lot is the best of the three, as his looks down on the
>others. =))

Yep, that "five-corners" area is HOT. No real-estate
slump around there.

Where Alabama, Georgia, Tenn, NC & SC sort-of come together
is Retirement Heaven, or WAS anyhow ...

 

[Murderous Speeding Drunken Distrac]

B1ackwater wrote:
>
> Yep, that "five-corners" area is HOT. No real-estate
> slump around there.
>
> Where Alabama, Georgia, Tenn, NC & SC sort-of come together
> is Retirement Heaven, or WAS anyhow ...

It still is a retirement haven. :-/


--

"Speeders And Drunk Drivers Are MURDERERS" brags of it's homosexuallity:
the guys at the bath-house stopped laughing at my 3 inch weenie.
: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.autos.driving/msg/168e8e621dd649fb?hl=en

"Speeders And Drunk Drivers Are MURDERERS" brags of it's ability to operate a vehicle:
I must be doing something right to go 3 1/2 years without a fatal crash.
: http://groups.google.com/group/misc.transport.road/msg/a376114ee8a61824?hl=en