“History,” said Henry Ford, is “bunk.”
What he meant by that is that the “history” they teach in government schools is largely “bunk.” It is either false outright – as for example the charactertization that the attempt made by the eleven states of the Sothern Confederacy to form their own nation the was somehow a “civil war.”
Or it is maliciously omitfull – as for example any factual explanation of the role played by private banking interests (for their own interests) in the formation of what is styled the “Fed,” or Federal Reserve Sysem.
It is why a large and growing number of parents home-school their kids.
For similar reasons, most kids need driver re-education.
What is taught in government schools and proselytized by the DMV as regards driving is also largely bunk. It is chiefly a blinkered obsession with rules, most of them arbitary and almost all of them lacking context while demanding universal and rigid obedience.
Some examples include:
You must always come to a complete stop because a red octagonal sign stands vigil at an intersection. It does not matter that there is often no reason (other than sign-obedience) to stop entirely because it is plainly evident there is no cross-traffic and there may be good reason not to, such as avoiding pointless loss of momentum and the waste of fuel (and brake pads) that attends losing it and regaining it.
It is also ironic, as regards the above, that the governmental obsession with fuel efficiency has led to practically every new car being fitted with a device that stops the engine whenever the car stops moving – yet it is considered a punishable offense to fail to completely stop at every stop sign, which wastes fuel – irrespective of any need (other than sign-obedience) to do so.
You must always signal when leaving the road or changing lanes, even if yours is the only car on the road and thus signaling amounts to the same thing as waving “hello” at people who aren’t there, like the Biden Thing. Many new cars are also fitted with obnoxious devices that force you to signal repeatedly before the signal turns off. This makes a sensible person inclined to avoid signaling altogether – especially when there is no reason to, other than rule-obedience.
You must always hew to the speed limit, whatever it is and wherever it is, irrespective of other factors such as getting around a vehicle ahead of you piloted by a “vaccine”-addled driver who is piloting his vehicle well below the speed limit. If you cannot pass him without “speeding” then you must not pass. Put another way, the only lawful pass is the unsafe one that keeps you in the opposing lane much longer than necessary, thereby increasing the chances you won’t make it back into your lane before oncoming traffic is in the same lane you’re still in.
Curiously, it is de facto the “law” that one ought to always “speed” – just a little bit – so as to avoid over-scrutiny by the armed government workers who enforce the speed limits. To drive no faster – per the actual law – is to stand out from the crowd, which is given tacit license by the enforcers of the speed limit to drive five or so MPH faster than whatever the speed limit is and so most do. This leaves those who don’t looking like the young antelope that isn’t keeping up with the herd. As in the animal kingdom, the antelope-on-wheels that doesn’t keep up is the one most likely to find itself prey. The safest policy – insofar as avoiding AGW predators – is to drive just slightly faster than the speed limit, along with everyone else.
Even if it is technically – legally – “speeding.”
Speaking of the law – or rather, its enforcers – another thing not generally told new drivers is that it is not “the law” that one must always obey the directions of a law-enforcement officer, who isn’t “the law” personified and so whatever-he-says goes. You are not legally required to answer his questions regarding such things as where you’re headed and why. Nor whether you’ve been “drinking,” either. Such questions are investigations – and you have the right to not be compelled to witness against yourself. You are not obliged to roll down your window any more than necessary to slip through the crack your licence and insurance paperwork (and even that much may not be legally required if you show the AGW your license and insurance by holding it up against the glass such that the AGW can see and read it).
Given how little actual law law-enforcers often know, it is very sound policy to know as much law, insofar as your legal obligations, as possible.
A few other Untaught Truths:
Acceleration with alacrity is often far safer than the passive-glacial acceleration taught by government-approved driving instructors and sermonized as gospel by the DMV. This is not always true, of course. But it is often true. As for example when pulling out from a side street into a busy road with traffic that is bearing down upon you with alactrity.
It is far safer to hit the gas than be hit, from behind.
Similarly, it is safer to get off the road quickly when turning off the road – rather than slowing down to an almost-stop in the road before you begin your turn off the road.
These are just a few of the things not taught by government driving schools that ought to be part of the education of anyone who truly wants to know how to drive – as oposed to how to obey. Just the same as anyone wanting to know the true history of what wasn’t the “Civil War” and how the “Fed” came to be will need to seek the truth outside of the government miseducation system.
. . .
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Just listened to your encounter with Bryan Hyde. I’ve mentioned, probably a couple of times, that the reason “drivers” are so timid is because they are afraid of their vehicles. If you drive an MT, you have to master your vehicle, or park it, permanently. if you master your vehicle, you will no longer be afraid of it.
I did not become a world class athlete at 18 (recruited by two or more professional baseball teams) because I yielded to my weakness, asthma, I did so because I ignored it. Then I discovered women, and threw it away, as teenagers often do.
I believe you are right, John. People should not be terrified of what they are driving. My one vehicle that is now semi-retired, I knew it like the back of my hand. Even when we got that awful, 2 foot of snow the one night a year or so ago, and I had to drive home in it, I knew how to handle the long drive. Oh, a 40-minute drive took two hours, and that car sits really low to the ground. But, I knew how to handle the roads and the car, awful as the whole journey was. Getting stuck behind what my friend called an FBAT (F*kin’ Big Ass Truck) did not hurt, either, to help blaze trail. I just bought a new car (ugh), and am learning the same thing: How to handle it, how well it accelerates, etc. Lord knows, I want to master this car, too, because no one else can master their own, and lemme tell you, I have zipped out of some near-misses with my old one, because I knew what the car could and could not do. The other person with those near-misses? Meh, now that is another story, both with the car, and their driving.
Politicians give/promise government workers’ (and themselves), huge, gold plated, defined benefit, pensions, (this insures loyalty to their mandate/narrative),
this makes it hard to have any change, if 40% of workers work for the government and are bribed, through high wages and huge gold plated pensions, they will go along with the government’s narrative……..
this is why a dangerous combination is a politician that has power working with a central bank that can print money without limit
they are unfunded, money from general revenue (taxes) is being used to prop them up, yes, your tax dollars…the taxpayer finances this….lol
Pension funds ready to implode, they are unfunded.
on top of that they are using very highly dangerous derivatives, LDI, to manage risk, when this pension mess implodes it could take down the whole financial system.
What is often getting overlooked in the UK pension meltdown is the use by the pension funds of a niche highly dangerous derivative product “liability-driven investing” (LDI). Most pension funds use LDI.
BlackRock, which sits between the pension schemes and banks on derivatives trades designed to hedge against adverse movement in interest rates and inflation, told its clients that it would no longer demand additional collateral but would instead liquidate holdings to meet margin calls that were soaring due to the extreme volatility in UK asset prices.
Yes, highly dangerous derivatives are still the same weapons of mass financial destruction in 2022 as they were in 2007 and 2008.
https://newsletter.allfactsmatter.us/p/the-breaking-begins-boe-intervention
This Is Why GEICO Won’t Pay To Fix Your Tesla
GEICO reportedly refuses to cover the cost to fix Tesla models
Is this what geico is worried about?
minor accidents that in the past would have been fixed with a pair of doors, new B pillar, floor and roof repair etc, may now involve potential damage to the traction battery that often CANNOT BE SEEN, and the replacement of the battery also may mean that a repairable car becomes a financial catastrophe. Battery replacement costs are from about $22,000 to $30,000.
These EV’s are very expensive to fix, this will be pushed on to ice car drivers with increased insurance costs, so ice car drivers have to pay for the road for the EV drivers (EV owners pay no road tax), plus pay part of their insurance, ice car drivers are getting screwed, point this out to EV owners, (send them a bill)…lol
Insurers are becoming increasing aware of the financial disaster from EV accidents, so will be raising insurance premiums on battery cars as necessary.
https://www.hotcars.com/why-geico-wont-pay-to-fix-your-tesla/?utm_medium=Social-Distribution&utm_campaign=Echobox_HC1&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR0iWTrN3lfAtCPZ62IKRH3GtVqBpKjiViTfbOngZNnBwGVCauROo1lb_OA#Echobox=1664797771
One thing North American Drivers (including their Rulers and Enforcers) cannot seem to comprehend is: Keep Right Except to Pass. And Keeping Right does not mean only staying out of the Left Lane. It means: Keep Right no matter how many lanes in a single direction a highway has. If you’re in a lane which has lane on your right not being used by a vehicle you are passing, then you are a problem. If you can’t handle the few Left Lane Exits found on some Rural Interstates, then take an Uber. If you can’t handle vehicles merging onto an Interstate while you are in the lane in which they are merging, then take an Uber. It’s not that big of a deal. In the 90’s, I drove a 26 HP Trabant on Interstates in California, Nevada and Arizona and was NEVER passed on the right.
I am with you 100%, Doug.
I recently returned from a trip to Madison County, Virginia…I-95 was a free-for-all cluster****.
Anything goes…3,4,5 lanes of traffic…ALL DOING THE SAME SPEED!
This forces sane drivers to pass on the right.
Quite bizarre.
If I listened closely, I could actually hear the “BAA, BAA, BAA” of the triple-“vaxxed” driving SHEEP…as I passed them…!
In Michigan, it is legal to pass on the right if the highway has 3 lanes or more.
“EeeVees,” said Henry Ford, are “bunk.”
Okay, I just made that up. But Henry probably would be more torqued up than I am after reading this paean to EeeVees by auto ‘journalist’ Al Roooooot:
‘Then we hopped into a modified Tesla Model 3 to test out a feature available on many EVs called one-pedal driving. With one-pedal driving, a driver uses only the gas pedal to drive. To brake, a driver simply releases the gas pedal and the car uses the electric motor to slow down.
‘One-pedal driving could turn inexperienced racers, such as myself, into something approximating a pro. Regenerative braking seemed to put the car on the correct line without much effort, or expertise. That control allowed us to drive much faster through the course, even if many orange cones were still upturned.’
https://archive.ph/nj9eO#selection-2601.0-2635.265
Impressive, Al. And with a fast-twitch hydraulic exoskeleton, I could punch Mike Tyson to a quivering pulp.
One pedal good, two pedals baaaaaaad.
Just had this discussion with my spouse re the idiocy that is being taught to new drivers these days. Our teenage son’s driver’s manual says (I kid you not) that when a driver approaches you in the opposing lane with their high beams on, you are to LOOK AWAY. Not flash your brights at them, just look away like some cuck.
Not only is this ridiculously obsequious behavior, but it also is NOT HELPFUL to anyone. The idiot (or possibly forgetful) driver does not know that they are blinding everyone in their path. You have not spared any of the drivers behind you from the full glare of the oncoming brights. You are also allowing yourself to be trained to be a neutered slave.
PS – 17 yo son just got his motorcycle license. He is loving it.
Hi Anon,
Yup. This business of inculcating passivity accounts for much of what is wrong with this country today. I think there is a definite relatiosnhip between the galling obsequiousness before “authority” (even the “authority of a kid guarding the entrance to a supermarket, Face Dipaer box in hand) displayed during the “pandemic” and what has been done to drivers (and driving) in this country over the past 40 years.
NHTSA has proposed that high-beams should be the “normal” driving mode and only go to low-beams when opposing traffic is present. I don’t know if this proposal was adopted, but I do remember reading about it not too long ago…
Once again, a “government agency” gets involved in something it knows nothing about.
OT: It looks like Toyota will have a global monopoly in the automobile market in 2035.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/02/toyota-ceo-akio-toyoda-electric-vehicles-happy-dance.html
We may need Driver’s Re-education for those who’ve been jabbed. I was driving on one road when I noticed someone behind me driving a big truck that was weaving back and forth. This person was doing it non-stop practically the entire time I could see them. I assume the driver has been jabbed.
A cop that made it his work life’s goal to sit near a stop sign at Old 13 Mile Road near Van Dyke Ave in Warren Michigan and ticket those who he claimed “did not stop” is but one example of a rogue cop who should never have been allowed to do any “traffic enforcement”.
This was a well-known “trap” among the locals who, despite completing a legal stop were still harassed, illegally detained and ticketed.
This POS netted over $200,000 a year overtime for showing up in court to enrich the coffers of Warren Michigan.
And cops wonder why they are hated. It’s your word against theirs and they almost always “win”. bastards
The “full stop” rule drives me nuts, if you slow down at the intersection and can clearly see no one coming it makes sense to just speed up and get across. Wife and I both have gotten paying paper for our evil infractions. BTW why are they called “tickets”? Some wordsmithing psychological BS? I buy tickets if we’re going to a show, not to pay off some parasite AGW.
My number one rule comes from the good ol’ Pork-Chop Express:
I never drive faster than I can see, and besides that, it’s all in the reflexes.
I never drive faster than I can see,
That would be the speed of light, which in vacuum = 3 x 10^8 M/sec
Not to worry, mate.
Adi,
When an AGW has stopped me, and asks, “do you know what the speed limit is here?” I always answer “Of course. its the same as it is everywhere. The speed of light”. A few have laughed too hard to write me up.
Thank you, Eric.
Henry Ford’s own history book, all four volumes in one free pdf file:
http://www.jrbooksonline.com/PDF_Books_added2009-2/internationaljew-1.pdf
By the way, the book is very much in favor of Christianity, so Christians ought be comforted by that.
Consider that Henry Ford did business around the world and certainly knew what he was talking about, that the knowledge in the book has never been proved wrong, that it was published and widely distributed 100 years ago, and yet not a single school nor government agency nor big media outlet in the country teaches any of it.
Signed,
Jim Laffrey
It’s odd how going UNDER the speed “limit” is an excuse to pull you over just as much as exceeding it. Just like withdrawing LESS than $10,000 for the bank can get you charged with “evading” the $10,000 reporting requirement.
Of course, “law enforcement” is de facto exempt from the “safety” limits they impose upon YOU.
I once followed a state trooper on the interstate, I quit accelerating at 80 mph and he was pulling away from me — no lights or siren. Where was he going at 85 or so mph? To one of those turn-arounds (where it’s illegal for YOU to turn around but not him) to set up a speed trap.
On a similar note I had a “nice” cop write me a ticket for a lower speed than he had clocked me at a couple of years ago, so that the judge would let me plead it to a “no points” parking violation and ONLY cost me $125.
It occurred to me that by making a false statement to the court on an official document, the cop was committing a felony. Had I made a false statement on an official document I would have been charged for it.
The “law” is a f–ing joke.
What is taught in government schools and proselytized by the DMV as regards driving is also largely bunk. It is chiefly a blinkered obsession with rules, most of them arbitary and almost all of them lacking context while demanding universal and rigid obedience.
Also true of Godvernment mandated “Hunter Safety Course.”
Nice article. Back when I still had hair I was given a ticket for not stopping long enough at the stop sign or something like that before turning and the cop who was going the same way I was ticketed me. I figure then as now it was just AGW bullsh*t. On the other hand I generally drive the posted limit more or less but when I pass, I pass. Foot to the floor and all barrels open and yes I’ve passed a truck going 90 mph in a 55mph zone. Fun times.
Eric, you really need to change Armed Government Worker to Armed Government Employee (or maybe Minion). Calling them “workers” is insulting to those people that actually do work for a living.
Hi Gary,
I hear you. I use the term “worker” because it has history; i.e., government worker. Adding “armed” puts the rest in the appropriate context.
“it is not “the law” that one must always obey the directions of a law-enforcement officer”
No it isn’t. But since the foundation of every government is its assumption of authority to kill you if you disobey, one takes their life in their hands if they do NOT obey those “directions”. If an AGW tells you he’s going to break your window if you don’t lower it, rest assured, that is exactly what they are going to do. They will then likely drag you out of your car and assault you for being “disobedient”. And since their risk of repercussion is practically non-existent, why would they not?
“I will not answer any questions, and I do not consent to the search of any person place or thing” should be the only words that come out of your mouth. Preferably recorded.
I had a great drivers ed teacher in high school – don’t slow down prior to a freeway off ramp that’s what the decel section of the off ramp is for. Getting on the freeway, go! Acceleration lane is there so you’re at freeway speed as you enter the freeway. Don’t slow down to “allow” someone on, it’s their responsibility to match freeway speeds and enter the flow. Slowing down screws up the flow of traffic.
With the increase of dangerous crazies wandering around you’d be a fool to sit still at a red light or stop sign. If I see suspicious pedestrian activity off I go if the road is clear.
Sparkey,
“Don’t slow down to “allow” someone on”
If you do so, you are now an unpredictable vector. You are slowing down, when they may also be slowing down in order to merge. Now traffic on a multilane highway approaches a dead stop. Maintain constant speed so you ARE a predictable vector. Of course if the one merging does as some do, drive to the end of the ramp and change lanes regardless of traffic, one may have to slow down, or collide with them.
I had a good driver’s ed instructor too. 50 years ago.
Decades ago a traffic expert was interviewed, he urged people to keep a steady speed if at all possible on the freeway. If I remember it was a car slowing 5 MPH in heavy traffic will cascade back to a dead stop in about a 1/2 mile.
Hi Sparkey,
The road I live on ends at a stop sign, where it meets the main road through the county. Approaching the stop from 50 yards out, one can easily see whether there is any traffic headed northbound well before one actually gets to the stop. If I am planning on heading northbound myself (right turn at the stop) and I can plainly see there aren’t any cars approaching the intersection I never stop – because why the Hell would I? It’s not merely a waste of kinetic energy (and fuel) as well as time.
It is stupid.
I have never been a member of the strange cult that worships road signs and genuflects before Authority.
Hi, Eric,
Two of the three pieces of “payin’ paper” I have been issued over the past 40 years were for “rolling through a STOP! sign.” Dangerous behavior, that. Not.
My SOP:
0. Know where the Pa Trolls live.
They are, generally speaking, creatures of habit, and none too bright.
No refugee nuclear physicists, here. So, pay attention, and avoid their lairs, if at all possible.
1. When approaching a HALT! sign,
a) Check for cops.
b) Check for traffic @ intersecting road.
c) IF (a OR b) STOP
ELSE go about your business.
Leave at your own chosen speed.
It ain’t you they’re looking for.
For now… 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R2NrV4ve1o
Eric,
Isn’t it a bit strange that the state which admonishes us for using too much fuel demands we burn more of it with driving “laws”?
Ugh, that is one thing that drivers up here cannot do: That is merge with traffic. Drivers in these parts treat the acceleration ramp as the Sunday stroll lane. Not realizing that this long lane is for acceleration, so as to catch up with everyone else on the highway you are about to join. And then, they get pissed off when you do not “move over” and “let them in” because you refuse to “move over” into the left lane for them. Well, that is because half the time, there is a left-lane lugger in that left lane that refuses to pass anyone (“I am going they speed limit”, they shill), and you are “stuck”, and cannot move. You truly are “damned if you, damned if you don’t”.
Shadow,
In fact, I always accelerate on such ramps to modestly EXCEED the speed of the highway traffic if I can. Your brakes are a much more effective means of changing your delta-v to merge than your throttle is. As a bonus, you are now merging with traffic in front of you, rather than trying to merge with traffic behind you.
I admit, I am one for having a lead foot when I am on that merge ramp. I do not care if the speed limit on that next highway is 65 mph. If everyone is pushing 80, so be it, that is the speed I am going. Or faster, so as to merge with other vehicles, and the space that I am going to be entering in between vehicles. The Sunday Strollers need to get the hell out of the way, and park on the side of the road, ’cause all they do is piss everyone else off, and cause accidents. Hmm, can you tell I have no patience with such drivers?
I must admit, I do use my turn signals even when no one is around. Why? Just habit, I guess. Turn signals are a courtesy to other drivers, and it infuriates me when I’m trying to pull out of a street, especially in heavy traffic, and the guy in the oncoming right lane turns onto my street without a signal. I could have pulled out, had I known what he was going to do, but noooo, he doesn’t have the courtesy to indicate his intentions. So anyway, if I’m turning, I hit the blinker, and it’s such a habit that I don’t even think about whether someone else is around to see it. By the way, I was right smack dead center in the eye of hurricane Ian. Whatever you’re seeing on TV etc, it’s much, much worse than that. This is really bad, much like Katrina. I’m probably going to have to leave and maybe never go back. Might have to change my handle to Virginia man!
Floriduh
I as well. Turn signaling is an automatic action I take when turning or changing lanes. I don’t think about it, I just do it. Muscle memory, and all that. It takes precious little time and effort, so why not?
Virginia’s too purple these days. Come out to AZ floriduh, no hurricanes here! Heck a cloudy day is rare.
My oldest son and my grandchildren are in VA, so it would be nice to be near them. Besides, that’s where the wife wants to go, so my opinion doesn’t matter!
I copy you on that, Floriduh, and also Mark3 on coming to Az.
I reflexively use turn signals, and I think it’s actually beneficial, as in when some sneaky bastard seems to be deliberately hiding in your blind spot, though your quick survey tells you that no one is around. Or, when someone is comes up on your 6 at high speed, again dodging your efforts at detection before your lane change. It happens, time to time.
Fm…..
Sorry Dude but you must be a FL counterfeit!!!……
ALL RESIDENTS IN FLORIDA KNOW THAT YOU CAN NEVER TRUST GERIATRIC DRIVERS
TURN SIGNALS!!…..And since lots of folks have shaded windows….you really can’t see who’s coming at you…
I’ve resided in both Palm Beach and Broward counties since late 2008 and no one turns until the turn signaler turns….
What Planet did you say you were from Again???
Real Floridians know that the two areas where you lived are actually not part of Florida. Palm Beach is a branch office of Hollywood, and Broward is a Cuban territory.
The drivers who slow way down before turning right. Who turn right on a green light right in front of oncoming traffic then drive at a glacial speed. Who come almost to a stop in a merge lane. Who delay accelerating at a green light. Who cut in front of your car then refuse to keep up with traffic. I love fast drivers who pay attention – they keep traffic flowing.
Meant drivers who turn right light on their red light in front of you who just got a green light. Its legal in CA to make a right turn on a ref light IF you can safely do so.
One thing that drives me crazy (besides the ever increasing number of vax addled drivers) is people slowing down before an off ramp. there’s a DECELERATION LANE, for cryin’ out loud! That’s what it’s there for-to slow down upon leaving the highway. The only exception is if there is no proper off ramp; the exit begins right at the roadway, leaving no space to slow down. But, if there’s a proper off ramp with a deceleration lane, then keep your speed up before you leave the roadway…
Marky,
There are a few downgrade off ramps in my neighborhood that are really too short. As in you have to stand on the brakes when you leave the highway. The masses of non-driving “drivers” have no conception of standing on the brakes, so they undoubtedly WILL slow down before the ramp. As I suppose they should, given they don’t know how to drive. I often bewail drivers that take curves too slow. Then I realize that at least they aren’t driving faster than they can handle, and cut them a tiny bit of slack.
A great deal of such problems arise because as soon as they get a license from the State, they assume that no further improvement in skills is necessary. Even though the drivers license tests I’ve taken are a joke. Drive around a few city blocks, and you are now licensed to drive on a 70 mph multiple lane highway?
I’m 68, and I STILL work on my driving skills every time I drive.