>Tailgating someone in a Vanagon is even crazier than than in a
>vehicle with some
>crash protection.

If you followed the threads you'd have read that the Vanagon offers
PLENTY of crash-protection... at the expense of the other vehicle.

>You know, there really is never, never any reason to tailgate anyone.
>It's dangerous, it's pointless.

Not at all. If your vehicle is slow-accelerating and you want to
overtake, and opportunities are rare and the straights short (read:
New Zealand), you MUST tailgate. Otherwise, by the time you've wound
it up enough to gain speed, you've run out of road. In my diesel
Toyotas (nonturbo), which cruise fine but are not all that quick on
acceleration, I have to sit fairly close to my target (normally some
roadhog who believes he has the right to hold up traffic by sitting
10-20kmh below the speed limit, and the highways here are only one
lane per side) in order to take advantage of the short overtaking
windows. And there are LOTS of such drivers here...

>While I think it's ridiculous for someone to drive in the fast lane to
>attempt to enforce a speed limit,

Very true

As far as bumper stickers are concerned, they are found on cars owned
by people with no knowledge of driving and no interest either. The
worst are the "Drive Safe, Heaven's Full" stickers so popular here...
always stuck to the back of battered cars doing illegal turns,
failing to indicate etc. I'm sick of them!
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut