The Battalion
OPINION
Monday, March 20,1989
Defensive driving prevents
deaths and cures insomnia
Some people call it defensive driving;
others just call it hell. Regardless of how
you refer to it, one thing is certain — it’s
not much fun.
Believe me. I’ve taken defensive driv
ing twice, and both sessions can accu
rately be described in two words: yawn
city.
Of course I have no one to blame but
myself for taking defensive driving. No
body forced me to take the course.
But when you get a ticket for speed
ing or some other traffic violation, de
fensive driving is often the most logical
way to get out of paying the t icket . If the
court is agreeable (and most are), you
can forgo paying your ticket by deciding
to sit through an eight-hour defensive
driving course that costs a mere $25. •
And trust me boys and girls — it’s
worth every penny.
Many of you haven’t ever taken one
of these courses, so let me just give you
an idea of what they’re like.
The room where the course is held is
filled with chairs and there’s a large
movie screen in the front of the room.
You walk up to the instructor, fill out a
paper or two and give him your money.
After enough people show up the in
structor starts talking. This particular
instructor says he likes to know who his
“fastest” students are. (He keeps an in
formal record of the highest speeds, he
says.)
One student raises his hand and an
nounces that he was pulled over for
driving 89 mph in a 55 mph zone.
So far the course has been interest
ing, but after the announcement of the
land speed records, the subject matter
begins to get dull. Soon the instructor is
saying things like “Green means go, yel
low means caution and red means stop.”
“Is there anyone who doesn’t have
that?” he asks.
Three people raise their hands.
Next it’s time for the first of the eight
films that will be shown during the
course. These films concern subjects
like avoiding head-on crashes and
guarding against collisions at intersec
tions.
This first film is titled “It’s a jungle
out there,” and it features a guy in a red
jeep who alternately drives along city
streets and jungle trails.
And yes, it’s as stupid as it sounds.
The other movies aren’t much better.
They were made in the ’70s and they
feature struggling actors who audi
tioned for Cheerios commercials but
were turned down. Occasionally these
films are so bad they make you laugh
out loud, but usually they just make you
sleepy.
The thought of having to pay for a
traffic ticket should be enough to scare
you into driving safely. But if it’s not, let
defensive driving be your deterrent.
You don’t want to spend eight hours lis
tening to someone say “Green means
go.” And you sure as heck don’t want to
watch 15-year-old films that were made
on a $126 budget with actors who re
ceived their training at the Acme School
of Drama.
Maybe none of this has convinced you
to drive safely. Maybe you still are going
to drive 75 mph and accelerate through
yellow lights. Maybe you think of a
ticket as just being the price you occa
sionally have to pay for driving danger
ously. Maybe it’s just a big gamble to
you.
It shouldn't be.
I was involved in a two-car accident a
few 7 months ago that occurred for one
reason: Neither I nor the driver of the
other vehicle were paying much atten
tion to what we were doing.
I consider myself lucky that no one
was injured in the accident. If someone
had died as a result of my bad driving,
I’m not sure I could have accepted it.
Sure, defensive driving courses aren’t
much fun. But the main message taught
in these courses is important: If you
screw around while you’re driving,
you’re going to kill someone.
I’m just glad I didn’t have to learn
that the hard way.
Dean Sueltenfuss is a junior journa
lism major and opinion page editor for
The Battalion.
Quit giving rod
music a
They’re back. Just when we thought it
was safe to go out and buy any album we
want, the Parent’s Music Resource Cen
ter comes along telling us rock ’n’ roll
condones, even promotes, everything
from necrophilia to Satanism.
Now they vyant the recording compa
nies to know music can be included in
the Child Protection and Obscenity En
forcement Act.
The PMRG is led by Susan Baker,
wife of Secretary of State James Baker,
and Tipper Gore, wife of Tennessee
senator Albert Gore. The group was
formed in May, 1985 to inform parents
of the inherent dangers of rock music.
How nice of them.
Two years ago they succeeded in re
quiring record companies to place a
“Warning — Explicit Lyrics — Parental
Advisory” label on any record deemed
“obscene.” Now they’re back, saying the
record companies aren’t sticking to their
agreement, and they say the obscenity
laws could be used to enforce their de
mands.
The Child Protection and Obscenity
Enforcement Act makes it a crime to sell
any obscene material. Punishment for
such crimes can include fines, imprison
ment and confiscation of property.
Judgment of obscene material is based
upon three legal criteria: the dominant
theme of the material, taken as a whole,
must appeal to a morbid or unhealthy
interest in sex; the material must be of
fensive and an affront to public stan
dards; and the material must have no
socially redeeming values. While the law
is aimed primarily at pornography, it in
cludes a provision for “auditory pornog
raphy” which could be twisted to in
clude any music the PMRC feels is
obscene.
The PMRC insists “obscene” records
be labeled so parents can make in
formed decisions on what to allow their
children to hear. They equate this plan
to the rating system used for movies.
I’ve got news for you ladies — those la
bels don’t work. How many parents are
even aware of the music their children
listen to, let alone go with them when
they buy it? A child could just as easily
buy a Slayer album as a Debbie Gibson
album, and their parents would be none
the wiser.
The PMRC also seems selective of the
music they want labeled. They always go
after heavy-metal acts, because many of
their songs deal with risque topics. Me-
tallica, Guns N’ Roses, Judas Priest and
Motley Crue seem to be PMRC favor
ites. They rarely go after rap musicians,
and I’ve yet to see a warning label on a
country album. Both these genres often
use sex, drugs, alcohol and violence as
themes.
PMRC member Sandy Sharpe says
the group “has zeroed in on rock music
because it is popular with the young-
bad rap
Chuck Squatriglia
Assistant News Editor
sters. Country western music appealslo
an older listenership.” Apparemlt
Sharpe has never lived in the Southoi
Midwest, where country music can I*
heard at least as often as rock in am
high school, or she would realize hot
popular country music is with teen-ag
ers.
1 think the real reason the PMRC
doesn’t go after the country artists is be
cause the country music industry is out
of the greatest lobbying forces in Ten
nessee, and Gore realizes that forcin?
them to change could cause problems
for her husband’s political career.
Another problem with the PMRC!
goals is the sticky question of who’s to
decide what’s obscene. What maybe
“dirty” to one person could he perfectlt
normal to another.
A perfect example of this was
brought up ait a U.S. Senate committee
hearing in 1985 on the topic of rating
records. 1 he PMRG quoted the lyritt
“this time you cannot rise/ your hands
are tied/ your legs are strapped/a light
shines in your eyes/ it's over now, the
blade is gonna ride . . .” by the hear
metal band Twisted Sister. Vocalist Dee
Snider says the song is about a friends
fear of hospitals and surgery, while the
PMRG swears the song condones sado
masochistic sex.
Many of the lyrics the PMRG citesas
obscene are taken out of context. They
often twist them around to appear
worse than they are. they recently
charged Metallic a-wint condoning drug
abuse and murder because of the lyrics
“Drink up/ shoot in/ let the beatingsbe-
gin/ to see into my eyes, you'll find
where the murder lies,” taken from the
song “I larvester of Sorrow.” I wonderif
people affiliated with the PMRC ever
bothered to actually listen to thesong.il
they had, they would have realized the
song is about a child who has been
abused by his parents, and their drug
addiction is what caused the abuse.
The PMRG seems to believe rock'n
roll is the root of all the problems with
America's teen-agers. They are using
rock music as a scapegoat for problems
that should be attributed to parents and
society as a whole. Their message seems
to be “Don’t blame yourself for your
kid’s problems, it’s that nasty rock musk
that’s doing it all.”
If they were truly concerned about
the welfare of America’s children, they
would try to do something about the
real problems facing teen-agers today
and leave rock music alone.
Chuck Squatriglia is a junior journh'
lism major and an assistant news editor
for The Battalion.
Not bad.
But he is quickly topped by a guy who
says he was caught driving 121 mph in a
55 mph zone. A few 7 other students an
nounce their speeds, but no one can
beat 121 mph.
Now the instructor announces the all-
time record for the students he’s taught
in previous defensive driving courses:
One person got caught going 147 mph
back when the speed limit was 70 mph.
That’s not too shabby.
I apologize if I’m making defensive
driving seem terrible. I don’t mean to
make it sound like a living hell — but I
just can’t help it.
For those of you who have never
taken defensive driving before, let me
give you some advice: Don’t put your
self in a situation where you will have to
take a defensive driving course. Avoid
tickets at all costs. Don’t speed. Come to
a complete stop at stop signs. Never run
a red light. And for heaven’s sake don’t
forget to yield!
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Becky Weisenfels, Editor
Leslie Guy, Managing Editor
Dean Sueltenfuss, Opinion Page Editor
Anthony Wilson, City Editor
Scot Walker, Wire Editor
Drew Leder, News Editor
Doug Walker, Sports Editor
Jay Janner, Art Director
Mary-Lynne Rice, Entertainment Edi
tor
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resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac
ulty or the Board of Regents.
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classes within the Department of Journalism.
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