December 4, 2014

December 4, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader, 

 

Yesterday this author drover through Los Molinos. Upon entering the town, there were signs to slow down traffic. It is interesting to think about how this is accomplished. The blinking sign responds to the distance between the oncoming car and the sign, but it also responds to the speed with which the car approaches the sign. When one is going fifty miles an hour the sign flashes very fast. The speed  is showing on the sign, but as one is slowing down, the sign immediately flashes less often. While  decreasing speed with which one is approaching, the sign reads forty five, forty four, forty one, thirty nine, thirty eight, thirty seven, thirty six and then one has slowd  down to thirty five.

As this example beautifully illustrates, this author's driving behavior is under functional control of these environmental signals. The road on which this slowing down occurs is a two lane road and it is a great pleasure for this writer to come to this sign and to slow down. Because many other people would like to go fast, but can’t, it is always an intense drive from Chico to Red Bluff, but every time this author reaches Los Molinos, he breathes a sigh of relief. 

There is another stretch of road, which also attracts this author’s attention because of its reinforcing consequences. Here the road changes from a two lane road (which is quite dangerous, given the fact that people pass each other with sixty five miles per hour) to a three lane road. The threat of the traffic that is coming from the opposite direction is still there in the left lane, but at least this author can drive fifty five miles, while everyone else is racing by him with seventy miles an hour. Before he reaches that point, where his side of the road becomes a two lane road, this driver, who drives an old Toyota Corolla, usually gathered a bunch of cars behind him. The one behind him is often someone who is tail-gating. It is a great release of tension when that two lane piece of road is finally reached and then the cars can pass him. 

Other reinforcing aspects of the drive are views and landmarks. What stands out is an old oak tree in the middle of a field. Since this is close to where he works, this reassuring tree announces that he has almost arrived. There is also an old barn nearby, which represents the aging process and the years gone by. The author arrives at his work after following a smooth bend in the road. By the end of this bend the traffic has slowed down significantly.