I know you are all used to receiving my blog on Sunday evening. This weekend was babysitting weekend for my nephew’s boys and then last night after doing that I went to visit my cousin who is recouping from knee surgery and to have dinner with him so I didn’t get home until 8PM. Hope you don’t mind that I decided to watch the Tony Awards instead of writing the blog.
How long have you been driving? For me it is more than 35 years – I was not an early driver; I didn’t get my license until I was 21 and had to do my student teaching. I couldn’t walk to the High School I was assigned to so it was necessary for me to get my license and a car.
Why do I bring this up? Well I can remember having to read the Learner’s book, getting my Learner’s permit and then learning to drive to get that almighty license. More importantly, I can remember as a child when I was riding my bicycle having to use hand signals to let cars know that I was turning.
The last couple of years because I have worked from home my driving was pretty much limited to a 10 mile radius and every now and then when I visited my cousin or went to babysit the boys I would venture another 50 miles from home. When I worked in the city my driving was limited to 6 miles a day from home to the station and back again at hours when many people were not even hitting the snooze buttons on their alarm.
Okay, I can hear you saying where is this going Toni? Where it is going is have you seen or experienced drivers lately? It takes all of my efforts to not shout some expletives out the window or give them an ethnic salute (I don’t care if it is Puerto Rican, Italian or American) as long as it emphasizes what I am thinking.
Nowadays no one uses their turn signals so you don’t know if they are going straight or turning – why is that so hard to do? The turn signal is right there near the steering wheel and it only requires you to flick your hand on it either up or down!!!
And did you not read the section in the Driver’s manual on 3 way or 4 way stop signs? You go according to who arrived at the sign first? It is like standing in a line and going to the next cashier – what is so difficult about that?
How about those individuals who ride on your tail? I am doing 70 in a 55 mile zone and I am still not going fast enough for you??? Are YOU kidding me? I always have the irresistible urge to slam on my brakes; BUT, I know that the only one who will get hurt is me as they won’t be able to stop in time and they will invariably slam into my backside.
Then let’s not forget the folks who don’t follow the rules and are texting or on their cellphone without it being on hands free or on a Bluetooth. They think that they are not being noticed; but, there was this one time when I was driving down the main road of my town and I couldn’t understand why the car in front of me was only doing 10 miles an hour and was weaving between the two lanes. It really was starting to get to me; and, as I was finally able to pass the car sure enough there was the driver texting and not looking at the road. WHY, oh why do you feel the need to text while driving???
I live in New York – you need to keep your eyes on the road to watch for the bicycle rider (I loved the guy who was riding on a bicycle during the December 26th snowstorm) and I am trying not to hit him. How about the bus and the people crossing the street between cars, buses, etc? And the best is when I am trying to back out of a parking space and can’t really see because it is a huge SUV and people all of a sudden show up in your rearview mirror. It is amazing that our accident rate is not much higher.
I am at the moment knocking on wood as I have not had an accident since I was 22 and I hope not to have another in my lifetime if I can help it. But, to prevent that you need to consider the following:
• Nothing is worth speeding and zigzagging through other drivers to get to
• Use your turn signals or your hand to let drivers behind you know what
you are doing
• Do NOT text while you are driving and minimize your cell phone
conversations – now is not the time to catch up with your girlfriend
• Review the Driver’s manual if you have forgotten some of the basic rules
• Lastly, be courteous to the other driver – who knows what we each have
on our minds – it isn’t always focused on the road.
Driving is a privilege – let’s not overstep our bounds.
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