The Fall & Bad Drivers

Fifty years ago when I was taking driver's education they drilled us on following the rules of the road. 

• Know the speed limits for different roads (e.g., residential, school zones, in town, highways) and OBEY them.
• Know the signs (e.g., Stop, Yield, No Parking, One Way, Speed Limit, etc.) and obey them.
• Make right angle turns at intersections into your own lane without cutting across the other guy's stop line.
• When you merge onto the highway, match speed and move into a space between, in front of or behind the highway traffic. (Don't expect them to move for you.)
• Use your signal lights.
• Turn on your lights to be seen even more than to see. (i.e., Turn them on at dusk or in storms even if you think you can see ok.)
• Drive defensively - expecting the other drivers to do something erratic and with a plan for what you would do if it happened.
• Drive cautiously - slow down if the roads are slippery or vision is limited or traffic is heavy.
• Maintain a safe following distance - and increase the following distance when speeds increase or in bad weather or poor visibility.

Either they are not teaching these things anymore, or the students are not paying attention.  The roads these days are crowded with very bad drivers!  

I like watching YouTube Clips of police officers arresting people for drunk and impaired driving, and/or for having illegal drugs and paraphernalia or weapons, or for having outstanding warrants. What is fascinating to me is that most of these police stops begin with someone speeding or rolling through a stop sign or turning without signaling, or having a light out.

Evidently, people who drive according to the rules of the road would never have an encounter with the police and would get away with carrying all sorts of contraband in their cars. I'm glad that they get caught and arrested, but I wish they would drive better.

Besides that, it appears that every third driver is distracted. Usually by his or her phone. I long ago lost count of the times the person in front of me at the intersection failed go when the light turned green because her head was down while they looked at her phone.

What are the chances that drivers will get better? About the same as the chance that the human race will get better to be more peaceful, kind, loving, thoughtful, generous, diligent and responsible.

The fall affects us all and it affects us in every area of life - even driving.