Category: driving

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Have Signals Will Use Them?

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You are driving along on a pleasant Sunday afternoon when all of a sudden a person we shall call, Nosig, pulls over in front of you and proceeds to slow down abruptly to make a right hand turn. Now your harmonious day has been brought to a screeching halt, literally!! What goes through your head? I’ll share what my head was doing. My head was hotter than fish grease at a Friday night fish fry! My first thought was to lay on my horn, follow them around the corner and explicitly explain how to use signals. Since I tend to curse like Yosemite Sam, it would have been more comical than threatening. Anyway, what I actually did was slow down, let them turn and take some deep breaths and found my happy place once again.

This is really a case of people being inconsiderate. Maybe, Nosig miscalculated and didn’t want to miss the turn. I would even buy, Nosig was distracted and didn’t realize there was a car in the right hand lane. I’ll go as far to say, maybe they were a driver in training and just forgot to use their signals. Unfortunately, more than likely, it was a seasoned driver who just doesn’t use signals. Signals were put on vehicles for safety reasons; to alert other vehicles of your intentions, to make others aware of your car, and to avoid accidents. One reason I hear that people do not like to use signals: People will speed up and not let me in the lane. Well, that leads me back to how inconsiderate we have become as a society, which filters into how we drive. We talk a lot about defensive driving. Let’s change that to considerate driving.

Road Rage Justified?

USE YOUR SIGNALS! Be a Considerate Driver!!!!

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driving Uncategorized

Get Off My Butt!!!

It was your average Wednesday and I was on my way to pick up my daughter from school. Driving down the street in my neighborhood at a speed of 39 on a 40 MPH limit street, a person who shall be named, Butty, rides my tail. At first I become a little anxious, as I had no space to slow down or maneuver should anything happen. Swiftly, that anxiety changes to anger as I realize, this person could easily change into the left hand lane and go around me. Two blocks later, Butty is still there, now actually semi-swerving in the lane, insinuating I am driving too slow and blocking their progress. I then kindly gesture for them to go around me. Well, I guess my kind gesture aggravated them. Butty proceeds to speed up, quickly switch lanes, barely missing my rear bumper, roll their window down and spout profane comments and gestures at me. To add fuel to the fire, they jump in front of me and slow down to a crawl for about 500 yards and then peel off. Now, lets explore the two scenarios that could have happened:

  1. Eyes turn to red and in a semi-conscious state, I hit the gas ramming them over and over again until they lose control and crash. I then drive off as I watch their car go up in flames in my rear view mirror. Once the police finally catch up to me, tell them, I just lost it and cannot explain what came over me.
  2. I take a long deep breath, maintain a safe distance and thank God nothing worse happened. Have a conversation with my children of how to remain calm if something like this happens to them.

Which scenario is more like you? Do, you have a different scenario? I would love to here it. Share in the comments. When is road rage justified, if ever and to what degree?

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driving parenting safe driving student driver Uncategorized

Parent Taught Driving Experience

Excerpts from my upcoming book: Road Rage Justified

So, being the independent and cost-aware woman that I am, I decided to teach my 4 teenage children how to drive. Some would say, to maintain your sanity, pay the money to send them to driving school. Well, sanity is relative, right? The first child was really aggressive with her studying and was eager to get a permit and ultimately a license. The second child is my backseat, side seat, checking mirrors for everyone who drives person. The third is so eager it is a bit scary…… The fourth is sitting back watching everyone else, wondering if driving is really necessary, thinking maybe I can make enough money to have a driver.  This experience opened my eyes to how dangerous and anxiety inducing driving can be. In watching their reactions in the car, not only is the driver impacted, but all the passengers as well.

The top anxiety inducting driving habits thus far are tailgating, horn honking, and swerving cars.  The top dangerous driving habits thus far are speeding and distracted driving. As a parent trying to teach her children to be safe, law abiding drivers, I get frustrated when they have to deal with these types of behaviors. It has literally driven me to think there may be instances where Road Rage is Justified. There have been times I wanted to run down a car and make them pull over,  just to tell them how they are making it hard for me to teach my children to drive. Other times, I’ve felt like running people off the road for being so rude. I know this is not being a good example for my children, but the momma bear in me wants to protect them at all costs.  Helping my children not develop aggressive behaviors while driving has become my main focus.  Sharing how I’ve dealt with driving situations along the way will be my gift to society and other parents who dare to teach their teens to drive.

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Defining Annoying Driving Behaviors

For those new to driving, I would like to define some of the common annoying driving behaviors. You may hear people yell these terms while driving or telling a story of their vehicular experiences. These behaviors are not only annoying, but dangerous!

  1.  Tailgating – When a driver drives behind another vehicle while not leaving sufficient distance to stop without causing a collision if the vehicle in front stops suddenly.  In other words, “Get off my BUTT!”(clean version) By the way, this is illegal is some jurisdictions.  Not quite the sports fan definition, I know…. Tailgating accounted for 23% of motor vehicle accidents from 1975 – 2008.
  2.  Road Hog – A motorist who drives recklessly or inconsiderately, making it difficult for others to proceed safely or at a normal speed. In other words, “Driving like a Donkey’s Butt!” (clean version) This person may be a thrill seeker, in a hurry, under the influence of a substance or just plain stupid. Either way they are a danger to themselves and others on the road. Combined, Improper driving, speeding and intoxicated driving accounted for 44% of motor vehicle accidents from 1975-2008.
  3. Rubberneck –  A human trait associated with morbid curiosity.  It is the cause of traffic jams, as drivers slow down to see what happened in a crash. This like texting, talking on the phone, disciplining your children, and eating are all forms of distracted driving. Rubbernecking alone, accounts for 16% of all motor vehicle accidents.(1)

Hopefully, the next time you hear these terms used, they aren’t being directed at you.

Keep driving,

Kathleen

 

(1) Journal of Transportation Technologies, 2014, 4, 116-125

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driving Uncategorized

Road Rage

Everyone has those friends or family members who seem to fuss and cuss the entire time they are driving.  Is this behavior justifiable? Do they have a legitimate reason to be upset?  Maybe, they are just hot headed people in all aspects of their lives? Are the roads full of people who simply do not know how to drive? Are there rules of the road, that if followed, would help alleviate the frustrations of these drivers?

Over the next few months, I will attempt to answer these questions.   Please share the top 5 things that annoy you about driving.  I will help you understand why it happens and if you are justified in your annoyance.

Until next time,

Happy Driving