Driving is Difficult, I guess

Currently, I live in one of the most dangerous areas for driving in the country, after living in an alternate yet equally dysfunctional area of the country in which driving skills were lacking. But what I don’t understand is – WHY is it so difficult? If we all just follow a couple of steps, it could move along smoothly really, and we could all get to our destination. For example, on more than one occasion I have had to stop my vehicle in the middle of a 4+ lane highway so that the car in front of me can make a right turn. Across multiple lanes of traffic. On a highway. Into a grassy median. Because they missed their exit ramp. That’s a bad idea and we probably shouldn’t do that. Now hear me out, this isn’t the oh hey just slide across multiple lanes of traffic to exit. I had to show the husband my dashcam footage. I have never seen this until driving here but cars, accurately plural, STOP and make a full on 90-degree right hand turn across the highway. Could’ve been T-Boned kind of right turn. Unbelievable.

Oh my dashcam, yea it looks like a youtube compilation of horrific driving from around the world. In reality, it is just my 30-mile daily commute. It is terrifying.

Traffic snarls are usually caused by that one guy. You know that guy and no – nobody likes that guy. Driving under the speed limit in the middle lane, hitting the brakes with no one in front of them, just daydreaming off in FaLaLa land and/or swerving or drifting into other lanes. That one guy does all the things and then causes the chain reaction for the cars behind hitting their brakes. Now that rapid deceleration is the cause for the fender benders that follow – cause people don’t pay enough attention to slow or stop when the car in front of them does. How you think it’s going to end when you’re driving faster than the car in front of you? Jesse James over here driving Mach Jesus while Sally Studebaker is stopped. There is no middle ground. Half the people playing real life Gran Turismo and the other half is driving as fast as the Paperboy bicycle. And then we’re all surprised when we crash. How could that have happened? The world may never know. If the speed limit on the Interstate is 60 and I'm doing 80 in the middle lane, why are people trying to run me off the road blurring passed me, bobbing and weaving and nearly pit maneuvering multiple cars? It's not a race. You're not a Nascar driver. The roads require more than left turns and drifting on poorly maintained roads is really not ideal. Take a breath, plan your arrival time accordingly or own the fact that you're late.

Let’s get into red lights, stop signs and such shall we….. If my light turns green, I stay stopped and look both ways to ensure everyone else has decided to actually stop at their light. Because at least one car per intersection is absolutely not stopping. They don't got time for that! I also look both ways on a one way street but hey, that’s how much faith I have in people. I've seen numerous accidents and near misses due to people having complete disregard for the traffic control device. I was coming through an intersection one day and this car darted out AT me from his red light. My light was very green. I also reviewed the dashcam (back to that dashcam, I think everyone should have one) just in case I went crazy for a moment and yup, my light was green. He stopped before my drivers side rear door thankfully, but what’s your hurry? I witnessed (and stopped at) a pretty significant accident last week. A younger driver did not even tap her brakes at the red light and pulled out into traffic in front of a much larger pickup truck. Everyone was thankfully uninjured and hopefully this was a lesson learned for the girl at the expense of a totaled car. Put your phone down and watch your surrounding. Which is also great advice for things other than driving but that's for another time.

Having my child be of driving age is also terrifying. I want them to have freedom but I also want to have them stay safe. We had a whole conversation about driving. Pretty simply I stated that 90% of driving is paying attention, especially to the other people on the road, and the other 10% - staying in your own lane. In all honesty, driving really is an easy concept. But WHHHHYYYYY is it so difficult for people to do it? I really don't understand. Maybe we do need autonomous cars. It would cut down on accidents, fatalities, traffic snarls, road rage - if we let the cars drive themselves. I think that we, as a society, have proven that we have lost a lot of things over the last few decades with common sense and driving leading the pack of lacking skills. Wishing you a steady and uneventful driving experience my friends! Good Luck!