Okay, so let’s take a break from election stuff for a minute and a half and talk about driving. Whether you drive to campus each day, keep your car on campus and drive occasionally, or drive only when you’re at home, there are some things you need to know.
First of all, turn signals aren’t optional; they’re necessary. One of the scariest things in the world is to be driving on the highway, ready to change lanes, when the driver two lanes over starts to come into the lane between you without having signaled. Please don’t scare people like that. And for heaven’s sake, if you’re about to turn, let us all know! Once I was on Clayton Road behind a driver who didn’t signal or slow down until the last second; because of her abrupt stop, I had to slam on my brakes and ended up getting rear-ended. My car was totaled, and at least some of the blame, even if not in the insurance company’s eyes, falls on the lady in front of me.
Alright, let’s move on to not paying attention. We all talk on the phone while we drive; we all mess with the radio; we all reach for things. There’s no reason to look away from the road for more than a split second, though. My distant cousin Krista was killed by a driver who reached down for something on the floor of her car and swerved onto the shoulder where Krista was getting her mail. And heaven forbid you try to do something as ridiculous as read or put on makeup. Whatever it is you think you need to do, it can wait.
Other things are not quite so serious, but they may be quite annoying. For instance, when you’re trying to back out of a spot in the Wohl garage and someone careens around the corner, don’t you get a little miffed that they’re so inconsiderate? Let’s calm it down, kids. No one needs to go a bajillion miles an hour in a parking garage. You’ll get out soon enough.
How about when people tailgate you on the highway? Beyond the fact that it’s unsafe, it’s horribly irritating, right? Note to the tailgaters: if there’s traffic, we’re all stuck in it; if you’re in a hurry, everyone else probably is too.
It’s so easy to get mad while driving; it’s easy to forget that there are actually people in all those other cars. It’s easy to want to cut people off because you’re in a hurry or not let them into your lane because they waited so long to get over.
Is it too much to ask to slow down a bit, let someone go ahead of you now and then, or wait until you get someplace to search for something on the floor? I’ve found that I don’t get anywhere any faster when I stress about what time it is or drive unsafely. I’d rather leave just a little earlier and be able to feel kinder on the road and safer in my car.
The next time you drive, try to be sensitive to other drivers. Try cutting other people the slack you’d want if you were lost or running late. Maybe the next time you’re stuck trying turn left through a line of traffic, someone will let you in.
