Drivers failed test

Driving on our roadways is a responsibility that involves every driver and pedestrian in your vicinity. You have their safety in your hands while behind the wheel of that automobile. Driving laws are in place so that everyone around you has a chance of arriving at their destination safely. This ‘privilege’ is being taken for granted and far too many people don’t take it seriously enough.

GMAC insurance conducted an informal driving test and found that nearly 36 million of us failed the simple driving test. The two areas with the biggest deficiency are tailgating and traffic lights.

When approaching a yellow traffic signal slow down and stop, don’t speed up to get through it. How much time do you think you are saving getting through that light? Truly, you do not save more than a few seconds. And where are you going that a few seconds makes a difference? Take a relaxed attitude when driving, don’t be aggressive.

Tailgating. This action is just plain foolish. Traveling too close to the vehicle in front of you creates a situation in which you are likely to cause an accident. You are taking the drivers attention off of the road in front of them and forcing them to look back at you for the fool you are. If the car in front of them has to stop quickly making them stop quickly which in turn makes you stop quickly then you are about to be involved in their accident. Why put yourself in that situation? I have never understood the mentality of tailgating another vehicle. Do you really think you're going to make them go faster? Do you think it is wise to piss someone off who could slam on their brakes to get you to back off? If someone wants to drive the speed limit you have no place trying to get them to do otherwise. Again, don’t be aggressive on the road.

A third problem, that I personally see a lot of, is improper use of turn signals. How much effort does it take to inform other people of your intentions? Why do you insist on keeping it a secret?

Using your turn signal, be it to turn or to change lanes, is to inform others of your intention. Use of a turn signal actually helps you the driver making the turn by telling others to back off because you are going to slow down. Signaling does not, by any means, tell everyone around you to stop what they are doing just so you can do what you want. Turn signals should be used before you apply your brakes and before you actually change lanes. Putting on a turn signal after you are already in the turn lane or have already changed lanes is a bit late to do any good. Give people around you plenty of warning. Also, using turn signals tells others that they should go around you so they can continue on their way without having to slow down and then speed up again which wastes fuel.

The biggest dangers in driving, both of which is under our control, is that people become mindless behind the wheel or they get impatient and become aggressive. They either follow along too closely convinced nothing is will ever happen to them, or they think they have to pass everything on the road as if they are out to win some prize for getting somewhere first.

I blame the socially accepted norm of driving fast on car commercials, along with several other factors. If you watch car commercials with a critical eye to how they present their automobiles you will notice they are selling them to go faster than anyone around them. Car advertisers want potential buyers to think they are the flashiest thing on the road and car advertisers think they have to show the car going fast in order to pull this off. Why is this?

There is also this idea that the number one lane on the freeway, the far left lane, is considered the fast lane. People, there is no fast lane, all lanes are governed by the same speed limit. I see people riding in this number one lane at the speed limit when some joker will come up on them driving over the limit and expect everyone to get out of their way. The joker begins terrorizing the law-abiding driver by riding on their bumper because the joker thinks he/she has the right to force the law-abiding driver over out of ‘their’ lane. At freeway speeds this is just nuts. At any speed it is aggressive driving. This is noting more than a power trip and we need to fight that urge because some innocent is going to get hurt.

We need to realize that everyone around us wants to get to where they are going without feeling pressured by some joker harassing us by tailgating (which amounts to terrorizing).

It is easy to get lazy and forget about defensive driving and driver courtesy as safety mechanisms for everyone around us and this informal test proves it. Please, take the time to take the test for yourself and make a conscious effort to become a safer driver for everyone’s benefit. Think about how insurance rates would go down if there were no traffic accidents. It is the responsibility of each of us to make that happen.