When, as a teenager I was taking
driving lessons, my instructor told me that it wasn’t enough for me to know the
road rules and drive accordingly, he advised that I should also drive for every
other person on the road within my line of sight. At the time I thought that was all a bit
much, after all wasn’t it hard enough for me to remember all the stuff I was
supposed to know without wondering if the blue-haired lady in the car next to
me was also clued in? And what if she
wasn’t? What then?
Which of course was the whole point
and, over the years, following his advice, I have been saved from some potentially
nasty fender benders or worse.
All this was brought to mind when a
friend emailed me the results of a brand new study recently published by the Society
of Automotive Engineers. It seems that
after observing some 12,000 drivers over a period of a year, the study showed
that 48% neglected to indicate lane changes and 25% zoomed around corners
without the appropriate signals. This
lackadaisical approach to road rules when applied to US drivers as a whole, translated
to 750 billion instances of signal neglect and an estimated 2 million road
crashes per year.
Now I’m fully aware that in this
rotten economy a job that pays a living wage is a good thing to have. But is it really necessary to do a study of
something that is patently obvious to anyone who drives? At least in Hawaii most drivers have no idea
what the little lever attached to the steering column is for or, if they do
have an inkling they’re not about to let other driver’s in on the secret by
using it.
I have been behind a driver who
suddenly decided to change lanes, drove for a half block or so and then just as
suddenly veered back into the lane in front of me; all this without once dropping
a hint of his intentions. The fact the
driver was a police officer in a marked police car stopped me from doing
anything dumb… although my mental tirade directed at the back of his head was
quite brilliant. And no, the gentleman
in question was not on his way to apprehend some bad guys but, more likely,
didn’t want to be late for lunch.
This inability of driver’s to flick a
little lever leaves me puzzled.
I can remember in days of old when
cars weren’t equipped with such modern marvels and to indicate a turn was a
major production. The window had to be
rolled down, the arm extended outside the vehicle in plenty of time to allow
the car behind to see the flapping appendage.
Too bad if it was pouring down rain or the temperature was hovering
around freezing, it was what you did to avoid getting smacked in the bum by the
following car, and it was required by law.
I’ve actually reverted to doing this
on a certain road I drive quite often. I
need to do a left hand turn from the median, with an immediate second left hand
turn into a driveway. So that the driver
behind me isn’t confused by my intentions, I indicate with my signal and also
shove my arm out the window halfway through my first turn, hoping whoever is
sitting on my tail gets the message. So
far I’ve been lucky. I shudder to think
what will happen the day a following car doesn’t understand what blinking lights
or waving arms are all about and cruises up my backside.
So, I’ve come up with this great
idea. Would some smart GPS guy ask the tiny
woman who sits inside the gadget to add, ‘turn your indicator on..’ before
advising any turns or lane changes? If
the driver didn’t do as instructed, a stinky gas would waft from the GPS
unit. This would surely encourage all
the dingbats to do as they’re told in the future. Well, wouldn’t it?
