thedriversedlady

Drunken Tricycle Man

You heard me right, Drunken Tricycle Man. I’m sure he has a real name and a whole story to his life that I don’t know, but since I don’t know it, he remains Drunken Tricycle Man. Any time you drive the same streets day in and day out, you are likely to see some of the same people. There is one gentleman who I see often riding what I can only refer to as a grown-up tricycle. It has two wheels in the back, and one up front like those Big Wheels some of us who are old enough (ehem,) used to ride when we were little. He has a flag off of the back so he can be seen, and always wears a hat. There’s a wide basket for anything he might need to carry. It is a sturdy thing that looks like it would be easy to balance, unlike traditional bikes, which might come in handy if you were, say, a little inebriated.

The drivers ed car was stopped at a red light one day, minding its own business, when out of the blue, Drunken Tricycle Man came barreling out from two buildings and careened right into the side of the luckily, stopped, drivers ed car! With quite a bang, he hit hard enough that he fell over, toppling the trike on it’s side. You can imagine, this is pretty startling if you are a new driver and a teacher just hanging out waiting for a light to change.

Drunken Tricycle Man sat there for a minute in a daze, stood up and shook himself off. The teacher could not really open the door without hitting him or the trike, so as he staggered his way back onto his seat, he just teetered off before she could even get out. He rode off into the sunset, and when they could safely pull over to check on things, there was a big dent in the side of the passenger door, which had to be repaired.

The car was fine after minor repairs, and presumably Drunken Tricycle Man was also fine since he is still seen often riding his tricycle around town. You never know what will happen on a fine day on Main Street.

Head Check

If you are going to change lanes, pull out from the curb, or make any other lateral, (sideways,) move, you are going to need to look over your shoulder. This is called a Head Check. Mirrors are great, and they will help a good bit, but there is this pesky thing called a blind spot where a whole car can hide. Even if you adjust all of your mirrors properly, there is still a spot right off the rear quarter panel that you cannot see. It’s about where your gas cap is.

If you are the blue car, the dark red triangle behind you indicates what you can see in your rear-view mirror. The light red shows what you can see in your side mirrors. The red car to your right in not in either of those areas, which means you cannot see it in any of your mirrors. The only way to see this red car to your side is to actually turn around and look.

Keep both hands on the wheel. Sometimes it helps to pull down on the wheel with both hands a little bit. Even weight in both hands will help you keep from turning the steering wheel while you turn around. Pick up your shoulders off the seat by leaning forward a bit. Whichever direction you are going to go, look over that shoulder. For example if you are changing lanes to the left, you will begin by turning your chin to your left shoulder. You will be looking between the head rest and the pillar that holds up your seat belt, where your door closes. You need to look all the way over that shoulder, just a glance to your left will not work. If you are looking to the right, you will be looking over that right shoulder between the seats, through the back window.

Make sure you give yourself long enough to really see what is back there, and be thinking about what you are looking for. Include motorcycles, pedestrians, and other vehicles. Then look back to what is in front of the car. I know we do not like the idea of looking behind us while we are driving forward, but it is critical. The whole thing should only have your eyes off of the road for a total of about one second, so as long as you have ample room in front of you before you begin this maneuver, you will be fine. It will take some practice to keep your speed and lane position consistent while doing your head check. Practice while you are at a stop light or in your driveway to get the feel for where you want to look and how to move your head without moving the rest of your body. Beginners often swerve with the whole car as they look over their shoulder. We tend to drive wherever we are looking, so be sure to stay calm and only move your head, keeping your arms still.

A little practice will have you doing head checks like a pro. This is not something you are just doing as a beginner, or something you will outgrow. Every driver should do this every time they move over. Convex mirrors will also help with the blind spot. The are rounded out so they help you see further out next to your car. They are a useful after-market tool. They are not expensive, and easy to apply to a side mirror. But, I still believe that even with a convex mirror, the safest way to make a lateral move is to actually look over your shoulder.

To Practice, or Not To Practice… That Is The Question

Reasons not to practice with your kids:

I can’t believe My Baby is old enough to drive!
What if s/he hurts my car?
What if we crash and die?
This is what I’m paying the drivers ed teacher to do, right?
I’m too busy watching Netflix… ehem…doing errands.

Reasons to drive with your kids

They need home hours to get their license, and I can’t bring myself to forge the sheet saying we did them.
They have to practice for everything else, (soccer, piano, math,) so why would this be different?
If I see them making mistakes, I can help them. I know my kid better than anyone, even if they won’t admit it, and I can figure out what they are thinking. Maybe they are worried about the same things I was when I got my license.
I can give them some of my wisdom about where crazy people always cut me off, how stupid people are who don’t use their blinkers, where the big potholes are, and all my other pet-peeves.
I really love them and want them to be safe. If I see them drive in every condition I can think of, and make them do it again and again, then I will know in my heart of hearts, that they will be able to do it correctly when I am not there.

Please practice with your kids

Puddles

Standing water on the road can be a big driving hazard. Not sure about the image of water standing, but we’ll leave that for another time.

At the end of fall we had one of those weeks where we got too much water for it to have anywhere to go. It rained and rained and rained, and the storm drains just could not keep up. They become full of whatever sticks and leaves that had been sneaky enough to escape the vigorous rakes of New England neighbors. Little streams flowed down any sort of a downhill coming together in larger and larger rivers flowing freely across roads, sweeping up more debris as they went. Windshield wipers were on “frantic mode,” sending little splashes off the edges of the windshield, adding to the raindrops. There was a muffled hum of rain dulling the rest of the sounds. My poor country music was not to be heard today and chit-chat was kept to a minimum as concentration was required and it became hard to hear the people in the backseat.

Staying centered in the lane became secondary to trying to stay out of the deep end of the lakes forming. We crept closer to the higher ground in the middle of the canted roads. Headlights bravely tried to make us visible to the oncoming cars since even in the daylight, it was difficult to see. We were vigilant in watching the road and doing our best to navigate the situation. Our eyes were so focused on the road itself and the water that it wasn’t until the last second that I saw our mistake.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted colors in all the gray water that made the rain and road look like one big splotch. There was a woman. Despite the cold, she was wearing shorts and rain boots with a t-shirt plastered to her. She had something long and skinny in her hands, and the drops momentarily cleared just enough to make out that she had a rake and was trying to clear out the storm drain at the bottom of the not-usually-there pond in which she was wading at the bottom of the hill. I started to warn my student driver to notice her and give her some room, with my all purpose word that comes out when I don’t have time to explain, “Careful!” before I understood what was about to happen. She looked up as we approached and opened her mouth as if to speak, knowing we could not hear her from inside our nice dry car. Just then tires closest to her hit the edge of the puddle she was standing in.

It was one of those slow motion moments where a tsunami type wave of water from our tires seemed to flow straight up from the ground and crest right over her, stunned open mouth and all. A gasp came from all of us in the car as we realized what we had done. Having no recourse, we all laughed in that way you do when you don’t know what else to do, knowing it was not really funny of you were her. We hadn’t actually done anything to her since she was already soaked to the bone, but boy did we feel bad!

So, to the nice lady out there in the pouring rain, trying to to do your civic duty by clearing the storm drain in front of your house who got extra soaked by a drivers ed car, (I’m sure you know who you are,) we are truly very sorry. We didn’t see you until it was too late, and we still feel really badly about it.

Sharing the Road with Pedestrians

In my home town, there have been a number of people lately posting, (read complaining,) about pedestrians. I love that I have such an active, healthy town where lots of people like to spend time outdoors walking with friends, walking dogs, pushing strollers, and jogging both alone and in groups. I often wish I could be one of them as I roll on by in the driver’s ed car. There are a few safety concerns though.

Rules for pedestrians:

Always walk facing traffic, that means the left side of the road. This way you can see cars coming and move over if you need to.

Be visible. My nice police officer friend likes to say, “High Conspicuity.” It’s really fun to say, go ahead, try it. It means to be conspicuous, stand out. Wear bright clothes, reflective gear, head lamps that make you look like a coal miner, or carry a light if you’re out early or late.

Don’t take up the whole road. It’s OK to walk two people next to each other, but no more. Be aware of your surroundings, and if there is not a sidewalk or wide shoulder, maybe choose to walk single file especially when you see or hear cars coming.

Rules for drivers:

If a pedestrian is on your side of the road, they are your problem. You cannot just swerve around them into oncoming traffic and hope other cars will get out of your way. You should slow down, wait for traffic to clear, then safely go out and around your pedestrians. Please be careful.

If a pedestrian is in a crosswalk with a walk/do not walk signal, they should be waiting until the light tells them to go. If there is no signal, a pedestrian in a crosswalk just plain has the right-of-way, and you need to stop for them. You should be actively looking for pedestrians as a driver when approaching a crosswalk.

If you are on a road with more than one lane, be thinking about crosswalks. If you see a car in the lane next to you stopping, have a thought in your head if there could be a pedestrian you cannot see through that other car who might be stepping out. Be ready.

Let’s be courteous to each other out there both as drivers and pedestrians. Be safe!

Top 3 Beginner Driver Mistakes

Easy Fixes for the Top 3 Beginner Driver Mistakes

10 and 2

Yeah, we don’t do that anymore. With the advent of airbags, having your hands in front of the steering wheel becomes very dangerous. In the event of an accident involving the airbag, you would punch yourself in the face breaking your nose and wrist. The hand-over-hand steering parents learned is a thing of the past. Now, we use the pull-push method. Hands should be at the 9 and 3 positions if the wheel were a clock. Hands will never go above that position or be in the top half of the imaginary clock at all. Instead of using one hand to push the wheel up and over the top of the wheel, the opposite hand will pull down to the imaginary 6 o’clock position, to be met with the other hand which will pull the rest of the way back up to the original 9 or 3, and the first hand also returns to it’s original position. Repeat as necessary to navigate the turn. This is a much smaller, more controlled motion. With practice you can do this just as quickly and smoothly as the old way parents learned. Be open minded to it, and don’t over-think. Video link. (The video would have you position your hands higher than recommended, but the motion is correct.)

Difficulty making smooth starts and stops

Video games and golf cart driving have convinced teenagers that they should really step hard on the pedal to make a car move. Instead, they should first try just taking a foot off the pedal to see how much it will move without the gas at all, and then bring it back to a smooth stop by keeping their right heel on the floor and squeezing gently with their toes. Yes, we only drive with one foot, the right foot, (unless you are among the few, the brave, to try driving a standard transmission car!) Once they can do this smoothly, try a gentle acceleration using that same method of squeezing with the toes to get a feel for how much pressure to put on the pedal to make the car respond. This is called threshold braking (works for the gas pedal too,) and it will also help minimize the differences between one car and another. Each car has a different feel, and it takes a minute to adjust. A good driver is a smooth driver.

Driving too close to the right side of the road

When you are new to driving it feels like there is not enough room for everyone on the road, and oncoming traffic looks scary. It makes sense that new drivers will hug the right side of the road. Time and experience will teach them that there really is enough space for everyone, and other cars do not want to hit you either. We also, as drivers tend to drift where we are looking. Look up and out as far down the road as you can see, and it will be much easier to stay in your lane. Parents – remember too that you are not used to sitting in the passenger seat, and sometimes you drive just as close to the mailboxes without realizing it. Perspective is everything! Hang in there and this one will clear up with just a little practice. Video link.