One way

This week the strange thing we saw the most, believe it or not, was people driving straight at us on one way streets.

I know this leaves me thinking, how is that possible?  There are always signs telling you that a street is one way.  There are pavement markings to reinforce the idea.  You should always have a yellow line on your left and a white line on your right.  If this is not true, you are going the wrong way.  The biggest clue should be if you make a turn and there are cars driving straight towards you.

I can make excuses for these folks.  It might be that they were simply following directions from their magic phones that mislead them.  It could be that they were lost and confused, and not thinking clearly enough to recognize the signs.  It could be that they thought that one way meant any one way that they chose as opposed to that specific way designated by “the man.”

In any case, once headed the wrong way, it was not easy to right themselves, no pun intended.  They had to make a quick turn in each case onto a nearby street, in one case I’m pretty sure it was also a one way street the wrong way, but once they were committed to process, I guess they chose to see it through.  In another case, pedestrians in the crosswalk waved madly at them and got them to realize their error and turn onto another road.  It’s very hard to watch this happened, because there is no way to help them really.

If you find yourself in this position, you really want to find a way out as soon as possible.  Stop, turn around, turn onto a close street and get yourself pointed in the right direction.  We all make mistakes so stay safe, watch for signs, be aware of your surroundings, and use your pavement markings.  Good luck, friends!

Driving with a foot out the window

This picture was sent to me by a loyal subscriber, and I thought I’d share with you.  Any thoughts?

I’m going to go ahead and say I think this is a bad idea.  The driver definitely cannot use that side mirror, which they may need seeing as they are travelling on a multi-lane road.  I think there is a possibility that this passenger could easily snag this limb on something passing by.  And can I just mention airbags?  I think in the event of an accident if that passenger side airbag deploys, this person will have serious problems.  I am thinking you can go ahead an visualize just what the consequences might be.  I know it’s summer, and we like windows down, and we want to be comfortable.  There is no way this will be comfortable if any of the above mentioned things were to happen.  Think people, think.  I’m guessing this may also be a distraction to passers-by, worried about this person and the future of their limbs.  Thanks for your consideration, and please keep hands and feet inside the ride at all times.

Slow in, fast out

Students often ask me, “I’ve been sitting in the backseat of cars watching other people drive for the last 16 years.  Why do I have to sit in the back of yours?”  Well, you have to because the state says to, and it’s part of our graduated licensing program which is a series of steps between you being a non-driver and a fully privileged driver.  I can say that one of the best things that comes from the experience though, is seeing that everyone makes the same mistakes, and that I give everyone the same advice, (in the same tone of voice.)  The advice I give most often is definitely, “Slow in, fast out.”

Lots of students have a hard time with the new steering technique, having not seen people do it very often and learned without even knowing it to copy their parents and friends.   They get very caught up in what to do with the hands, where they should be on the wheel and how to be smooth and quick and still accurate.  They all think I’m crazy when I tell them that most of their issue is actually with their right foot.  Smooth speed control in the turn is usually the real problem.

Most new drivers carry too much speed into a turn.  They need to slow down much more than they think they do before the corner.  The sharper the turn, the more they need to exaggerate this.  I tell them often that you can always speed back up again if it is too slow, but if it is too fast, you have no recourse.  Too much speed will carry the car wide in a turn.  It makes it hard to stay on your own side of the road and feel in control.  They can tell half-way through that it doesn’t feel right, and then they abruptly take their foot off the pedal, which makes the car jerk.  They think that they have made a mistake with the hands to cause the jerk, but really it’s that foot.  They need to be nice and slow going in, ease through the middle of a turn, and not accelerate until they have the car pointed the way they want it to end up.  As they come out and gently accelerate, then they can allow the wheel to slide through the fingers and return to center all on it’s own.  Once the speed is in the right place, the hands will be much easier to work with.  Parents and students alike can tell that a turn doesn’t feel right, and if everything in the car is falling over to one side, and the driver is having a hard time staying in their own lane, this is definitely the answer.

I’ll leave it there, so you can think the same thing about this article.  It started slow, and it’s fast out.

Teen Tracking: You are Here

One of my students was just telling me that their parents had been sneaky and installed an app on their phone without her knowledge.  The app is called Life360 and it is designed to basically spy on her.  Her parents will get reports based on anywhere she goes.  It will relay to them top speeds, time for a given trip, sudden braking, and phone usage.  Now, she was pretty unhappy that they had done this without telling her, but understood why.  When she asked them about it, they told her they had done it, and that she would be in trouble if she disabled it.  She understood their concerns about her driving, as she is about to get her first license.  She also said this would let them know how her friends are driving, since they will know how long it took them, for example, to get to her dance class, which usually takes 15 minutes, and might take considerably less with some friends behind the wheel.  So there might be some friends she will not be able to get rides from in the future, and she better watch her own driving when she is the one behind the wheel.

So, I started looking into this idea.  There are a bunch of articles out there on different ways to spy on the kids.  There are apps, devices to install in the car, and combo’s of both.  USA Today wrote an article on technology and lists lots of options.  Consumer Reports also wrote an article on how to track your teen driver.  U.S. News & World Report did a piece on some of their favorite options.  Feel free to peruse to see if any of these will be a good fit for your family.  None of these articles though, really talked about whether this is a good choice.

Parent as you see fit.  Use technology to do so if it makes sense for your family.  I think we all need to do everything possible to keep our kids safe and sound, along with the rest of us out on the roads with these new drivers.  Don’t feel bad for protecting your kids, and mine.  I count on the fact that my kiddo knows that not only will I be watching out for their driving, but so will their friends parents, our amazing police, and everyone in this small town.   Know who your kiddo is getting into a car with and how they drive.  Make sure that if your kiddo is driving alone or with other kids in the car that they are making the safest choices possible.  Set rules and stick to them. Have clear boundaries and consequences.  Love your kids the best way you know how.  Make choices you can feel good about.  Good luck!

Iguana Bicycle Man

Memorial Day weekend is a great time to check out all of the improvements our fair city has made.  Warm weather on Saturday had lots of people strolling around, eating out on the patios of the many cool restaurants, checking out the murals, playing the street pianos, (one of my favorite things,) and riding bicycles.  While stopped at a red light, we noticed one man on a bicycle wearing what I first assumed was an eccentric hat.  He was talking with a pedestrian who was smiling and gesturing to the hat.  I thought it was a plastic iguana somehow stuck to the top of this hat, when it turned and looked in my direction.  Yup, that’s a real iguana up there.

So many questions.  Would an iguana like to go for a bike ride?  How does he know it will stay there and not hop off at some point?  What about passing dogs on leashes expressing curiosity?  How did he think to try this the first time, and why?  All of these questions will have to go unanswered, but they will continue to plague me as the light turned green and we went on our merry way.  Good day to you, iguana bicycle man.

And the winner is… Drunken Pirate Man

Drunken pirate man.  This week the winner for the craziest thing we saw downtown is, no joke, a drunken pirate.  Ilysa and I were driving down Kinsley Street and stopped at a red light, which is, by the way, the correct thing to do at a red light, in case you were wondering.  Kinsley is getting harder and harder to navigate these days as construction takes over with a lovely trench now running most of the length of the left lane, cars park haphazardly on both sides of this two lane, one way street, and traffic is pushed closer and closer to each other.  Imagine our surprise when we saw in front of us, in the middle of the our lane rather than on the sidewalk where one might expect to see a pedestrian, a man doing what could only loosely be referred to as walking.  He was wearing a black leather jacket and jeans, and carrying a full milk jug in one hand and a plastic grocery bag with bread in the other.  Looking up from the bags we noticed he was smiling a great big smile and had a red bandanna on his head and, yes, an eye patch over his right eye.  His slow and staggered steps thankfully drifted him closer to the parked cars as our light turned green and we tried slowly and carefully to go around him.  We’re not 100% sure, but we are thinking this was our first sighting of a drunken pirate downtown.  We’ll see if it’s the last.

Tailgaters

Lots of people complain about tailgating, and I have found in my career that new drivers are often extra paranoid about cars behind them. They have grown up listening to their parents complain about slow cars, and they are very worried about holding up people behind them or getting rear-ended. I usually tell my new drivers that if you can still see both headlights of the car behind you, they are further back than you think.

The right way to keep what we call a good following distance and not become a tailgater, is to follow the three-second rule. If you are travelling down the road behind another car you always want at least three seconds between cars. Now I know some of us, (ehem, older folks,) learned some strange thing about having ten feet for every ten miles per hour of speed, which is not a bad way to judge if you posses some idea of math and spacial awareness. I’m not that good at figuring out how far I am especially at high speeds. An easier way to tell is to watch the car in front of you. When they pass a stationary object like a shadow, line on the road or mailbox, start your counting. When your car gets to that same point, you stop counting. Make sure you are counting actual seconds, so count Mississippi’s or hippopotamus’ or something to ensure actual seconds pass. You want to have reached at least three seconds by the time you get to that same shadow, line or mailbox. More is good, less is bad. I found this great video clip to demonstrate how and why:

 

We’ll chat another time about the concept of why on earth anyone would tailgate a drivers ed car.  Thanks!

Main Street Monday

To the man walking down Main Street yesterday looking dapper in the kilt, our question to you was, “Can you ride a motorcycle in a kilt?”

And I have to say we saw the happiest man I’ve ever seen walking all by himself down the sidewalk. He had on little round sunglasses, and sported a bald head and a very full beard. His mustache was twirled up and waxed in place to match the huge smile he wore as he trudged with purpose, dare I say glee. He wasn’t listening to music, or staring at his phone. We had no idea where he was going, or why he was so happy. I’m sorry to say the first response from my students was that he must be intoxicated. I will choose to believe he was just really, really happy.

I love people watching on Main Street.

Choosing the Best Car

A lot of parents ask me what I might recommend as the best car for a new driver.

My best advice is to think about how they will use this car.  If you have 8 kids and four really big dogs, a small car may not be the best fit for the family.  If your kiddo loves to ski and plans to drive up mountains in the snow, maybe 4-wheel drive will be important.  If they do a lot of stop-and-go city driving, a standard transmission might be a poor choice unless they like standing on a clutch.  You want to feel good about the car, and you want them to like the car.  Of course, some are more interested than others in things like the color, number of cup-holders, and aux-cord availability.  New cars may have all the modern safety features you are looking for, whereas a used car may be more affordable.

I think reliability should be the first priority.  I think safety is also important.  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety put out this article about the latest safety ratings for cars for teen drivers.  Cost will also certainly be a factor.  Think about the costs of not just the car, but insurance, maintenance, gas mileage, and/or repairs.

Think about the tone of the discussion too.  If you are telling your teenager that an old beater is the best choice because you think that they are likely to ding it up, that’s not a great vote of confidence for them.  On the other hand, if you are getting them a brand new dream car, it may be overpowered for them and you may be sending the message that a new car is no big deal and that if they wreck it, it’s no problem, you’ll just get them another one.  Think about how you want them to feel about the car.  I would try for something in the middle where they will respect the car and try their best to take good care of it, but also not be beside themselves if something small happens to it.

Buying a car is an emotional purchase, and we all remember our first car.  Think about how you felt about yours, and find that balance between practical, safe, and really liking the car.  They only get one first car,  make it a good one.  Good luck!

Awesome Parenting

Patrick made my week!  When we went out for our first driving hour, I asked how it went at home after the first day of class, where parents are encouraged to attend.  Patrick said that his Dad talked to him.  Dad has made a commitment to his son to try to be more aware of how he, himself,  is driving, and try to drive the way he wants Patrick to drive.  He said he would be more aware of how he is steering, going the speed limits, using his blinkers, and not being on his phone when he’s behind the wheel. He said it was not fair to ask his son to drive one way when he drove another way.  This absolutely made my week.

Patrick’s Dad, Thank you!  This is amazing parenting.  If I know one thing about 16 year-olds, it’s that they have no tolerance for hypocrisy, and we all know from experience that, “Do as I say, and not as I do,” does not work.  I love that you are setting a good example for your kiddo and also keeping yourself and the people on the road around you more safe in the process.  I wish everyone would learn from your example, and I hope Patrick really appreciates your commitment to him.  I know I do.  I know what a strong influence parents can be, when they do it right.  I’m a very happy teacher today.