Tag: Driving

Take it to the Mattresses

Has anyone ever seen a mattress on top of a car that looked safe and properly secured?

Yesterday we saw a car on Main St. with two mattresses bungee corded to the roof, leaning precariously. The passenger had his window down trying to prop them up. We were very glad to not be next to or behind them. Please take time to properly secure any items you are transporting for your safety and the people around you.

Thank you!

My Turn

It’s finally my turn. After all of these years of being a drivers ed teacher and empathizing with parents, my kiddo is finally 15 1/2, old enough to start legally practice driving out on the roads. We had the day marked on the calendar for about a year. We had read the driving manual and answered the questions. We had a route all planned. We had gone through the basics of vehicle control in a parking lot, and spent time figuring out what all the buttons and levers do in the car. We had the log sheet printed out, and birth certificate in the car.

After years of driving bikes, golf carts, and hearing all of my advice, I felt pretty sure she would be ready to do this. We started slow, went around the parking lot a few times to get the feel for things, and then, finally, out on the road! She was nervous, but calm. Me too.

So everyone always says to me, “But you have a brake!” As with all my students, I am glad it’s there with my kiddo, but I’m not terribly inclined to use it unless I absolutely have to. I want her to use her judgement, and to know I trust her even as I’m there to back her up. She’s doing so well so far! It’s been about two weeks now, and we’ve logged about 11 hours so far. Slow, steady progress from back roads to busier roads, traffic lights and just now doing a few lane changes. Highway will be the next big hurdle. She’s gotten pretty good with forward parking too, which makes it easier to do driving practice when she can park when we get places. Haven’t tried pulling into the garage yet. We’ll work our way up to that one also. I need to come up with a good strategy to explain it first.

So, finally parents, I’m one of you. It’s a fine line between wanting to give too much advice and wanting to let her figure it out. Thankfully she’s also got a good sense of direction, so I’m trying to not tell her which way to go all the time, which is hard for me. I asked her to please forgive me if I did it anyways, since that’s usually my job, and that’s it’s not personal. She’s thankfully being patient with me too. Hang in there everyone! We can do this. Having good communication helps, and having clear, realistic expectations, and patience all around seem to be making it better in our house. Let me know if you have any tips for me or each other for making this transition easier. Thanks!

A mother’s love

A friend just posted a link to this blog and I have to share.

https://carriecariello.com/2019/01/07/it-could-be-my-son/?fbclid=IwAR1l9PPaAaXpbGBSk-7rK92yop1X38C_WMMeNO0Y3EHLGn4LdovQcP3GIsA

I’m moved to tears. As a mother, as a driver’s ed teacher, I cannot say how often I feel this exact same way about both my kiddo and each of my students.

The time of most danger is in the first year that new drivers have their licenses. It takes 5 years experience for a new driver to become average. I use that statistic a lot because it has such weight for me. Not five weeks, or months, five years. There is no way to get through those first five years other than to just get out there and keep driving. So we hold our breath as parents and teacher, and have faith. We trust that we have given them as much information as possible to help them make good choices with statistics, stories, movies, classroom instruction, and best practices demonstrated and tried. We trust that they have a good head on their shoulders to help them creative problem-solve. We trust they have quick reflexes that will help them. We trust that the pedestrians and drivers around them will make good choices that keep them out of harms way. We trust that they will have luck on their side and be able to learn from their mistakes, that are bound to happen, and make it through. Those of us who pray, pray.

Do everything you can to help them. Be a good role model, and show them how you can drive safely. Put the phone down, slow down, and don’t complain too much about people around you who make mistakes, it just makes them paranoid. Be a support, and point out what you are doing when, and why even before they can drive, so they can start to learn even before they have the stress of maneuvering a vehicle. Check up on them and let them know you are doing so. Hold them accountable for transgressions, so they understand the real consequences for mistakes.

Be kind, patient and courteous as a driver. Stay safe, and help these new drivers stay safe as well.

Practice makes perfect

Dropping a kiddo off at school this morning, I was so very pleased to see several cars in front of me doing the same.  Parents were getting out of the passenger sides of the cars and switching sides, having let their kiddos do the driving in to school.  I love that!  You know school is going to be one of the places that they will drive most, so have them practice it.  There are a million reasons not to, including, but not limited to:

“We’re running late!”

“You’re tired this morning'”

“I’m just not in the mood”

“It’s cold and I don’t want to switch when we get there”

“We’ll hold people up”

Do it anyway.  If you’re going to expect them to drive to school once they get that license, teach them to leave plenty of time in the morning to get there.  Teach them to be sure to get a good night’s sleep so they are ready, (I know, easier said than done.)  Good job parents, making it happen.  Even if it’s ten minutes, every ten minutes helps.  It really does add up, and then you’ll know they can do it when you send them out that first time on their own.

 

Bicycle texting

This week’s winner for Main Street Monday is… bicycle texting boy.

Joe and I were driving down Main St. and stopped at a red light.  We looked over to see a man riding his bicycle down the wrong side of the road.  Now,  lot of people think that bicycles are supposed to be on the sidewalk, which is not true.  On Main St., I may occasionally feel that with all the traffic the sidewalk looks like a safer place to ride but this is not technically correct.  Bicycles are supposed to be just like cars, on the road, following all the same rules.  He should have been on the right side of the road going with traffic.  We do give him thumbs up for wearing a helmet.

Not only was this man on the wrong side of the road, but he was out in the middle of an oncoming lane.  He may not have noticed since he was staring at his phone, texting.  Look ma, no hands!  Thankfully, it was a red light because pointed straight at him in the lane in which he was biking was a big blue city bus.

We watched and waited, and while it was close, he didn’t actually ride his bike straight into the front of the bus.  It would have been pretty funny, since the bus wasn’t moving and he probably wouldn’t have gotten too hurt.  We think it might have been the wake-up call he needed though.  So, once again the winner for craziest thing we saw this week on Main St. is… bicycle texting man who almost hit a city bus.  Thanks for playing, tune in to see who it might be next week!

Road Rage Moments – Are you the police?

So this past weekend I went with friends to see Ed Sheeran, (insert teenage girl scream here!)  It was a great show.  On the way home there was predictably a LOT of traffic.  In an attempt to get everyone out of the stadium they had opened up extra lanes of traffic using cones and orange barrels.  This means people were driving on the wrong side of the road, which feels really strange if you’ve never tried it.  It’s really well marked and it makes sense, but it still feels weird.  My friend was driving, and it was late at night, (for us.)

We were driving in the right lane, and reached a spot where there was a big orange diamond shaped sign that said, “Traffic permitted in break-down lane from this point.” My friend looked at me and said, “Should we?”  I shrugged and said,”Why not?  The sign says it’s OK.”  So we moved over into the break-down lane and drove slowly. The lane is just wide enough to allow travel, but it’s clearly not intended for that use.  We passed a few cars, and one lady was not happy with us, yelling out her window.  Again, we talked about it and decided since the sign said we could be in this lane, we would keep on goin’.  There were a few other cars using the break-down lane also, but not many.

A little further down the road we we came up to a big ol’ black dually pickup truck with a vanity plate I’ll not reveal.  It was hard to tell if he was just big and having a hard time staying in his lane or if he was trying to block traffic in our “lane.”  As the car in front of us tried to squeeze by the big truck abruptly swerved right at him.  Horns were honked, and the car in front of us tried once more to pass the big truck.  Once again the big truck made it really difficult for the car to pass, but he snuck by.  My friend decided not to tangle with the big truck so we were able to pull in behind him thanks to the kindness of the car behind him.  We then watched as he purposefully swerved towards and almost hit at least five cars who tried to pass him on the right.

Now I understand that the truck driver thought that the people travelling in the break-down lane were trying to pull a fast one and do something illegal and annoying by not following the same rules everyone else does, especially late at night and in really heavy traffic.  He was understandably annoyed, and after the concert possibly had a few adult beverages.  However, there was in fact a sign permitting the use of that lane, which the truck driver had apparently not seen.  We wouldn’t have been in that lane if we thought it was not allowed.  The real problem was his response to the situation.

It is not your job to police the roads.  You can be annoyed that people are driving badly.  You can yell at them from the safety of your car.  But, he almost caused several accidents trying to make his point. So at the end of they day, (or really long night in this case,)  who was really the problem on the road?  I think it was the truck driver.  I hate it too when people think that rules don’t apply to them and they try to sneak through life with shortcuts.  That does not make it OK to almost cause more accidents trying to get a point across.  It says right in the drivers manual that the first responsibility of a driver is to avoid accidents regardless of who has right-of-way.  The best thing we can do is make sure everyone gets where they are going safely.  I understand frustration, but you can be right, or you can be dead right.  Please make safe choices.  This is much better than trying to teach someone else a lesson.  Let them learn on their own.  Be responsible for your own good choices, and get home in one piece.

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.