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Life, Safe Driving

One Mile Marker At A Time

Anthony Dixon

One Mile Marker at a Time

When I am taking an eleven Hundred miles road trip, as soon as I put the Trannie into drive, my only focus is on each individual mile ahead of me. From leaving the Driveway to entering my onramp, I Drive each mile individually and meticulously, as if each mile was an obstacle course. If you Drive with that mentally you eliminate  many Accident risks, one of which is clutter Driving. Clutter Driving is fifty cars driving basically at the same speed, also known as a Cattle Driving. This mentally of not believing that someone has to lead and others have to follow at a safe distance, keeps Highway Fatalities statistics high. When I am on a Road trip from Florida to New York, eleven Hundred miles of open Road, every hundred miles I encounter a Clutter. If you use the Roads the way they were designed there would no Clutter. The right lane is for slow Traffic, the middle lane is for moderate Traffic and the left lane is for passing and people on a mission. By getting in the left lane and using it as if it were your own Personal domain creates Clutter, it forces speeders to weave the Traffic. Clutter Driving is everyday Driving for the majority of Motorists using our Roadways daily. Once travelling I 81 in Pennsylvania I came upon a 100 car pileup, they were all travelling in a clutter formation on six inches of Snow.

 

I prove that point each and every day I get behind the wheel, that no one wants to follow. Or even if they decided to follow they follow too closely. I Drive at Truckers speed religiously, ten miles above the speed limit. The reason for that is to avoid Clutter Drivers, they are always in tight formation no matter what the speed limit is. If it’s 25 MPH or 75 MPH they are in tight formation. This is the way they have been Driving for almost two hundred years. If the Traffic pattern is good, I could find a pocket and never change lanes for hundreds of miles. Whenever I find myself in a bad traffic pattern and I make my way to the Front, there is always someone who have been Driving in the clutter formation for miles, who now decides that he also wants to lead. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 55 MPH zone and that I am on a mission from Hell. For instance someone who have been late all week and today he is going to get fired, he isn’t thinking of the ticket or the Accident, yet there always is someone who picks up the chase.

 

That idiotic mentality of not knowing that someone has to lead and someone have to follow is Lame. That is how the Traffic becomes staggered. People don’t believe that the Traffic has to be staggered, as soon as a hole opens up someone barrels through and close it up. staggering the Traffic is the ultimate way to travel, if someone makes a mistake there is always room to compensate. If I am travelling ten miles above the speed limit and someone wants to take the lead I automatically fall behind them, I also reduce my speed so to create distance between us. By not allowing them to pass, you are now engaged in a race, Racing is beyond Stupid. Two Cars doing twenty MPH travelling side by side is slow Drag Racing, two Cars doing seventy MPH travelling side by side is dangerous Drag Racing. When I started Driving fifty years ago, I never thought that I could cover millions of miles without one accident created or caused by me, my secret, my Instructor was always in the Passenger Seat. My goal was to always impress him, not having him sitting there thinking, what an Idiot. That’s why I Drive each mile as a separate obstacle course, somewhat of a Jedi Pilot in a Meteor Storm.

 

Before I continue I must tell you a story about picking up the Chase. A Man travelling on a deserted strip of Road over the speed limit was spotted by a Trooper. The Trooper gave chase, every Time the Trooper got close the Driver speed up. Just about approaching 90 MPH he finally decided to pull over. The Trooper told the Man that his shift was over and if he could give him a good enough reason for his behavior he would not write the Traffic Ticket. The man answered the Trooper telling him that he thought the Trooper was the same one who had stolen his Wife and was bringing her back to him. Needless to say that the Trooper was satisfied with the excuse. Enough with the Humor taking it one mile at a time is serious business, from the moment you touch the Shifter.

 

The other day one of my Neighbors lost her Life. She was the most loving Neighborly conversationl and energetic three years old, she rode her Tricycle up and down the dead end Block daily yet her Neighbor with kids of his own backed out of his Driveway running her over. Now I am rethinking my mile by mile strategy should be inch by inch as long as those Tires are rolling. Whatever the preoccupation is whenever you turn the Ignition, it should be Lights, Action, Camera, because each time you are behind the Wheel your Performance either take Lives or save Lives. I will forever be thankful to my Driving Instructor who told me to always Drive like I am the only one out there that knows what I am doing. He also told me to always know where I am mile by mile, as in who is in front of me beside me and behind me.

 

I have driven this way for fifty years with zero accident caused by me. For fifty years I have made it my business to become the best I can be each mile at a time. Drawing parallels, you live your Life minute by minute day by day, why shouldn’t you Drive each mile in the same fashion, knowing that whatever can go wrong the minute you move the Shifter can and will go wrong, as in my little Neighbor’s case. Driving in a Galavant manner every time you get behind the wheel like Driving is big fun is a Foolish way to Drive. One of the Biggest scare I ever had was Traveling U.S. 19 in the middle of the Day. U.S. 19 from Pasco through Pinellas is one of the most dangerous Roadways in the World. That strip is posted 55 MPH with Stoplights one mile apart and numerous U Turn Lanes, the average speed is 70. As usual I am doing ten miles over the limit, I looked in my Rearview and the closest vehicles are one mile behind me. By the time I took my eyes off the Mirror and decided to move into the middle lane there was another car sharing the lane. That Driver had to gun that Engine at 80 MPH to have caught me, and was now sitting in my Blind spot. Without my Sensors we both would be dead within that one Mile. That is how People loose their Lives, not Driving one Mile at a time. Once again Common Sense rules.

Life, Safe Driving

The Road to Rage

Anthony Dixon

From Discover on Google https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-human-equation/201803/the-road-rage

 

Road Rage

Life, Safe Driving

Common Sense

Anthony Dixon

Common Sense

Taking into consideration that nothing is Built to withstand the test of time like the Pyramids or Gothic Architecture,or even a 1967 Buick Skylark. That car was Built to withstand a collision At fifty five with minimal framework damage. Today’s Automobile with the same Collision amounts to totalling the Vehicle, sending it to the Junkyard. Not to mention Bodily injuries or deaths. With that said as far as I am concerned once you get behind the wheel common sense outweighs everything and is far more important than the Seatbelts, or antilock brakes. It even override great Driving Skills.The best Highway Safety Blog don’t emphasize the great need for exercising good Judgement / common sense.

Defined!

good sense and sound judgment in practical matters.

“a common-sense approach”

synonyms:good sense, sense, sensibleness, native wit, native intelligence, mother wit, wit, judgment, sound judgment, level-headedness, prudence, discernment, acumen, sharpness, sharp-wittedness, canniness, astuteness, shrewdness, judiciousness, wisdom, insight, intuition, intuitiveness, perceptiveness, perspicacity, vision, understanding, intelligence, reason, powers of reasoning;

This Blog was spawned from my Commute home last night. Twelve O’clock at night, mostly produce Drunks making their way home or Commuters who work evenings, especially on weekdays. Two cars travelling on a deserted roadway, I’m following, usually I’m the lead car. The reason for me always leading is because sad to say I don’t trust my fellow Drivers to do the right thing. So I usually travel ten MPH Over the speed limit to avoid clutter. Not following my driving habit of leading, he took me to the stop light slowly enough for me to miss the Light. At the intersection one car made the right turn, now there are three of us on this deserted Road. When the Light changed I proceeded to the next light where I found them both positioned side by side on a two lane road. Now I was stuck behind two Drones travelling side by side at the same speed. It totally behooves me why people don’t understand that traffic needs to be staggered, whether twelve at night or rush hour.

Fifty feet from the next light the Drone who made the right turn decided or realized that he needs to be in the left lane to make his left turn. After travelling mindlessly for a half a mile in the right lane, it never occurred to him that he could speed up in front of the one on a joyride at 12 am, or just slow down and and fall behind, knowing that his turn was coming up. Instead he forced me to break hard to let him in, almost causing an Accident at 12 am with three cars on a deserted Road. Did I mention that Common Sense rules Education, Common Sense is calculated Logic. Sad to say the average Person does not possess it.

Harry was smart all his Life, Breezed through School like the rest of us were Idiots. When he grew up he became an Educator, he was smart enough to be a Professor, yet when it came to Driving he was dumber than a Bunch of Rocks, zero common sense. Harry only Drove top of the Line Performance Cars, and Crashed every last one, sometimes causing Bodily injuries. His last Accident was Monumental. How he Lived was all up to God, he never mentioned the other people involved, or whether it was his fault, however his Track Record tells us who caused the Accident. There are Millions of Harry’s on our Roadways, devoid of common sense. They drift through time and space until their number is up, taking good Drivers who uses common sense with them.

Getting back to East Lake Road, the deserted two lane country Road four months ago almost the same scenario of me following lead cars late at night just about sightseeing. There was a Pick up Truck slowing down the traffic flow. Just about the time I decided to leave the left lane and pass on the right. The Truck slowing down the traffic abruptly leaves the lane, he moved into the right lane and kept going right off  Road. The Truck rolled four times. Being a good Motorist I pulled off the Road and ran to their aid. When I got to the Truck I smelled Gas, I immediately asked the Man and the Woman who crawled from the wreck if everyone was out of the Vehicle. It was that moment the Woman scampered back into the upside down Vehicle and handed me a Car Seat containing an Infant.

So you don’t exercise common sense for your own safety, what about your Passengers. Whenever I come upon an Accident scene I always try to reconstruct the situation that developed prior to the Accident. It appears that the couple were fighting and she delivered a surprise punch to the Driver, while her Infant child almost become the Victim of her lack of common sense. When I am a Passenger, I assume the role of Co pilot and Navigator and do my very best not to distract the Driver, that’s what Common Sense is all about. Whatever the Driver is doing that can cause distractions it is for you to assist them, such as reading the G.P.S. or pouring Coffee from the Thermos. For you the Driver, exercising good Judgement far outweighs having the skills of a Jedi Pilot, any day of the week.

I know that I am always using graphic Details and Languages in my safe Driving Blogs. However there is a reason for that, my English Literature Teacher told me that a Writer that doesn’t stir Emotions or create reactions,  is wasting his time and yours, also his opinion isn’t worth the paper written on. So here is one more effort to stir your emotions and make you react to me challenging you to use common sense when you are on our Roadways. Three years ago in my Neighborhood on one of the busiest Roads at four PM, a young Mother with her three years old and an Infant in a Stroller decided to cross in the middle of the Block. Common Sense would command the use of the Crosswalk, knowing that you can run only so fast pushing a Stroller, trying to avoid someone on the Cellphone with the gas pedal burried. The outcome was devastating, the Infant lost it’s Life, Mother and Son Scarred for Life. The Driver left no Skid marks. The Driver was not Charged because no one reported seeing him on the Cellphone seconds before the Accident. Using the Cellphone while you are  behind the Wheel is one of the Biggest of Buffoonery, which a lot of so-called smart People do everyday. Common Sense, either you have it or you don’t. The lack of it is equivalent to diving in a Swimming Pool not knowing the Depth.