Safe Driving

The Life You Save

Stay Calm And Drive

When I was eight years old I secured a Boat coming ashore carrying a four hundred pounds Fish. adventure was in my Blood, twelve years old we built Go Karts to race Downhill. Many days we went home bruised and battered, but that’s what crazy kids fascinated with speed do for the adrenaline rush. My problem is far too many people never lost the fascination for speed, every time they get behind the Wheel they Run the Gauntlet, even to the Grocery Store three Blocks away.Driving should never be a scary event of near misses, if this describes your driving, It’s time to change your driving habits. Sixteen going seventeen I started going to Driving School, with money Earned from working part time. I could not wait to get behind the wheel.

What happened was in my early years of Speed Racer, racing downhill, to find out that the Brakes don’t work, I developed what I call Motion Sickness, the need for speed. If it had wheels, I’m riding, I was now ready for the challenges of our Roadways. Make no mistake the challenge of going with your speed hunger, or to be Rational and ask yourself do you want to go out that way, Or disfigured for life.

That’s exactly what rationality is. Most Drivers lacks rationality.When I worked in Construction we had a saying, you could be doing it for fifty years, if you don’t know what you are doing, the years doesn’t matter. So why should driving be different. When we are kids we sit in the middle of the back seat so we see how the driver is operating the vehicle.

The learning process begins, if dad is a bad driver we absorb his bad habits thinking that they are cool, ok or acceptable. If you are an apprentice tradesman and your mentor is someone who cuts corners to stay ahead of schedule when you are on your own you will do the same, until one day the Building you wired burns to the ground. It is the same with driving, if you are used to running red lights one day you will find yourself embeded under a Tractor trailer if you are used to traveling too fast one day they will have to use the Jaws of Life to get you out of your fine automobile.
Are you following me bad habits one day will bite you on the ass like your credit score or your attendance record.

Case in point John at eighty years old lost his license for accumulating too many speeding tickets, way later but nonetheless it finally caught up with him, who is going to take him to where he needs to go. Mary lost her’s for too many Wrecks charged to her reckless driving. All her life she drove top of the line cars and crashed them like they were five hundred dollar heaps, like the heaps I drove when I started driving. Only difference is I learned the art of driving by twenty one. In almost fifty years of driving I had one serious crash when I was twenty, that was caused by a bad driver who cut me off within one car length, then took his foot off the gas on an ice slicked road. I learned from that one bad accident, for the next forty eight years, never had another bad crash.

There is nothing unique about my driving skills and habits, I see good drivers out there every day. But I hate to say it, bad drivers outnumber good drivers twenty to one. My one bad accident stayed with me the rest of my life like hitting the re- play button I side -swiped five other vehicles ripped up twenty five yards of guardrail crashing through and nailed in the fast Lane by a car doing sixty five, no brakes applied. Now do you understand why I chose to write about the subject. The Lord kept me here to tell foolish people who think that driving is a joke or a game. Your life and others are in your hand when you get behind the wheel. Ok so you don’t get killed or no one die from your careless driving, have you ever seen what mangled metal do to flesh and bone, it’s not pretty.

Why should you wait to be looking at death’s door like I did for you to become a contintentous Motorist. Precious left us at nineteen when the driver of the car she was in hit a Light Pole sending her through the Windshield. You can dodge the Bullet for a lifetime one day your bad driving habits will catch up with you or some poor unsuspecting soul, so please do not test the hand of Fate.

At seventeen I was a passenger driven by my twenty year old friend. Gary and Owen were both friends I grew up with, coincidentally they both acquired New Cars at the same time. At that time in my life I never missed a weekend of partying. On this particular Saturday there were several parties going on the same day so we bounced from one to the next, at each one having two or three mixed drinks.This was my first encounter with Buz Driving, while bouncing to the last party of the night the Drivers decided to race two brand new cars.

Growing up with them I thought that they were level headed and rational people, boy was I wrong we hit speeds of up to one hundred and twenty Mph.

The exit ramp came up fast we entered the ramp at ninety with two wheels in the air, they say that the Lord looks out for babies and fools, how we survived that night with two Drunks racing was a miracle. The learning process had begun, that one night had taught me what could not have been taught in driving school, which stayed with me for the rest of my life. People think that they are cool getting behind the wheel buzzed enough to fail a sobriety test, but sober enough to think that they are still in control. Precious was a childhood friend of mine who went to a party and choose to ride home with a Drunk, the car hit a light pole, Precious went through the Windshield, dead at nineteen.

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Sometimes good fortune finds us unwittingly. At 17 I started going to Driving School, My good fortune was my Driving instructor. He wasn’t only interested in getting paid or me passing the Road Test. This was someone who loved his job and was motivated in creating good Motorists, not just another mediocre Driver, because the average Driver out there is just that. His instructions have kept me and many others alive. After more than 45 years of Driving, many of them Commercially, I have realized that the average Driver is contended with mediocrity until it hits the Fan, then it’s oh my god. It should never have to come to that. The greatest Driving tip he gave to me was to Drive like I am the only one out there that knows what I am doing and to always know where I’m on the Road. Always know who is in front, beside and behind you. I took that advice to the next level, who is above you. Some States use Helicopters to monitor Highway safety.

When approaching a stop Light at forty five or better, quarter mile before you get to the light you should have assessed the Driver behind you to know if he is tailing you too close to stop if the Light change. If he is, you need to change lanes before you get there. That’s how you avoid rear end. That advice falls under the heading( partial negligence) . There are a lot of ways we can avoid accidents if you Drive like you are the only one who knows what they are doing. You are traveling on a main Road with many cross streets, speed limit is forty five, you are doing fifty you need to have your Peripheral vision focused steadily at a half a mile. Impatience, misjudgment and gambling are the major causes of intersection accidents. You need to be the better Driver knowing that whatever can go wrong will go wrong, that way when they screw up you are ready.

I don’t know about you but I get a feeling of superiority when I anticipate an accident and avoid it because I am always looking out for the other guy. Looking out for the other guy is a way of life because there are far too many people behind the wheel that should not be there, Incompetence, impatience, impairment and bad temperament are just a few. That’s why you need to step up your game to compensate for the idiots who is trying to put you in an early Grave. Every time I pass a bad accident where the Road is shut down and there are numerous EMT and fire Rescue vehicles I become a better Driver. Yesterday I turned on the News to find out that a young Woman from my Neighborhood lost her Life on the Route that I take to work. The Road is posted 50 MPH. The Police indicated that she was traveling too fast, made a mistake and overcompensated, rolling the vehicle several times. Thank God there were no other vehicles involved.

To most people coming up on an accident like that doesn’t strike a note or nerve they drive the same way until it’s their turn to be carried away in a Body Bag. Your job is to avoid people like that, by Driving like you are the only one out there that knows what you are doing. There are far too many Suicide Drivers out there for you not to take your Driving seriously. My Commute is quality time for me, surrounded by fine Leather a Bose Stereo System and a Console that Prompts me to listen to my Text messages or dismiss. Why would I want to get in an accident and short Circuit the Computer. My Car does 170 MPH to some people that is a Weapon, to me It’s a tool to avoid mindless Drivers setting up accidents. I am sure by now you guessed it that I am an enthusiast, but most importantly I Drive to Live.