When you slide into the driver's seat, it's not your business: You take the lives of others in your hands!

Contributed By:Dorothy Nevils maslivend@sbcglobal.net

The streets and highways are full of people full of themselves, and completely empty when it comes to anything or anybody else."Share" is a concept taught in preschool, a lesson for life – Share the road, share attention – but lost with age.

I remember walking to the “white” school to take a class taught as seriously as chemistry and physics, and having to learn a book called “Rules of the Road.” It was full of instructions, and learning every single one was required: One car length per 10 mph, “left hand out the window (rain or shine) signals” for turning and stopping, no passing zone… all kinds of things.

The instructions drove home one message: You share the road with others.

That seems to be lost today. There is little courtesy. The “me not-just-first-but-only” has made traveling, whether long distance or a short hop to the store, an extremely unpleasant experience. Too many people care too little for too many people.

How many times have you heard someone say, rather belligerently, I might add, “I know hi’da drive!” That’s a clue right there, and if you know anything about me, you know what is the clue. Translated, the message is “I can turn the ignition, use the gas pedal, and turn the steering wheel and get from A to B.”

However, few people are good drivers, and the main stumbling block is self-centeredness, which, translated, equals – as in so many situations nowadays – “It’s all about me.” Let me share some examples. Are any of these your favorites? (a) I don’t have time to wait. (b) I can see. (c) They can wait. (d) White lines??? (e) I have somewhere to go. (f) They can see me. (g) Me first. (h) I was here first.

It’s 5 P.M. on a winter evening, or it’s raining, and an approaching driver flicks the lights. Instead of turning on your lights, you ignore him/her, or you put yours on bright, like an overgrown bully, creating an even greater hazard. With your lights off, you’re also hiding a whole line of cars behind you so that a driver in front of you may change lanes, thinking that, except for you, the lanes are open.

You’re late, so you tailgate, honk your horn, move from lane to lane, cut in front of other drivers, and create a frenzy. Even if no one crashes because of you, you have caused anguish and raised blood pressures. But that’s not your problem. The drivers you’ve left behind are shaken and afraid, more susceptible to causing or being in an accident later – but you’ll be where you want to be, perhaps a whole three minutes earlier than if you’d been responsible.

You come to a traffic signal and stop. Did you see the bold white line across the street – only for the lanes of traffic going in your direction – just before the crosswalk? You don’t belong there. It’s to protect people crossing the street. Also, people who can lawfully turn on red (because of your ignorance, or inconsideration, or both) cannot see approaching vehicles unless they ease out past your SUV. The 5th Ave./Grant St. intersection, with the hospital signage, is exceptionally dangerous; for while the driver cranes and creeps and peeps around SUVs to the left that are way past the big white line, a pedestrian can walk right in front of the car.

Driving is a privilege… and a task, neither of which should be taken lightly. When you slide into the driver’s seat, it’s not your business: You take the lives of others in your hands!

Learn the rules. Follow the rules. “Do no harm.” What you do behind the wheel can change, not only the lives of those with whom you share the road, but a whole village of people connected to them. It just happened!

Story Posted:12/09/2017