Normalcy is the New Cool
I offer the daily travels on our roads as a microcosm of what
abnormality is today. It is fair to say that riding in our automobiles
is the most dangerous thing we do on a typical day. My travels find
that far too many of us are failing to do what is normal and accepted
like obeying the traffic laws and practicing common sense and simple
courtesy.
Our automobiles and our roads have changed much since the Ford
Model T in 1908. Our cars are faster and more technologically
advanced for efficient operation and improved safety. Our roads have
become highways with speeds exceeding posted limits of 70 MPH.
The one variable that man cannot engineer into our automobiles
and highways is the driver. Apparently with the advent of the self-
driving car, they have found a way to include the driver in the
equation; replace him with technology.
I consider driving to be a privilege and one of my personal
freedoms that I will only concede to abandon when I am physically
and/or mentally not able to do in a safe manner.
If our automobiles could talk, what word or words would they use
to describe you as a driver? Safe, courteous, arrogant, stupid,
ignorant, distracted, angry, anxious, poor planner and others would
be a good list to start with.
The drivers I see today consider “normal” to be anything and
everything that facilitates their travels to be shorter and quicker.
Examples would be improper left and right hand turns, yielding in lieu
of stopping at stop signs, failure to stop at marked location at each
intersection, speeding, failure to yield at intersections or even
knowing who has the right of way, and many more.
These do not even take into account the things drivers are not
doing to be courteous to other drivers. Examples would be allowing
someone to make a left in front of you, watching for the school bus to
help them make their way onto the road, always yielding to
pedestrians and others I am sure we all can thank of.
Please keep in mind that this discussion is talking about driving on
our streets and roads as we take our children to school. If we cannot
master the characteristics of a good and save driver here, we need to
stay off the highways.
“A lot of what we see today is growing cultural deviancy.”
— Walter Williams
Lighter Side
“A rested mine and body is a prerequisite to driving if you hope
to avoid an assault charge on another driver.”
tidbit
