by El Zorro Viejo (aka; Jim)

So, this is what? my umpteenth rant about driving? You know, until I started driving the urchin to school in the morning, I have managed to avoid, for about 10 years, being out in rush hour traffic with any regularity. Now I have to face this particular scourge of modern society on a daily basis. To step back one or two paces, let me tell you how I feel about cars in general. In general, cars a great for getting from point a to point b in the shortest amount of time consistent with personal and public safety. That being said, one of the things that drives me up a wall is going from point a to point b in far more time than I know, from personal experience, is needed. Over the course of my adult life, I have spent far too much time behind the wheel of a car creeping along needlessly.

Some of my favorite targets of my disdain, ire and...yes, I'll say it...road rage are trucks and school buses. However, I do understand that this is not the fault of the drivers of said vehicles...it is a condition that is part of their very being. OK, so I hate getting behind one of these turtles, but I don't get overly worked up because, for the most part, they are getting to where they have to go as fast as they can. The fact that this speed is significantly slower than what I would be travelling at given my druthers is not the fault of anything other than physics. That I can live with...although I do have a tendency to do a little cursing under my breath of my bad luck to get behind said behemoth.

What really frosts my cookies are the jerks who simply drive badly. I was behind at least two of these people today. OK, it was raining, and that means one needs to adjust one's speed somewhat. It does not mean one needs to drive at 20 mph in a 35 mph zone. Face it folks, 35 mph just ain't that fast. On the typical road, there is almost no chance of hydroplaning at that speed, and the surface of most roads is sufficiently rought to provide ample traction to stop quickly at that speed even in the rain. No, when somebody creeps along at 20 mph, the problem is that the driver simply does not know how to drive. There are too many people out there behind the wheel of motor vehicles who should not be. If you are going to drive, you should know what your vehicle can and can't do.

You should know that your 4wd Titanic will skid on ice or snow just like a 2wd vehicle if you are going too fast. You should know how long it takes to stop your vehicle at various speeds (most people haven't a clue about this). You should drive 4 or 5 seconds ahead of yourself: that means you should be concentrating on where you are going to be in about 5 seconds. That will give you time to adjust/react to what is coming up. Instead, most people drive about 1-2 seconds ahead of themselves, and, therefore, don't have time to react well to developments in front of them. Actually, this is not quite right...a significant percentage of drivers out there have a fixed focus when they drive. Rather than adjust their focus based upon their speed, they adjust their speed (most often downwards) to give themselves more reaction time.

Driving should be, if not fun, at least enjoyable. If should not be a daily fight. I am soooo bored with driving in this state. And now I have to go out in said traffic once again to pick up the urchin from school. I'm soooo lucky!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. ©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005