There are two potentially dangerous activities that people do in this world, for which they are poorly educated. The first one is parenting.
We are terribly under-educated when it comes to parenting. Schools in the early education years are forbidden to touch the subject. The vast majority of people who are parents have never taken a course or read books or intentionally made an effort to learn what a "good" parent does and knows, certainly before becoming parents themselves. Until they become parents, they haven't the vaguest idea of how other parents function except for what they learned from their own parents or parents of their friends.
Most people haven't gained parenting knowledge available to them through education and from the experience of trained and knowledgeable people who have done research, written books and who do give courses on the subject. Certainly, men only learn to be fathers from their own fathers, often without any awareness of the impact of their fathering on their children. Sadly, mothering is often learned the same way.
The other huge area of human endeavor where education is sorely lacking is pre-licensed driving.
Learning to drive by watching how parents drive is less than fruitful unless the parents are aware safe drivers who intentionally educate their children to become safe drivers. The few skills and limited knowledge taught in the usual Drivers Ed courses, has proven to be insufficient if judged by statistics of young-driver crashes. We in the United States, do an enormous amount of driving and yet, again, the only way that people learn is through experience, which is a hell of a way to learn!
Learning to drive by driving for many years is a costly and dangerous way to learn how to become a good driver. There are so many skills and so much knowledge needed to become a good and safe driver that to learn by driving on the road is the least effective way to gain the skills and knowledge. Driving is also not the best way to gain the temperament need to be a safe driver. Experience, though a great teacher, is the most dangerous way to learn to become a safe driver.
A Drivers License is simply the right to drive on the roads. NOTHING MORE!
Uncle PACKSman
Quick tip: Consciously decide to BE a safe driver.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
WHAT KIND OF DRIVER ARE YOU?
DRIVE SMART – DRIVE SAFE - DRIVE WITH PACKS
PACKS = PATIENCE, AWARENESS, COURTESY, KNOWLEDGE, SKILL
Just as there is enormous variety in people as people, your nature as a driver grows out of your nature as a person. Your investment of time, effort, and thought into your nature as a driver makes an enormous difference in the kind of driver you are or will become.
Many drivers are oblivious to learning about driving no matter how many years they have held their drivers license and no matter how important driving a car is to their way of life. Such drivers are comfortable that they know everything they should know about driving having passed the drivers exam to obtain a license. This is comparable to calling yourself a cook having learned to boil an egg.
So I have created a mini-exam, less to test your knowledge than to test your awareness of the kind of driver you are. As with all knowledge-based skills, there are levels of proficiency. Proficient means adept, skillful, knowledgeable. Give yourself a rating from one to five for each question. If you do not know the answer or have never thought of the question, rate yourself a “One” in proficiency on that question. If you do these things sometimes and understand the question partially, rate yourself from “Two” to “Four” for those. If you have asked yourself these questions and know the answers to them and function correctly in the area of that question, give yourself a “Five” in driver proficiency for those questions.
Are your windows and mirrors clean before you start driving?
Are all systems in proper operating condition?
Are the mirrors, seat, and steering column adjusted if you share the vehicle?
Do you check behind and around the vehicle before getting in?
Do you check your gas level?
Do you use three mirrors plus turn around before and during backing up?
Do you turn on the lights of your car after starting the engine?
Do you always use your signal lights before turning and lane changes?
Do you look over your left shoulder when making a change to the left lane?
Do you always drive on the right when possible?
Do you drive at a steady rate of speed?
Do you know exactly where you are going when you start out?
Do you know the best route?
Do you know the street names and the location of your destination on the street?
Do you know the parking possibilities at the location you are going to?
Do you know how much time is needed to reach your destination?
Do you always have that much time available to you when you start?
Do you never go through red lights?
Do you always come to a full stop at stop signs?
Do you always come to a full stop before making a right turn on red?
Do you constantly scan your mirrors and know what vehicles are around you?
Do you pass on the left whenever possible?
Is your physical condition always okay when you drive?
Is your mental condition always okay when you drive?
Are the seat belts for yourself and others always fastened before setting out?
Do you put loose packages in the back of your vehicle.
Do you keep your low beam on at all times when driving during the day?
Do you slow down before or when you are passing?
Do you slow down before or when you are passing in the rain?
Do you drive with the speed of traffic in rush hour or when there is heavy traffic?
Do you always enable other vehicles to pass you?
Do you always enable other vehicles to enter your lane of traffic?
Do you merge at the speed of traffic?
Do you always merge timely into the correct lane to make a turn?
Do you move to the left of your lane to enable other vehicles to make a right turn on red?
Do you concentrate on driving when driving?
Do you change your driving habits to fit road conditions?
Do you always use your signal lights when stopped in a left or right turn lane?
Do you obey the Golden Rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?
When you answer these thirty-eight questions, you will get some idea of what your present driving habits are and then you'll have some idea of what you have to do and learn to improve your safety when driving. If you score seventy or below, you need immediate remedial driver education. If you score above one-hundred-fifty, you are probably a proficient driver.
It makes sense to determine what your driving skills are and to some extent what your knowledge and what your driving abilities are. By looking at the way you drive at this time, and then after reading these columns and consciously making an effort to change your particular unsafe driving practices, this blog will have proven to be of value.
Uncle PACKSman
Quick Tip: Buckled seat belts are made of gold. Unbuckled seat belts are made of lead.
PACKS = PATIENCE, AWARENESS, COURTESY, KNOWLEDGE, SKILL
Just as there is enormous variety in people as people, your nature as a driver grows out of your nature as a person. Your investment of time, effort, and thought into your nature as a driver makes an enormous difference in the kind of driver you are or will become.
Many drivers are oblivious to learning about driving no matter how many years they have held their drivers license and no matter how important driving a car is to their way of life. Such drivers are comfortable that they know everything they should know about driving having passed the drivers exam to obtain a license. This is comparable to calling yourself a cook having learned to boil an egg.
So I have created a mini-exam, less to test your knowledge than to test your awareness of the kind of driver you are. As with all knowledge-based skills, there are levels of proficiency. Proficient means adept, skillful, knowledgeable. Give yourself a rating from one to five for each question. If you do not know the answer or have never thought of the question, rate yourself a “One” in proficiency on that question. If you do these things sometimes and understand the question partially, rate yourself from “Two” to “Four” for those. If you have asked yourself these questions and know the answers to them and function correctly in the area of that question, give yourself a “Five” in driver proficiency for those questions.
Are your windows and mirrors clean before you start driving?
Are all systems in proper operating condition?
Are the mirrors, seat, and steering column adjusted if you share the vehicle?
Do you check behind and around the vehicle before getting in?
Do you check your gas level?
Do you use three mirrors plus turn around before and during backing up?
Do you turn on the lights of your car after starting the engine?
Do you always use your signal lights before turning and lane changes?
Do you look over your left shoulder when making a change to the left lane?
Do you always drive on the right when possible?
Do you drive at a steady rate of speed?
Do you know exactly where you are going when you start out?
Do you know the best route?
Do you know the street names and the location of your destination on the street?
Do you know the parking possibilities at the location you are going to?
Do you know how much time is needed to reach your destination?
Do you always have that much time available to you when you start?
Do you never go through red lights?
Do you always come to a full stop at stop signs?
Do you always come to a full stop before making a right turn on red?
Do you constantly scan your mirrors and know what vehicles are around you?
Do you pass on the left whenever possible?
Is your physical condition always okay when you drive?
Is your mental condition always okay when you drive?
Are the seat belts for yourself and others always fastened before setting out?
Do you put loose packages in the back of your vehicle.
Do you keep your low beam on at all times when driving during the day?
Do you slow down before or when you are passing?
Do you slow down before or when you are passing in the rain?
Do you drive with the speed of traffic in rush hour or when there is heavy traffic?
Do you always enable other vehicles to pass you?
Do you always enable other vehicles to enter your lane of traffic?
Do you merge at the speed of traffic?
Do you always merge timely into the correct lane to make a turn?
Do you move to the left of your lane to enable other vehicles to make a right turn on red?
Do you concentrate on driving when driving?
Do you change your driving habits to fit road conditions?
Do you always use your signal lights when stopped in a left or right turn lane?
Do you obey the Golden Rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?
When you answer these thirty-eight questions, you will get some idea of what your present driving habits are and then you'll have some idea of what you have to do and learn to improve your safety when driving. If you score seventy or below, you need immediate remedial driver education. If you score above one-hundred-fifty, you are probably a proficient driver.
It makes sense to determine what your driving skills are and to some extent what your knowledge and what your driving abilities are. By looking at the way you drive at this time, and then after reading these columns and consciously making an effort to change your particular unsafe driving practices, this blog will have proven to be of value.
Uncle PACKSman
Quick Tip: Buckled seat belts are made of gold. Unbuckled seat belts are made of lead.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
WHO? ME? AGGRESSIVE DRIVER?
DRIVE SMART - DRIVE SAFE DRIVE WITH PACKS
PACKS =Patience-Awareness-Courtesy-Knowledge-Skill
Safe drivers learn to understand and respond to road dangers when an aggressive driver is in their vicinity. Safe drivers also look in the mirror and see an aggressive driver or just an occasional “get even” driver. Is one of those you? ”Who, me?” "Maybe once in a while when some guy cuts me off. Or maybe once in a while when someone is pushy and tries to get me to move out of his way so he can go speeding by. Nah! I’m not an aggressive driver. Do I close the gap when someone signals that he wants to get into my lane? Never! Hah! Well, maybe sometimes." The inability on the part of many drivers to allow a car to get into the line of traffic ahead of them, is AGGRESSIVE DRIVING. Safe drivers put themselves in danger by inappropriate responses to other drivers’ takeover of road space.
Webster’s definition of aggression is, “hostile, injurious, or destructive behavior or outlook, esp. when caused by frustration.”
Both the safe driver and the aggressive driver have to know that aggressive driving is a crash waiting to happen. Aggressive drivers, though they may not be looking for trouble, learn soon enough that trouble will find them. Simply, when you drive aggressively, you are not a safe driver.
This brings me to point out that we are not always the same nor do we always act in the same manner. When a normally placid person who works in a job situation that causes him frustration leaves his place of work and gets behind the wheel of his car, he finds himself in total control of his universe. That normally placid person may become a very aggressive driver who needs to work out the frustrations that were generated during his work day. He becomes an aggressive driver. A a person may be angry at some happening or a fight with someone and they vent their anger on the road. There are many reasons for aggressive driving – none of them good reasons !
Safe drivers must learn which driving behaviors of others upset them and make them angry and lead them to drive in an unsafe and aggressive manner. So the safe driver, being an aware driver, not only recognizes the behavior of the aggressive driver, but also recognizes his own internal aggressive responses to what that driver is doing. He overcomes those natural responses and habituates himself to not mimic the behavior of aggressive drivers. The safe driver will choose to remain safe on the road. The need for the safe driver is not to understand the psychology of the aggressive driver but rather to understand his own psychology, to understand the pulls on his driving behavior that are roused by the aggressive driver and by the actions of other drivers on the road.
Are you listening to me! Have I put you to sleep with this lecture? Wake up and live!
Safe drivers teach themselves the habits of patience, awareness, courtesy, knowledge, and skill; driving by not responding to the aggressive driver's behavior, by not trying to show the aggressive driver how to drive correctly, by not engaging in the games of an aggressive driver, by not trying to teach an aggressive driver the speed limit by getting in front of him and slowing down.
By mimicking an aggressive driver's behavior on the road, safe drivers are exposing themselves to highly dangerous situations created by aggressive drivers. For example, seeing the excessive speed of an aggressive driver, you, the safe driver, may lose good judgment and decide to keep up with her. An aggressive driver weaving in and out of traffic seems to be inviting safe drivers to follow him. If you do, you too are inviting a crash. When you are being tailgated, do you slow down, inviting the tailgater to drive even closer to your rear bumper. Is it an emotional response? It certainly isn’t a brainy response.
So, the rule is, when usually safe drivers become aggressive, they are increasing the danger for themselves and for others and they cease to be safe drivers.
Uncle PACKSman
Quick Tip: When you are being tailgated, turn on your emergency flashers and maintain speed.
.
PACKS =Patience-Awareness-Courtesy-Knowledge-Skill
Safe drivers learn to understand and respond to road dangers when an aggressive driver is in their vicinity. Safe drivers also look in the mirror and see an aggressive driver or just an occasional “get even” driver. Is one of those you? ”Who, me?” "Maybe once in a while when some guy cuts me off. Or maybe once in a while when someone is pushy and tries to get me to move out of his way so he can go speeding by. Nah! I’m not an aggressive driver. Do I close the gap when someone signals that he wants to get into my lane? Never! Hah! Well, maybe sometimes." The inability on the part of many drivers to allow a car to get into the line of traffic ahead of them, is AGGRESSIVE DRIVING. Safe drivers put themselves in danger by inappropriate responses to other drivers’ takeover of road space.
Webster’s definition of aggression is, “hostile, injurious, or destructive behavior or outlook, esp. when caused by frustration.”
Both the safe driver and the aggressive driver have to know that aggressive driving is a crash waiting to happen. Aggressive drivers, though they may not be looking for trouble, learn soon enough that trouble will find them. Simply, when you drive aggressively, you are not a safe driver.
This brings me to point out that we are not always the same nor do we always act in the same manner. When a normally placid person who works in a job situation that causes him frustration leaves his place of work and gets behind the wheel of his car, he finds himself in total control of his universe. That normally placid person may become a very aggressive driver who needs to work out the frustrations that were generated during his work day. He becomes an aggressive driver. A a person may be angry at some happening or a fight with someone and they vent their anger on the road. There are many reasons for aggressive driving – none of them good reasons !
Safe drivers must learn which driving behaviors of others upset them and make them angry and lead them to drive in an unsafe and aggressive manner. So the safe driver, being an aware driver, not only recognizes the behavior of the aggressive driver, but also recognizes his own internal aggressive responses to what that driver is doing. He overcomes those natural responses and habituates himself to not mimic the behavior of aggressive drivers. The safe driver will choose to remain safe on the road. The need for the safe driver is not to understand the psychology of the aggressive driver but rather to understand his own psychology, to understand the pulls on his driving behavior that are roused by the aggressive driver and by the actions of other drivers on the road.
Are you listening to me! Have I put you to sleep with this lecture? Wake up and live!
Safe drivers teach themselves the habits of patience, awareness, courtesy, knowledge, and skill; driving by not responding to the aggressive driver's behavior, by not trying to show the aggressive driver how to drive correctly, by not engaging in the games of an aggressive driver, by not trying to teach an aggressive driver the speed limit by getting in front of him and slowing down.
By mimicking an aggressive driver's behavior on the road, safe drivers are exposing themselves to highly dangerous situations created by aggressive drivers. For example, seeing the excessive speed of an aggressive driver, you, the safe driver, may lose good judgment and decide to keep up with her. An aggressive driver weaving in and out of traffic seems to be inviting safe drivers to follow him. If you do, you too are inviting a crash. When you are being tailgated, do you slow down, inviting the tailgater to drive even closer to your rear bumper. Is it an emotional response? It certainly isn’t a brainy response.
So, the rule is, when usually safe drivers become aggressive, they are increasing the danger for themselves and for others and they cease to be safe drivers.
Uncle PACKSman
Quick Tip: When you are being tailgated, turn on your emergency flashers and maintain speed.
.
Friday, April 4, 2008
CRASHES = PROFITS
Hello Dear Readers:
I have added a political safe driving blog to supplement this educational blog. I cannot post its full name here but if you substitute http://www.packsman/ for drive smart=drive safe, you will get there.
Try it. Give me feedback if you will.
Thanks,
UnclePACKSman
I have added a political safe driving blog to supplement this educational blog. I cannot post its full name here but if you substitute http://www.packsman/ for drive smart=drive safe, you will get there.
Try it. Give me feedback if you will.
Thanks,
UnclePACKSman
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
ANTICIPATION - A DRIVER'S ROAD SMARTS
DRIVE SMART - DRIVE SAFE DRIVE WITH PACKS
PACKS =Patience-Awareness-Courtesy-Knowledge-Skill
Does your head swivel when you drive? Do you have roving eyes? Do you look at your mirrors in a set routine? How about looking out your side windows with regularity? If you answered “Yes” to all those questions, you are a race car driver. Or maybe a professional driver. Hey ladies and gentlemen, learn to answer “Yes” to all those questions and you and your cars won’t get messed up. You will see what’s going on around you and you will be able to ANTICIPATE danger. Get it?
Driver anticipation provides safety on the roads. Webster’s says that anticipation means, “Visualization of a future event or state; a prior action that takes into account or forestalls a later action.” Wow! If drivers could visualize a crash coming long enough before it happens, they would be prepared to take some action to forestall it or prevent it. Wouldn’t that be great. Let’s work on beefing up our “anticipation” skills.
Visualizing or looking ahead means not looking only at the vehicle directly ahead of you, it means looking at several vehicles ahead of you. It means getting whatever information you can from the vehicles ahead of you, from the stop lights and signal lights of all the vehicles that are ahead of the vehicle ahead of you. The sooner you learn the intentions of the drivers ahead of you, the more able you are to anticipate what might happen and safely prepare your response. Looking ahead also means seeing what the drivers ahead of you see, like a traffic blockage or flashing emergency vehicle lights, and you can move to a faster lane more before traffic piles up.
Many rear-end crashes occur when a driver sees a danger ahead and slams his foot on the brakes .When that driver sees a dog in the road that you can’t see and reacts suddenly, driver in vehicle #2 may react in time to his brake -lights but the driver in vehicle #3 doesn't have enough time to react. Not seeing or using the first car’s brake-lights chops fractional seconds off the available reaction time of each driver in line to respond to the situation. If driver #3 saw car #1 brake-lights go on, that would provide a time margin equal to that of driver #2. You can best do that by keeping slightly to the left or right of the car ahead of you. Make him your dance partner and follow his moves.
For whatever reason, most drivers prefer driving in a cluster. It’s called “synchronicity.” I’ll write more about that in a future column. But for now, be aware that synchronicity adds to the dangers of driving at any time. Looking ahead of the vehicle directly in front of you becomes even more important when you are driving in heavy traffic at high speeds. You need more warning and more lead time because of the speed and the domino effect of an event occurring in the cluster ahead of you. By seeing the signal lights and brake-lights of the cars ahead of you, you can often determine what actions you must take in response to those signals. The earlier you respond, the earlier the vehicles behind you will also respond and the safer your rear end will be.
Anticipation requires awareness and awareness requires knowledge. If you do not know that standing barrels are less likely to roll off the back of a truck than barrels stacked lying down, you cannot anticipate or weigh the possibilities of an accident happening. For the record, never drive close behind a truck with barrels or any round objects stacked sideways lying down. And, if you are unaware of illegal road racing taking place around you, you will not anticipate the high level of danger road races bring to the normal driving public and move to safety. More knowledge about potential road dangers leads to greater awareness and greater anticipation. (See the partial list in the “Rules” article below.)
One way to prepare for dangerous road situations is always to have an “out.” Here are some example “outs” that a safe, aware, anticipatory driver thinks of as she is driving. Think about where you can steer your vehicle if the car in front of you stopped suddenly. Is there room to the right of you or are there vehicles there? Is there a flat shoulder on your left or right? Is there room between the car ahead in your lane and the vehicles to the right or left of that car for you to squeeze in if you can’t stop in time? Or can you slam sideways into the vehicle to your right or left rather than into the car ahead of you? Sideswiping, even against trucks or buses, is substantially more safe than head-on or rear end collisions.
Since the introduction of smoked glass in car windows, a significant measure of anticipation safety has been lost. It is impossible to see through smoked glass rear windows. Often, you could get information about the intentions of the driver ahead of you by looking at his head motions. When he looks at his rear-view mirror or the side-view mirrors, that movement of his head may be an indicator of intent to change lanes or make turns. With smoked glass windows, it is impossible to see what the driver ahead of you sees directly in front of him. Other anticipation information you might get from vehicles ahead of the car in front of you is also lost.
Do you value privacy over safety? If you were writing the laws, would you prohibit smoked glass rear windows? I would. One day, hopefully soon, smoked rear windows will be outlawed.
Uncle PACKSman
Quick Tip: Properly inflated tires for the time of year give you the highest level of traction for a quick stop. "FALL - LOWER" "SPRING - HIGHER"
PACKS =Patience-Awareness-Courtesy-Knowledge-Skill
Does your head swivel when you drive? Do you have roving eyes? Do you look at your mirrors in a set routine? How about looking out your side windows with regularity? If you answered “Yes” to all those questions, you are a race car driver. Or maybe a professional driver. Hey ladies and gentlemen, learn to answer “Yes” to all those questions and you and your cars won’t get messed up. You will see what’s going on around you and you will be able to ANTICIPATE danger. Get it?
Driver anticipation provides safety on the roads. Webster’s says that anticipation means, “Visualization of a future event or state; a prior action that takes into account or forestalls a later action.” Wow! If drivers could visualize a crash coming long enough before it happens, they would be prepared to take some action to forestall it or prevent it. Wouldn’t that be great. Let’s work on beefing up our “anticipation” skills.
Visualizing or looking ahead means not looking only at the vehicle directly ahead of you, it means looking at several vehicles ahead of you. It means getting whatever information you can from the vehicles ahead of you, from the stop lights and signal lights of all the vehicles that are ahead of the vehicle ahead of you. The sooner you learn the intentions of the drivers ahead of you, the more able you are to anticipate what might happen and safely prepare your response. Looking ahead also means seeing what the drivers ahead of you see, like a traffic blockage or flashing emergency vehicle lights, and you can move to a faster lane more before traffic piles up.
Many rear-end crashes occur when a driver sees a danger ahead and slams his foot on the brakes .When that driver sees a dog in the road that you can’t see and reacts suddenly, driver in vehicle #2 may react in time to his brake -lights but the driver in vehicle #3 doesn't have enough time to react. Not seeing or using the first car’s brake-lights chops fractional seconds off the available reaction time of each driver in line to respond to the situation. If driver #3 saw car #1 brake-lights go on, that would provide a time margin equal to that of driver #2. You can best do that by keeping slightly to the left or right of the car ahead of you. Make him your dance partner and follow his moves.
For whatever reason, most drivers prefer driving in a cluster. It’s called “synchronicity.” I’ll write more about that in a future column. But for now, be aware that synchronicity adds to the dangers of driving at any time. Looking ahead of the vehicle directly in front of you becomes even more important when you are driving in heavy traffic at high speeds. You need more warning and more lead time because of the speed and the domino effect of an event occurring in the cluster ahead of you. By seeing the signal lights and brake-lights of the cars ahead of you, you can often determine what actions you must take in response to those signals. The earlier you respond, the earlier the vehicles behind you will also respond and the safer your rear end will be.
Anticipation requires awareness and awareness requires knowledge. If you do not know that standing barrels are less likely to roll off the back of a truck than barrels stacked lying down, you cannot anticipate or weigh the possibilities of an accident happening. For the record, never drive close behind a truck with barrels or any round objects stacked sideways lying down. And, if you are unaware of illegal road racing taking place around you, you will not anticipate the high level of danger road races bring to the normal driving public and move to safety. More knowledge about potential road dangers leads to greater awareness and greater anticipation. (See the partial list in the “Rules” article below.)
One way to prepare for dangerous road situations is always to have an “out.” Here are some example “outs” that a safe, aware, anticipatory driver thinks of as she is driving. Think about where you can steer your vehicle if the car in front of you stopped suddenly. Is there room to the right of you or are there vehicles there? Is there a flat shoulder on your left or right? Is there room between the car ahead in your lane and the vehicles to the right or left of that car for you to squeeze in if you can’t stop in time? Or can you slam sideways into the vehicle to your right or left rather than into the car ahead of you? Sideswiping, even against trucks or buses, is substantially more safe than head-on or rear end collisions.
Since the introduction of smoked glass in car windows, a significant measure of anticipation safety has been lost. It is impossible to see through smoked glass rear windows. Often, you could get information about the intentions of the driver ahead of you by looking at his head motions. When he looks at his rear-view mirror or the side-view mirrors, that movement of his head may be an indicator of intent to change lanes or make turns. With smoked glass windows, it is impossible to see what the driver ahead of you sees directly in front of him. Other anticipation information you might get from vehicles ahead of the car in front of you is also lost.
Do you value privacy over safety? If you were writing the laws, would you prohibit smoked glass rear windows? I would. One day, hopefully soon, smoked rear windows will be outlawed.
Uncle PACKSman
Quick Tip: Properly inflated tires for the time of year give you the highest level of traction for a quick stop. "FALL - LOWER" "SPRING - HIGHER"
Monday, March 31, 2008
DID YOU KNOW SUZY?
LIKE, YOU KNOW – GET OFF MY BACK – I’VE GOT MY LICENSE
When I was born, my parents owned two cars and a pick-up truck with a camper top. Like, I have two older brothers. I was the only girl. I grew up watching my parents drive. Then, like, you know, when my brothers got their licenses, my father bought them cars and they drove me to school and to my friends homes or to like other places until I got my own license and I could drive myself to where I had to go.
Getting my license was easy because I knew everything I had to know when I took my test. Like, you know, it was really, really, easy. And I finally got my independence. And I was an excellent driver from the very beginning - better than most of the other stupid drivers out there, you know. My Mom and Dad bought me a pretty nice blue used car that wasn’t so old that anyone at school laughed at me, like, you know. It was a Mazda. It did need a new set of tires, was all. Really.
It was raining and pretty windy. My windshield wipers must have been too dry or worn to clear the windshield enough to see well. All my windows and the side-view mirrors were wet from the rain and I couldn’t see anything, for real. I was going over to Pete’s house. A bunch of us were getting together to do our math homework together. I was late because my teacher asked me to stay to go over a paper I had written for English. She didn’t like my “construction.” Construct her!
It was about three-thirty after school and traffic was moving pretty fast. The road was covered with leaves. I had to make a left on Davis to get to Pete’s house and I was stopped behind an old lady’s car, a big old Cadillac, waiting for traffic to clear to make the turn. Finally, finally, she started to turn and I saw I had plenty of time to turn with her. The only problem was she turned too slow and the driver coming opposite had a choice of hitting her car or mine, I think. I guess he chose mine because it was smaller. He was in his right lane at first and then moved to the left lane where I was. He probably hit his brakes but that didn’t do any good because of the slippery road and the wet leaves. I saw him coming and slammed on my brakes. That put me in position for an almost head-on collision. No air bag, and seat belts are against my constitutional rights. I didn’t get to Pete’s house. I got to Saint Peter’s gates. Like, you know.
Good night, Suzy,
Uncle PACKSman
Quick Tip: ALWAYS remain stopped until the car ahead of you clears your safe road entry, and THEN look in both directions for traffic BEFORE moving.
When I was born, my parents owned two cars and a pick-up truck with a camper top. Like, I have two older brothers. I was the only girl. I grew up watching my parents drive. Then, like, you know, when my brothers got their licenses, my father bought them cars and they drove me to school and to my friends homes or to like other places until I got my own license and I could drive myself to where I had to go.
Getting my license was easy because I knew everything I had to know when I took my test. Like, you know, it was really, really, easy. And I finally got my independence. And I was an excellent driver from the very beginning - better than most of the other stupid drivers out there, you know. My Mom and Dad bought me a pretty nice blue used car that wasn’t so old that anyone at school laughed at me, like, you know. It was a Mazda. It did need a new set of tires, was all. Really.
It was raining and pretty windy. My windshield wipers must have been too dry or worn to clear the windshield enough to see well. All my windows and the side-view mirrors were wet from the rain and I couldn’t see anything, for real. I was going over to Pete’s house. A bunch of us were getting together to do our math homework together. I was late because my teacher asked me to stay to go over a paper I had written for English. She didn’t like my “construction.” Construct her!
It was about three-thirty after school and traffic was moving pretty fast. The road was covered with leaves. I had to make a left on Davis to get to Pete’s house and I was stopped behind an old lady’s car, a big old Cadillac, waiting for traffic to clear to make the turn. Finally, finally, she started to turn and I saw I had plenty of time to turn with her. The only problem was she turned too slow and the driver coming opposite had a choice of hitting her car or mine, I think. I guess he chose mine because it was smaller. He was in his right lane at first and then moved to the left lane where I was. He probably hit his brakes but that didn’t do any good because of the slippery road and the wet leaves. I saw him coming and slammed on my brakes. That put me in position for an almost head-on collision. No air bag, and seat belts are against my constitutional rights. I didn’t get to Pete’s house. I got to Saint Peter’s gates. Like, you know.
Good night, Suzy,
Uncle PACKSman
Quick Tip: ALWAYS remain stopped until the car ahead of you clears your safe road entry, and THEN look in both directions for traffic BEFORE moving.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
CONSCIOUS CONSTANT PRACTICE = SKILL
DRIVE SMART – DRIVE SAFE DRIVE WITH PACKS
PACKS = Patience, Awareness, Courtesy, Knowledge, Skill
Have you thought of what being a skilled driver means? Do you consciously want to become a skilled driver?
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being unskilled and 10 being a highly trained skilled driving specialist, where do you place yourself? Are you a 10? Or would you call yourself average in driving skills, like a 5, or above average, like an 8? Can you be a skilled driver at the age of 17, or at the age of 80? Are patience and courtesy necessary attributes for you to be a skilled driver? How much knowledge do you need to be a skilled driver? How much practice do you need to be a skilled driver? And finally, is a skilled driver necessarily a safe driver?
Are you surprised that some people are more skillful than others in every field of activity? You name it, and any activity you pick has famous performers in their fields. And they all consciously and constantly practice to improve their skills. However, believe it or not, most people with drivers licenses consider themselves highly skilled drivers even without consciously and constantly practicing.
Skill generally comes from practice and from the knowledge that experience can provide. Apprenticeships for trades, internships for doctors and surgeons, simulator-trainers for pilots, all train people to gain skills through hands-on, relatively danger-free, practice environments. “Practice makes perfect.” Dangerous situations and events that occur while driving provide the skills that most drivers acquire. It’s a hell of a way to learn, especially because most drivers do not consciously and constantly pay attention to driving. How often are you eating in your car or how often is your radio on, or you’re talking on the cell phone or to the passenger in your vehicle? How often are you thinking about something other than driving while you are driving?
What must you learn or be to become a skilled driver? What personal qualities must you possess to be a skilled driver? You must learn to concentrate on driving consciously and constantly! And you must drive with PACKS!
Getting a drivers license at sixteen implies maturity or ripening to the point of being able to operate a vehicle. The license does not assure that skill, knowledge, and awareness, are immediately present in the young new driver. Sadly, and all too often, young new drivers believe they possess those qualities – after all, they did pass the drivers test! Crash, injury, and death statistics prove otherwise. Our driver education systems in the United States force new drivers to learn by actual driving experience – a poor method for teaching an inherently dangerous set of skills. What do you think about that? If the incidence of collisions by newly licensed drivers is any measure of danger, then the roads are a highly dangerous environment for new drivers to learn driving skills.
Our Drivers Ed systems generally teach vehicle operation and our States systems test for the ability to operate a vehicle. That is not “skill.” In some states, even that minimal education is poorly funded and poorly administered and often the testing of that minimal ability is perfunctory and superficial. Rarely does an instructor have the time or even the training to educate young drivers in safe driving fundamentals. Testers wince more than they applaud when they are out on the road with young license aspirants. If a system was intentionally devised to guarantee some minimum number of vehicle crashes per year, our United States patchwork-quilt system of driver education and testing could well serve as a model to assure the continued mayhem on our highways!
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, and not much else!
Uncle PACKSman
Quick Tip: Look to the right road shoulder when oncoming high beams begin to blind you at night.
PACKS = Patience, Awareness, Courtesy, Knowledge, Skill
Have you thought of what being a skilled driver means? Do you consciously want to become a skilled driver?
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being unskilled and 10 being a highly trained skilled driving specialist, where do you place yourself? Are you a 10? Or would you call yourself average in driving skills, like a 5, or above average, like an 8? Can you be a skilled driver at the age of 17, or at the age of 80? Are patience and courtesy necessary attributes for you to be a skilled driver? How much knowledge do you need to be a skilled driver? How much practice do you need to be a skilled driver? And finally, is a skilled driver necessarily a safe driver?
Are you surprised that some people are more skillful than others in every field of activity? You name it, and any activity you pick has famous performers in their fields. And they all consciously and constantly practice to improve their skills. However, believe it or not, most people with drivers licenses consider themselves highly skilled drivers even without consciously and constantly practicing.
Skill generally comes from practice and from the knowledge that experience can provide. Apprenticeships for trades, internships for doctors and surgeons, simulator-trainers for pilots, all train people to gain skills through hands-on, relatively danger-free, practice environments. “Practice makes perfect.” Dangerous situations and events that occur while driving provide the skills that most drivers acquire. It’s a hell of a way to learn, especially because most drivers do not consciously and constantly pay attention to driving. How often are you eating in your car or how often is your radio on, or you’re talking on the cell phone or to the passenger in your vehicle? How often are you thinking about something other than driving while you are driving?
What must you learn or be to become a skilled driver? What personal qualities must you possess to be a skilled driver? You must learn to concentrate on driving consciously and constantly! And you must drive with PACKS!
Getting a drivers license at sixteen implies maturity or ripening to the point of being able to operate a vehicle. The license does not assure that skill, knowledge, and awareness, are immediately present in the young new driver. Sadly, and all too often, young new drivers believe they possess those qualities – after all, they did pass the drivers test! Crash, injury, and death statistics prove otherwise. Our driver education systems in the United States force new drivers to learn by actual driving experience – a poor method for teaching an inherently dangerous set of skills. What do you think about that? If the incidence of collisions by newly licensed drivers is any measure of danger, then the roads are a highly dangerous environment for new drivers to learn driving skills.
Our Drivers Ed systems generally teach vehicle operation and our States systems test for the ability to operate a vehicle. That is not “skill.” In some states, even that minimal education is poorly funded and poorly administered and often the testing of that minimal ability is perfunctory and superficial. Rarely does an instructor have the time or even the training to educate young drivers in safe driving fundamentals. Testers wince more than they applaud when they are out on the road with young license aspirants. If a system was intentionally devised to guarantee some minimum number of vehicle crashes per year, our United States patchwork-quilt system of driver education and testing could well serve as a model to assure the continued mayhem on our highways!
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, and not much else!
Uncle PACKSman
Quick Tip: Look to the right road shoulder when oncoming high beams begin to blind you at night.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
KNOWLEDGE - THE HIGHWAY IS A LIFETIME SCHOOL
DRIVE SMART - DRIVE SAFE - DRIVE WITH PACKS
PACKS =Patience-Awareness-Courtesy-Knowledge-Skill
Safe driving requires awareness, and awareness grows out of knowledge. Little knowledge = less awareness = danger! Safe drivers have a huge body of knowledge learned from books and lessons, from talking with knowledgeable experienced people, but most of all, truly, from years of driving experience. “Learning from experience,” will forever keep our roads dangerous. Alternative pre-driving learning is similar to pilot training – simulators and Drivers Ed with instructors in the car. Now, with the prevalence of computers, Drivers Ed programs on CDs using game-type manipulators, could perform pre-driving learning at a higher level than current practice.
In most states, you must pass a test to obtain a drivers license. You must know traffic laws, road signs, and “driving safety rules.” And you must know the safety parts of the vehicle and how to operate the vehicle “safely” in traffic. Statistics clearly show that the tests don’t do an adequate job of weeding out dangerous drivers. A national Drivers Ed program and national Driver Test requirements would help change these horrifying statistics.
To gain driving knowledge, new and young drivers too often pay with their lives, their bodies, and their cars, in greater numbers than any other class of drivers. Those crashes are proof positive of the old adage that, “A little knowledge is dangerous.” Your first drivers license is admission to high school. Hey kids, get a license and THEN learn to drive. If you’re smart, when you finish high school, you’ll go to college. And then, if you are really smart, you will keep on learning from life on the back roads, the streets, and the highways. Two months after getting her license, my grand daughter announced, “Most drivers are a- - holes.” How did she learn so much so quickly?
A good experienced driver has integrated much of the knowledge needed to drive safely into his/her driving habits. Newer drivers are in process of doing that but are not yet there. About five years of steady driving experience helps drivers become reasonably safe for themselves and others.
Drivers must have integrated knowledge and awareness to respond and react effectively to road situations. As an example, safety requires knowing the safe distance between you and the car ahead of you and using that knowledge. How do you really know what that safe distance is? You must have knowledge of safe stopping distances at any given speed; you must know where you are – city, town, super-highway; you must know the number and speed of vehicles on the road around you; you must be aware of the time of day – the light conditions, the weather conditions, the condition and contours of the road and how those conditions affect your stopping time; you must know the speed, the condition of your car and its brakes; you must know your own reaction- time and your physical and mental condition as they may affect your reaction time, especially if you are angry or upset; and you must know that the pieces of this puzzle constantly change in size, in number, and location.
Awareness and knowledge help you when the unexpected happens. What if the brake-lights of car ahead of you or the car ahead of the car ahead of you don’t work and the driver has slammed his foot on the brakes to avoid a child running into the street? That’s a switch that kills a lot of people. What if you don’t know that roads on bridges turn icy in windy damp weather AND there is no warning sign and the approach to the bridge is on a curve? Unknowledgeable drivers are shocked to discover that they don’t control their vehicles. Now that’s a switch, isn’t it? Young drivers often believe in the safety of fast-reaction time. That’s cool. Without knowledge, it’s cold, and useless. There’s lots more of stuff like that waiting for the Freshman driver.
The answer to the question, “What is the safe distance between you and the car ahead of you?” rests on a great body of inter-related knowledge that you may or may not yet have. The safest method to obtain five years of safe driving and crash-free experience, is to drive slightly below the speed of surrounding traffic. (Can young drivers do that?) By doing that, all drivers gain time and knowledge to be able to make the many decisions needed to avoid danger.
Here are some areas of knowledge that do not require experience, yet add significant margins of safety to driving:
1. Always know where you are going, how to get there, how long it will take to get there, and how to identify the place when you arrive there. Always give yourself enough time to get lost and to get there without speeding.
2. Know the condition of the safety elements of your vehicle; the horn, brakes, tire condition, windshield wipers, signal lights, headlights and tail-lights, and mirrors. Make sure they are all in tip-top working condition and if not, adjust your driving accordingly.
3. Know your own mental and physical condition and adjust your driving to reflect that knowledge. (Anger =Danger; Upsetment is a bumby road!)
4. Know the laws, the rules of the road, and the meanings of signs.
Drivers who may have knowledge and don’t use it endanger themselves and others. So really, possessing knowledge without using it shows a high degree of ignorance – or stupidity. Tailgating, not using signal lights, speeding, weaving in traffic, not knowing where you are going, driving with defective lights or squishy brakes, and similar acts, all show your ignorance or stupidity, take your pick.
Likewise, possessing knowledge and driving without awareness, is dangerous. Drivers who concentrate on the road ahead of them without ever looking in their mirrors endanger themselves and others. Drivers who simply drive in the left lane with long lines of faster drivers fuming behind them, are showing a high degree of ignorance, stupidity, and a lack of awareness of danger.
Be a good student of safe driving! Keep learning to drive safely. Always!!
Uncle Packsman
Quick Tip: Always signal promptly. That shows that you think ahead. Doing so may save your life.
DRIVE SMART - DRIVE SAFE - DRIVE WITH PACKS
PACKS =Patience-Awareness-Courtesy-Knowledge-Skill
Safe driving requires awareness, and awareness grows out of knowledge. Little knowledge = less awareness = danger! Safe drivers have a huge body of knowledge learned from books and lessons, from talking with knowledgeable experienced people, but most of all, truly, from years of driving experience. “Learning from experience,” will forever keep our roads dangerous. Alternative pre-driving learning is similar to pilot training – simulators and Drivers Ed with instructors in the car. Now, with the prevalence of computers, Drivers Ed programs on CDs using game-type manipulators, could perform pre-driving learning at a higher level than current practice.
In most states, you must pass a test to obtain a drivers license. You must know traffic laws, road signs, and “driving safety rules.” And you must know the safety parts of the vehicle and how to operate the vehicle “safely” in traffic. Statistics clearly show that the tests don’t do an adequate job of weeding out dangerous drivers. A national Drivers Ed program and national Driver Test requirements would help change these horrifying statistics.
To gain driving knowledge, new and young drivers too often pay with their lives, their bodies, and their cars, in greater numbers than any other class of drivers. Those crashes are proof positive of the old adage that, “A little knowledge is dangerous.” Your first drivers license is admission to high school. Hey kids, get a license and THEN learn to drive. If you’re smart, when you finish high school, you’ll go to college. And then, if you are really smart, you will keep on learning from life on the back roads, the streets, and the highways. Two months after getting her license, my grand daughter announced, “Most drivers are a- - holes.” How did she learn so much so quickly?
A good experienced driver has integrated much of the knowledge needed to drive safely into his/her driving habits. Newer drivers are in process of doing that but are not yet there. About five years of steady driving experience helps drivers become reasonably safe for themselves and others.
Drivers must have integrated knowledge and awareness to respond and react effectively to road situations. As an example, safety requires knowing the safe distance between you and the car ahead of you and using that knowledge. How do you really know what that safe distance is? You must have knowledge of safe stopping distances at any given speed; you must know where you are – city, town, super-highway; you must know the number and speed of vehicles on the road around you; you must be aware of the time of day – the light conditions, the weather conditions, the condition and contours of the road and how those conditions affect your stopping time; you must know the speed, the condition of your car and its brakes; you must know your own reaction- time and your physical and mental condition as they may affect your reaction time, especially if you are angry or upset; and you must know that the pieces of this puzzle constantly change in size, in number, and location.
Awareness and knowledge help you when the unexpected happens. What if the brake-lights of car ahead of you or the car ahead of the car ahead of you don’t work and the driver has slammed his foot on the brakes to avoid a child running into the street? That’s a switch that kills a lot of people. What if you don’t know that roads on bridges turn icy in windy damp weather AND there is no warning sign and the approach to the bridge is on a curve? Unknowledgeable drivers are shocked to discover that they don’t control their vehicles. Now that’s a switch, isn’t it? Young drivers often believe in the safety of fast-reaction time. That’s cool. Without knowledge, it’s cold, and useless. There’s lots more of stuff like that waiting for the Freshman driver.
The answer to the question, “What is the safe distance between you and the car ahead of you?” rests on a great body of inter-related knowledge that you may or may not yet have. The safest method to obtain five years of safe driving and crash-free experience, is to drive slightly below the speed of surrounding traffic. (Can young drivers do that?) By doing that, all drivers gain time and knowledge to be able to make the many decisions needed to avoid danger.
Here are some areas of knowledge that do not require experience, yet add significant margins of safety to driving:
1. Always know where you are going, how to get there, how long it will take to get there, and how to identify the place when you arrive there. Always give yourself enough time to get lost and to get there without speeding.
2. Know the condition of the safety elements of your vehicle; the horn, brakes, tire condition, windshield wipers, signal lights, headlights and tail-lights, and mirrors. Make sure they are all in tip-top working condition and if not, adjust your driving accordingly.
3. Know your own mental and physical condition and adjust your driving to reflect that knowledge. (Anger =Danger; Upsetment is a bumby road!)
4. Know the laws, the rules of the road, and the meanings of signs.
Drivers who may have knowledge and don’t use it endanger themselves and others. So really, possessing knowledge without using it shows a high degree of ignorance – or stupidity. Tailgating, not using signal lights, speeding, weaving in traffic, not knowing where you are going, driving with defective lights or squishy brakes, and similar acts, all show your ignorance or stupidity, take your pick.
Likewise, possessing knowledge and driving without awareness, is dangerous. Drivers who concentrate on the road ahead of them without ever looking in their mirrors endanger themselves and others. Drivers who simply drive in the left lane with long lines of faster drivers fuming behind them, are showing a high degree of ignorance, stupidity, and a lack of awareness of danger.
Be a good student of safe driving! Keep learning to drive safely. Always!!
Uncle Packsman
Quick Tip: Always signal promptly. That shows that you think ahead. Doing so may save your life.
Friday, March 21, 2008
DRIVE SMART = DRIVE SAFE - COURTESY
DRIVE WITH PACKS
PACKS =Patience-Awareness-Courtesy-Knowledge-Skill
Courtesy is bassed on the Golden Rule –“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” And perhaps more important on the road, “Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you.” Normally courteous people often abandon their courtesy the minute they are behind the wheel of a car. Courtesy lessons learned over the years from parents often do not penetrate the barrier erected in the brain by a closing car door. Courtesy learned at home and driver courtesy are both taught in the car by parents’ behavior. So drivers with children should be aware that their safe or dangerous driving behavior will generally be emulated by their children when they become drivers.
Courtesy is a pillar of safe driving. Discourteous behavior in life means unhappy relations with others; on the road, it can mean the difference between life and death. In Israel, the most dis-courteous of nations, death and injury on their roads exceeds by far the small numbers killed and injured every year by enemy action.
Are you a courteous driver? Be aware that your customary non-driving behavior may not be the same as your driving behavior. Courteous drivers allow drivers ahead of them to make changes into their lanes. Do you? Do you honk your horn or speed up to block lane openings? Do you block the right-turn lane where "Right Turn on Red" is permitted? Are you even aware that you should not block that space but rather move as far as possible to your left to enable that turn? Being aware is a function of being polite. Are you aware and courteous to drivers trying to get onto your road into full lines of traffic, especially at rush hour? Do you enable entry into your lane, especially when traffic is stopped?
Do you uncourteously drive in the left lane of a highway at the same rate of speed as the driver on your right when there are drivers behind you who wish to go faster than you? A courteous driver passes promptly and pulls into the right-hand lane to allow others to pass. Is it your mentality that says, "Hell, I'm going at the legal rate of speed, why should I speed up to get out of the way of drivers behind me?" Well, speed up or drop back for courtesy's and safety's sake. Courtesy is the reason for doing many things you should do on the road.
If drivers functioned with courtesy, they would signal their intentions and respond to others' signals. If everyone signaled and everyone responded in a courteous manner, we all would have safer roads! When a driver to your right signals to enter the lane you are in, do you box that driver in by driving alongside until he has to drop back and get behind you – at which point you resume the speed you were driving? Do you always signal your intention to turn or change lanes? Perhaps you don’t signal because you might rouse discourteous behavior by other drivers who block your lane-change. Are you the discourteous driver who only signals uselessly when stopped in a left or right-turn lane?
Do you believe that female drivers are more courteous than male drivers? They are! The National Highway Safety Administration notes that for every age group, the fatality rate was lower for females than for males. In 2002, 42,377 males and 14,999, females died in crashes. In 2003, 29,188 males died in crashes versus 13,445 females. Although these statistics do not prove that females are more courteous, a reasonable assumption can be made that all driving behavior that leads to crashes is less prevalent in women than in men. Would it make sense for insurers to charge less for women drivers?
Can and should driving courtesy be taught as a subject in driver education classes? Can it be tested by the states in some rational effective way before issuing a driver license? Can courtesy be made mandatory? The answer to these questions is a resounding, “YES.”
The driving requirement of knowing when to yield in various situations is the closest item to courtesy in testing, although even in that driving decision, the rules for yielding are not generally related to courtesy but rather to safety.
Being courteous is a major component of being a safe driver. Care about others on the road. Drive in a courteous manner, always signal and respond to signals in a courteous manner. We will have safer roads!
Be courteous, live longer and happier.
Uncle PACKSman
Quick Tip: Thank a courteous driver by using your emergency flashers for two or three flashes.
.
PACKS =Patience-Awareness-Courtesy-Knowledge-Skill
Courtesy is bassed on the Golden Rule –“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” And perhaps more important on the road, “Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you.” Normally courteous people often abandon their courtesy the minute they are behind the wheel of a car. Courtesy lessons learned over the years from parents often do not penetrate the barrier erected in the brain by a closing car door. Courtesy learned at home and driver courtesy are both taught in the car by parents’ behavior. So drivers with children should be aware that their safe or dangerous driving behavior will generally be emulated by their children when they become drivers.
Courtesy is a pillar of safe driving. Discourteous behavior in life means unhappy relations with others; on the road, it can mean the difference between life and death. In Israel, the most dis-courteous of nations, death and injury on their roads exceeds by far the small numbers killed and injured every year by enemy action.
Are you a courteous driver? Be aware that your customary non-driving behavior may not be the same as your driving behavior. Courteous drivers allow drivers ahead of them to make changes into their lanes. Do you? Do you honk your horn or speed up to block lane openings? Do you block the right-turn lane where "Right Turn on Red" is permitted? Are you even aware that you should not block that space but rather move as far as possible to your left to enable that turn? Being aware is a function of being polite. Are you aware and courteous to drivers trying to get onto your road into full lines of traffic, especially at rush hour? Do you enable entry into your lane, especially when traffic is stopped?
Do you uncourteously drive in the left lane of a highway at the same rate of speed as the driver on your right when there are drivers behind you who wish to go faster than you? A courteous driver passes promptly and pulls into the right-hand lane to allow others to pass. Is it your mentality that says, "Hell, I'm going at the legal rate of speed, why should I speed up to get out of the way of drivers behind me?" Well, speed up or drop back for courtesy's and safety's sake. Courtesy is the reason for doing many things you should do on the road.
If drivers functioned with courtesy, they would signal their intentions and respond to others' signals. If everyone signaled and everyone responded in a courteous manner, we all would have safer roads! When a driver to your right signals to enter the lane you are in, do you box that driver in by driving alongside until he has to drop back and get behind you – at which point you resume the speed you were driving? Do you always signal your intention to turn or change lanes? Perhaps you don’t signal because you might rouse discourteous behavior by other drivers who block your lane-change. Are you the discourteous driver who only signals uselessly when stopped in a left or right-turn lane?
Do you believe that female drivers are more courteous than male drivers? They are! The National Highway Safety Administration notes that for every age group, the fatality rate was lower for females than for males. In 2002, 42,377 males and 14,999, females died in crashes. In 2003, 29,188 males died in crashes versus 13,445 females. Although these statistics do not prove that females are more courteous, a reasonable assumption can be made that all driving behavior that leads to crashes is less prevalent in women than in men. Would it make sense for insurers to charge less for women drivers?
Can and should driving courtesy be taught as a subject in driver education classes? Can it be tested by the states in some rational effective way before issuing a driver license? Can courtesy be made mandatory? The answer to these questions is a resounding, “YES.”
The driving requirement of knowing when to yield in various situations is the closest item to courtesy in testing, although even in that driving decision, the rules for yielding are not generally related to courtesy but rather to safety.
Being courteous is a major component of being a safe driver. Care about others on the road. Drive in a courteous manner, always signal and respond to signals in a courteous manner. We will have safer roads!
Be courteous, live longer and happier.
Uncle PACKSman
Quick Tip: Thank a courteous driver by using your emergency flashers for two or three flashes.
.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
DRIVE SMART - DRIVE SAFE - AWARENESS
DRIVE WITH PACKS
PACKS =Patience-Awareness-Courtesy-Knowledge-Skill
Every driving action has a safety or danger quotient. Driving too close to the car ahead of you or driving on ice has a high danger quotient. The lowest danger quotient is happily and healthily driving the speed limit at noon on a clear day with no other traffic on a straight new highway in a brand new vehicle. When did you ever do THAT? "Cars to the left of me, cars to the right of me, cars all over the place and I'm in the left lane and want to get off the highway. What got me into this mess?" I didn't think ahead. I did not notice how many cars were around me. I did not pay attention to my location vis-à-vis my exit. In a word, I was driving without awareness. Awareness of conditions and the dangers on the road and actions that you and other drivers take, is crucial for you to become a safe driver.
Drive as if your life depended on it, because it does. Webster's Dictionary defines awareness as watchful and wary, having or showing realization, perception, or knowledge.
Awareness on the road means anticipation of events so you can respond to them thoughtfully and in time rather than be forced to react to them without thinking. Situations occur quickly on the road that many drivers are not prepared for. The lack of awareness leads to lack of preparedness that in turn leads to crashes.
As children, most of us have read books about Native Americans and their learned ability to move through the forest and see so much happening around them. They could read the wind and the weather, read signs of human disturbance, read footprints, read signs of animals moving through the forest for their hunting needs, and read the meaning of disturbed leaves and brush. Being able to read "sign" was an important capability. It contributed to their health and well being and to their safety and the safety of their families.
The road environment is similar to the forest and safe drivers learn to read "sign" and become aware of the road environment as it changes as they move along. This is a highly complex interaction between you the driver, other drivers, your car, the signs and lights and quality of the road, the weather, the time of day, the amount of traffic, your own physical condition and what's going on in your head.
Common "sign" to look for is which way the driver in the car ahead of you turns his head. He's warning you of a possible turn or lane change. Look at a poorly tied down load on a truck ahead of you and drop back or switch lanes. Look at the driver ahead of you with his arm around his girlfriend and be prepared for erratic (or erotic) behavior. Look for leaves or mud on a road after a rain and slow down or be ready to skid. Look at a ball rolling into the street ahead of you. The longer you have been driving, the more "sign" you'll know and read. Trust that this information is valuable. Use that awareness to drive safely. Newer drivers can be told about the enormous variety of helpful "sign" on the road, but it will take experience for that knowledge to translate into aware driving. Until we train new drivers using simulators, they will have to learn from experience.
How to gain driving awareness? Safe driving is a full time job. You must be dedicated to driving while driving. The next step requires that you consciously use all the other elements of safe driving - patience, courtesy, knowledge, and skill, in all of your driving decisions. Our brains process huge amounts of information all the time. Driving requires continuous responses to that information in ways that most other activities do not. Driver awareness spotlights information needed to make safe driving decisions. All of the actions you take while driving contribute to the level of danger you face. If you are aware of that fact and you are prepared to compensate for your own actions and the actions of other drivers on the road, the chances of your causing a crash or being the victim of a crash are reduced substantially.
Uncle PACKSMAN's Quick Tip: Always look for brake lights two and three cars ahead of you for early warnings.
PACKS =Patience-Awareness-Courtesy-Knowledge-Skill
Every driving action has a safety or danger quotient. Driving too close to the car ahead of you or driving on ice has a high danger quotient. The lowest danger quotient is happily and healthily driving the speed limit at noon on a clear day with no other traffic on a straight new highway in a brand new vehicle. When did you ever do THAT? "Cars to the left of me, cars to the right of me, cars all over the place and I'm in the left lane and want to get off the highway. What got me into this mess?" I didn't think ahead. I did not notice how many cars were around me. I did not pay attention to my location vis-à-vis my exit. In a word, I was driving without awareness. Awareness of conditions and the dangers on the road and actions that you and other drivers take, is crucial for you to become a safe driver.
Drive as if your life depended on it, because it does. Webster's Dictionary defines awareness as watchful and wary, having or showing realization, perception, or knowledge.
Awareness on the road means anticipation of events so you can respond to them thoughtfully and in time rather than be forced to react to them without thinking. Situations occur quickly on the road that many drivers are not prepared for. The lack of awareness leads to lack of preparedness that in turn leads to crashes.
As children, most of us have read books about Native Americans and their learned ability to move through the forest and see so much happening around them. They could read the wind and the weather, read signs of human disturbance, read footprints, read signs of animals moving through the forest for their hunting needs, and read the meaning of disturbed leaves and brush. Being able to read "sign" was an important capability. It contributed to their health and well being and to their safety and the safety of their families.
The road environment is similar to the forest and safe drivers learn to read "sign" and become aware of the road environment as it changes as they move along. This is a highly complex interaction between you the driver, other drivers, your car, the signs and lights and quality of the road, the weather, the time of day, the amount of traffic, your own physical condition and what's going on in your head.
Common "sign" to look for is which way the driver in the car ahead of you turns his head. He's warning you of a possible turn or lane change. Look at a poorly tied down load on a truck ahead of you and drop back or switch lanes. Look at the driver ahead of you with his arm around his girlfriend and be prepared for erratic (or erotic) behavior. Look for leaves or mud on a road after a rain and slow down or be ready to skid. Look at a ball rolling into the street ahead of you. The longer you have been driving, the more "sign" you'll know and read. Trust that this information is valuable. Use that awareness to drive safely. Newer drivers can be told about the enormous variety of helpful "sign" on the road, but it will take experience for that knowledge to translate into aware driving. Until we train new drivers using simulators, they will have to learn from experience.
How to gain driving awareness? Safe driving is a full time job. You must be dedicated to driving while driving. The next step requires that you consciously use all the other elements of safe driving - patience, courtesy, knowledge, and skill, in all of your driving decisions. Our brains process huge amounts of information all the time. Driving requires continuous responses to that information in ways that most other activities do not. Driver awareness spotlights information needed to make safe driving decisions. All of the actions you take while driving contribute to the level of danger you face. If you are aware of that fact and you are prepared to compensate for your own actions and the actions of other drivers on the road, the chances of your causing a crash or being the victim of a crash are reduced substantially.
Uncle PACKSMAN's Quick Tip: Always look for brake lights two and three cars ahead of you for early warnings.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
DRIVE SMART = DRIVE SAFE Patience
I KNOW that not all of you who read this need any of the information or ideas presented here. YOU are the good, safe drivers on our local roads. However, for sure your dad, wives, or husbands, or possibly your teen-agers may benefit from some of the info here. So, you might first read the column, highlight parts of it with a broad yellow marker and then leave it on the breakfast table for those who REALLY need it.
Uncle PACKSman
DRIVE WITH PACKS
PACKS = Patience- Awareness-Courtesy-Knowledge-Skill
How would you like to drive a wheelchair for the rest of your life? No fun! I for sure would hate to!
So here I go, late to work and the guy ahead of me is dawdling, driving the speed limit. And the road is crowded here but open up ahead, all bunched up here like a school of fish going the same speed and determined not to let anyone get ahead of them. I’m squirming in my seat and my car is squirming on the road with me. Maybe if I get behind this guy on my left, he’ll move over and let me by. The next thing I know, he slams his foot on the brakes. Dumb and dumber. My tires squeal and I have no where to go but EEK! stop. I take a quick peek in my mirror to see the gal behind me close to my backside.
In the U.S. in 2003, 1,871,000 rear end crashes caused 2,076 deaths and injured 638,000. Many of the deaths were those of the tail-gaters. (You? Me?) That happened because of impatient guys like me trying to make time on the road. (638,000 injured, - some for life! Wow!) These statistics rival what happened in any year of the war in Viet Nam or the war in Iraq. Only the U.S. Civil War had more deaths and casualties in one year. Yuck!
Patience is an absolute necessity for safe driving. Lack of patience forces you and other drivers into dangerous behavior and dangerous situations on the roads. Your speedy reaction-time as a youngster and all your skill don’t help. As an impatient driver, you speed, you weave to get ahead, you tailgate to push the driver ahead of you to get out of the way. You cut off slower drivers, flash your headlights and blow your horn.
You also have a dangerously reduced awareness of what’s going on around you because you’re concentrating on speeding safely. Now that’s an oxymoron. Well, some kind of a moron, anyway.
Going with the flow of traffic is difficult for drivers who lack patience. The always-impatient driver must get ahead of the car in front whether there’s a real or perceived need for speed. When you speed and weave, you invite other drivers to retaliate, to “teach you a lesson,” and those drivers speed up and race you, cut you off, close up lanes you want to enter, react in anger with dangerous maneuvers, and drive in the same impatient manner you do. Do you recognize anybody who drives that way? Hey, many of us have been there and done that.
Sixteen-to-twenty-year old males have the highest vehicle crash rate in the United States. Notice, I didn’t say “accidents.” Accidents happen. Crashes are made! Those are the impatient years. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration facts: 6,002 killed and 53,000 with incapacitating injuries in 2003.) If you are in that age group and you want to drive safely, you must leave your impatience and take your patience with you when you get in your car.
Are you always in a hurry, do you go through Stop-Signs with a “rolling stop” and do you take off like a shot when the light changes from red to green without looking left and right, and do you always curse out other drivers when they don’t drive the way you think they should? Well, you are not Miss Patience.
Do you enable vehicles to merge in front of you from an on-ramp? Do you allow vehicles into your lane of traffic when they signal or do you close up the spot? Do you allow other drivers to pass you easily?
For all drivers, knowing that you are impatient when you get behind the wheel of a car is the first step to a safe trip. Take it one trip at a time and be patient for that one trip. Don’t get suckered in by the time left to get where you’re going or by an impatient driver speeding past you. Fill your attitude with patience the way you fill your tank with gasoline. The roads will be much safer for everybody.
To become a patient driver requires you to learn how patient you are as a person. (If your parents were patient people, that helped you become a patient person.) The second step requires your total agreement that patience is needed for safe driving. The third step requires you to make the decision to be a safe driver by always driving with Patience.
These steps aren’t as easy as learning how to operate a vehicle but learning them can make the difference between driving a car and driving a wheelchair for the rest of your life.
Quick Tip: Always make believe it’s your Mom in the car ahead of you.
Uncle PACKSman
DRIVE WITH PACKS
PACKS = Patience- Awareness-Courtesy-Knowledge-Skill
How would you like to drive a wheelchair for the rest of your life? No fun! I for sure would hate to!
So here I go, late to work and the guy ahead of me is dawdling, driving the speed limit. And the road is crowded here but open up ahead, all bunched up here like a school of fish going the same speed and determined not to let anyone get ahead of them. I’m squirming in my seat and my car is squirming on the road with me. Maybe if I get behind this guy on my left, he’ll move over and let me by. The next thing I know, he slams his foot on the brakes. Dumb and dumber. My tires squeal and I have no where to go but EEK! stop. I take a quick peek in my mirror to see the gal behind me close to my backside.
In the U.S. in 2003, 1,871,000 rear end crashes caused 2,076 deaths and injured 638,000. Many of the deaths were those of the tail-gaters. (You? Me?) That happened because of impatient guys like me trying to make time on the road. (638,000 injured, - some for life! Wow!) These statistics rival what happened in any year of the war in Viet Nam or the war in Iraq. Only the U.S. Civil War had more deaths and casualties in one year. Yuck!
Patience is an absolute necessity for safe driving. Lack of patience forces you and other drivers into dangerous behavior and dangerous situations on the roads. Your speedy reaction-time as a youngster and all your skill don’t help. As an impatient driver, you speed, you weave to get ahead, you tailgate to push the driver ahead of you to get out of the way. You cut off slower drivers, flash your headlights and blow your horn.
You also have a dangerously reduced awareness of what’s going on around you because you’re concentrating on speeding safely. Now that’s an oxymoron. Well, some kind of a moron, anyway.
Going with the flow of traffic is difficult for drivers who lack patience. The always-impatient driver must get ahead of the car in front whether there’s a real or perceived need for speed. When you speed and weave, you invite other drivers to retaliate, to “teach you a lesson,” and those drivers speed up and race you, cut you off, close up lanes you want to enter, react in anger with dangerous maneuvers, and drive in the same impatient manner you do. Do you recognize anybody who drives that way? Hey, many of us have been there and done that.
Sixteen-to-twenty-year old males have the highest vehicle crash rate in the United States. Notice, I didn’t say “accidents.” Accidents happen. Crashes are made! Those are the impatient years. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration facts: 6,002 killed and 53,000 with incapacitating injuries in 2003.) If you are in that age group and you want to drive safely, you must leave your impatience and take your patience with you when you get in your car.
Are you always in a hurry, do you go through Stop-Signs with a “rolling stop” and do you take off like a shot when the light changes from red to green without looking left and right, and do you always curse out other drivers when they don’t drive the way you think they should? Well, you are not Miss Patience.
Do you enable vehicles to merge in front of you from an on-ramp? Do you allow vehicles into your lane of traffic when they signal or do you close up the spot? Do you allow other drivers to pass you easily?
For all drivers, knowing that you are impatient when you get behind the wheel of a car is the first step to a safe trip. Take it one trip at a time and be patient for that one trip. Don’t get suckered in by the time left to get where you’re going or by an impatient driver speeding past you. Fill your attitude with patience the way you fill your tank with gasoline. The roads will be much safer for everybody.
To become a patient driver requires you to learn how patient you are as a person. (If your parents were patient people, that helped you become a patient person.) The second step requires your total agreement that patience is needed for safe driving. The third step requires you to make the decision to be a safe driver by always driving with Patience.
These steps aren’t as easy as learning how to operate a vehicle but learning them can make the difference between driving a car and driving a wheelchair for the rest of your life.
Quick Tip: Always make believe it’s your Mom in the car ahead of you.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
BASIC RULES FOR SAFE DRIVING
Congratulations on acquiring your driver’s license. Now learn to drive safely.
Much love.
UNCLE PACKSMAN
There is much to learn in driving with PACKS; Patience, Awareness, Courtesy, Knowledge, Skill.
However, to keep you minimally safe on the road until you gain experience, there are several important rules to integrate into your driving habits as quickly as possible. Below are lists of rules and the more common dangers you will encounter as you drive. Be alert and stay alive. Your responsible attitude toward driving and your desire to be a safe driver will keep you safe.
Collisions happen! YOU AND ALL YOUR PASSENGERS MUST WEAR SEAT BELTS!!
RULES - in addition to Patience, Awareness, Courtesy, Knowledge, and Skill.
1. Never drink and drive and never let your passengers push you!
2. Always signal!! Signaling shows you are an aware driver.
3. Drive to the right – PASS on the left. DON'T HOG THE LEFT LANE.
4. Scan your mirrors constantly.
5. The safety components of your vehicle must be in tip-top shape! They are: brakes, lights, windshield wipers, horn, clean windows and mirrors, defroster.
6. Always allow a driver who wishes to pass you, do so.
7. Don't tailgate. FRONT-END DAMAGE IS MORE DANGEROUS AND COSTLY.
8. Don't get even. Don't educate other drivers or play games on the road.
9. Maintain a steady rate of speed and go with the flow wherever possible.
10. Stay alert to the possibility of an accident, especially at intersections, at dawn, and at dusk.
11. Adjust your driving to time of day, traffic, road, and weather conditions.
12. Be aware of your physical and mental condition and adjust your driving to make allowances for any sub-optimal condition such as illness or fatigue.
13. Always know exactly how to get where you are going and how long it will take to get there. Give yourself enough time to arrive in time without stress.
14. Concentrate on driving – it's a full time job.
15. There are lots more rules to learn.
DANGERS FROM OTHER DRIVERS
1. Sudden moves without signals
2. Red light & Stop Sign runners
3. Tailgaters
4. Slow vehicles on fast roads & fast vehicles on slow roads
5. Improper road entry, i.e., stopping on a merge lane
6. Improper road exit, i.e., slowing down on a highway prior to exit
7. Drivers who play games
8. Drivers who do not know where they are going
9. Drivers who stop at green lights
10. Rubber-neckers
11. There are lots more dangers
DANGERS FROM OTHER SOURCES
1. Slippery roads
2. Poor visibility
3. Poor road condition & poor signage
4. Improper vehicle conditions
5. Animal entry on road
6. There are lots more dangers
I'll see you next week.
Uncle Packsman
Much love.
UNCLE PACKSMAN
There is much to learn in driving with PACKS; Patience, Awareness, Courtesy, Knowledge, Skill.
However, to keep you minimally safe on the road until you gain experience, there are several important rules to integrate into your driving habits as quickly as possible. Below are lists of rules and the more common dangers you will encounter as you drive. Be alert and stay alive. Your responsible attitude toward driving and your desire to be a safe driver will keep you safe.
Collisions happen! YOU AND ALL YOUR PASSENGERS MUST WEAR SEAT BELTS!!
RULES - in addition to Patience, Awareness, Courtesy, Knowledge, and Skill.
1. Never drink and drive and never let your passengers push you!
2. Always signal!! Signaling shows you are an aware driver.
3. Drive to the right – PASS on the left. DON'T HOG THE LEFT LANE.
4. Scan your mirrors constantly.
5. The safety components of your vehicle must be in tip-top shape! They are: brakes, lights, windshield wipers, horn, clean windows and mirrors, defroster.
6. Always allow a driver who wishes to pass you, do so.
7. Don't tailgate. FRONT-END DAMAGE IS MORE DANGEROUS AND COSTLY.
8. Don't get even. Don't educate other drivers or play games on the road.
9. Maintain a steady rate of speed and go with the flow wherever possible.
10. Stay alert to the possibility of an accident, especially at intersections, at dawn, and at dusk.
11. Adjust your driving to time of day, traffic, road, and weather conditions.
12. Be aware of your physical and mental condition and adjust your driving to make allowances for any sub-optimal condition such as illness or fatigue.
13. Always know exactly how to get where you are going and how long it will take to get there. Give yourself enough time to arrive in time without stress.
14. Concentrate on driving – it's a full time job.
15. There are lots more rules to learn.
DANGERS FROM OTHER DRIVERS
1. Sudden moves without signals
2. Red light & Stop Sign runners
3. Tailgaters
4. Slow vehicles on fast roads & fast vehicles on slow roads
5. Improper road entry, i.e., stopping on a merge lane
6. Improper road exit, i.e., slowing down on a highway prior to exit
7. Drivers who play games
8. Drivers who do not know where they are going
9. Drivers who stop at green lights
10. Rubber-neckers
11. There are lots more dangers
DANGERS FROM OTHER SOURCES
1. Slippery roads
2. Poor visibility
3. Poor road condition & poor signage
4. Improper vehicle conditions
5. Animal entry on road
6. There are lots more dangers
I'll see you next week.
Uncle Packsman
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
DRIVE WITH PACKS
PACKS is an acronym for Patience, Awareness, Courtesy, Knowledge, Skill.
This blogsite is published in the hope of alerting reading drivers to the possibity of increasing their safety and the safety of their passengers and the rest of the people on the road.
Every six seconds, someone was killed or maimed seriously on the roads of the world in 2007.
Don't contribute to that statistic.
Uncle PACKSman
This blogsite is published in the hope of alerting reading drivers to the possibity of increasing their safety and the safety of their passengers and the rest of the people on the road.
Every six seconds, someone was killed or maimed seriously on the roads of the world in 2007.
Don't contribute to that statistic.
Uncle PACKSman
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