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.


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