Zone38 Presents...
Letters to the World

21-Oct-2001

Why does everyone act as

Filed under: General — codeman38 @ 5:07 pm

Why does everyone act as if driving is so easy?

I mean, really, anyone who says such a thing isn’t really thinking about it. Not only do you have to be extremely adept at maneuvering the car and have extremely fast reflexes in case anything goes wrong, you must also be highly observant, able to notice the most seemingly insignificant things on the road, in order to succeed. And you must be able to do all these things at once.

And not only that, you must also have a “feel” for the road, so to speak. You need to be able to intuitively tell what speed you’re going (and, for that matter, whether it’s appropriate for the road you’re on). You should also be able to quickly identify where you are in relation to the road, preferably without even looking down at the front of the car to verify. You must be able to glance in many directions within a short span of time– through the windshield, toward the rear-view mirrors, down at the speedometer for a second, and let’s not forget those infamous blind spots–just to successfully carry out the most mundane maneuvers such as turning and merging.

Then there are all the rules you’ve got to keep straight in your mind as you do these myriad things. You can turn right at a red light, but not left— both of these cases, of course, having certain exceptions clearly marked on signs. And in the case of some red lights with special turn lanes, there’s no need to stop at all when turning. Then there’s the confusion involving who has the right of way at a 3-way or 4-way stop sign or at certain configurations of traffic lights; don’t even get me started there. And let’s not forget about those turn signals!

And these people say that driving is easy? I beg to differ…

© 2001-2025 codeman38. Powered by WordPress.