I have a surprise guest on the blog today. Nona is just bursting to offer a continuing education course to drivers and begged me to let her do the class here. Look at that face. How could I refuse?
Okay my fellow travelers on the great highway. Not the Great Highway of Life, although we are all on that one together, but I’m referring to the actual highway with cars and drivers and all. This is Nona, who, after a few weeks of frustration while driving, has popped in here to sound off. Well, maybe not that exactly. I’ve already vented to my cat, who really couldn’t give a damn. Really. You know cats.
But I digress.
Maryann has graciously allowed me to borrow her blog to share a few reminders of traffic laws and courtesies that perhaps you’ve forgotten because it’s been so long since you took driver’s education or even looked out the window of your car while driving to see those around you.
First let’s review this clever little sign. You recall seeing it now and then, right?
What this means my dearies is that you get in the left lane, you pass a vehicle, then you move over, and we all proceed merrily on our way.
It doesn’t mean that you get in the left lane and stay there for miles and miles and miles, often creating the most frustrating logjam.
It doesn’t mean that when an 18-wheeler has pulled out to pass another 18-wheeler and things are going slower than we’d like, you look for any opportunity to try to speed things up. Whipping around to the right lane and squeezing into that little space between those two trucks is an absolute no-no, especially when a whole bunch of other drivers decide to follow your lead.
Do you know how dangerous that is? Do you just throw that caution to the wind and take that awful chance no matter the physics of speed and velocity and the whole principle of once an object in motion…
Oh, dear. It makes this old heart go pitter patter just thinking about what could happen.
Another thing about this passing business. When you pull out to pass and you’re driving perhaps 73 miles an hour in a 75-mile an hour zone – which is a perfectly okay speed to maintain, that’s the speed that I kind of like to go actually – you should maintain that speed. No fair slowing down, boxing the car behind you between your bumper, the truck beside you, and the truck barreling down the left land. Nobody likes to be the meat in that kind of sandwich, believe you me.
So dear, darling driver that you are, when you pull out to pass, you should either maintain that passing speed or perhaps even increase your speed until you’re past the vehicle and can move back to the right lane.
Now imagine another scenario. You’re cruising along on a lovely four-lane freeway, and ahead in your lane is one of those large 18-wheelers that always seem to be going slower than the rest of the traffic. You note – you do pay attention don’t you? – that there’s another car between you and the truck. The driver of said car has their turn signal on, indicating, of course, that they wish to move over in order to pass that truck.
You do know, don’t you, that the courteous thing to do would be to let that vehicle ahead of you move over and make the pass. Taking turns is so much safer than whipping around that car and blocking it in.
Courtesy on the road. What a concept.
Now, before I go, I have one last driving trip tip. This one doesn’t involve interstate or freeway driving, but it’s an important reminder. Did you learn in driver’s education, or perhaps when your mother or your father taught you how to drive, that when you approach an intersection to make a left turn you pull forward far enough to make about a 90-degree turn? You don’t turn on an arc, cutting that angle from one point to another and almost clipping the front end of a car that’s sitting there waiting patiently for traffic to clear. I’m sure they would love to proceed to their destination with all parts of their car intact.
Now, in closing, Maryann insists, er suggests, that since I’ve claimed this spot today, I need to remind you kind readers about the contest that has only two more days to go. Maryann is one of the authors sponsoring the BLACK FRIDAY Giveaway that ends at midnight November 23. People can enter as many times as they want for a chance to win a $400 Amazon Gift Card to use for their holiday shopping. I’d say check it out, you could be the winner, but I’d rather be the winner.
Ta, ta everyone.