Stop Risking My Life When You Drive

Driving is hazardous to your health no matter how you lookat it, traveling at speeds faster than we were ever meant to go. Think whatpeople just 100 years ago would say if they saw the cars we have now…Amazing! Iam not talking about cars equipped with superchargers, turbochargers and nitro’d out race carsno I am talking about your Honda. For thousands of years humans have gotten bywith foot travel known as walking or running only recently have people begun todrive. This mode of transport is brand new in the great scheme of things andstill many people don’t take it seriously.

Everyday modern humans do things that would be considered tobe magic or the work of a higher power. Imagine how someone would have reactedto your 50” LED TV 200 years ago, they would have called you a witch and burnedyou for summoning demons. Cars are a device that has been designed to movepeople from one place to another more quickly than horseback and the car has revolutionizedthe human race.

There are a few key factors that should be followed whendriving a car, the first and certainly not least important is to pay attention.Today on the freeway there was a woman in an Audi driving at 55 – 60 MPH andhad her laptop mounted on the steering wheel. This is not only illegal but sostupid it cannot be over exaggerated how dumb and dangerous this is. There is aban on cell phone use in cars but this just takes the cake for distracteddriving, using a laptop while driving…sheesh. Another failure that people makeis failing to realize what on-ramps and off-ramps are. These stretches of roadare here for accelerating to highway speeds and slowing from them. In otherwords you can exit the highway without braking in traffic and causing a slowdown. On ramps, even the ones in Cali withlights on them are meant to give the driver a chance to get to highway speed sothey can merge. Too many people ignore this and cause accidents or congestionjust because they failed to use the provided facilities correctly. One thing toremember is that roads and highways are government property not yours so followthe rules.

How to Communicate With Other Drivers on the Road

Many times there are situations on the road where we mayfeel that we need to tell another driver something. No I am not talking aboutwhen someone cuts you off making you test your brake disc and brake calipers. What this is about is good communication that will help or just showcommon courtesy when on the road.

Over the road communication is something truckers have usedfor years, not just with CB radios but with lots of other techniques as well.There are ways to say thank you, your welcome, go ahead and much more butknowing them is the best way to make driving a nicer experience.

Anyone who has let a Semi truck merge onto the highway hasseen the flashing lights. Not the turn signal but what look like the hazardsfor 3 distinct flashes. This 3 flash process is actually them saying thank younot trying to warn other drivers, truckers have been using this for years butmost “4 wheelers” don’t know the signs. The name “4 wheeler” is also truck slangfor small civilian vehicles such as cars and small trucks.

There are many messages that the average driver should knowthat can help make driving smoother. The double flash of the high beams can leta driver know they are safe to come into our lane. The triple flash is more to alertoncoming drivers of a hazard…or a hiding cop. Three flashes of your hazardlights tell the driver behind “thank you”, While 3 flashes of your headlightssays “hey you just cut me off”.  Evencabbies have signals that they use, the slight honk while driving is to letpeople know they are available. Knowing these few signals can make driving mucheasier and also save a lot of stress as well. True there will always be people whospeed up to block other drivers from merging and others that cut in line at atraffic jam. These signals can’t help with them but maybe they can make thedaily commute a little less  stressful.