Monday, December 29, 2008

Driving thru non drive-thru businesses

Another senior drove through a building, a building that he created a new entry in via his vehicle, he was an 86 year old who stated he thought he hit the brake not the gas. Oh no it was the gas!
It seems that being of a certain age has many not remembering, which is the brake and which it the gas.

My Dad tried teaching me to drive when I turned the right age for that sort of thing, but his manner of training was rather unconventional and very wrong since he told me my left foot was for the brake and my right was for the gas.
You see my Dad taught himself at the tender age of 14 and in his day, (circa 1921 for his driving age of 14); licenses only had a surname on the identification and were left in the vehicle by the owner without fear or concern.
But Dad kept forgetting in those days all vehicles were manual, very manual, in reality a crank was used to start the car to drive and you did have three pedals to deal with, and so you did need both feet to drive.
And so he continued to drive his entire life using both feet even on his automatic vehicles. Since he stayed in the same state he never was retested.

I stopped driving on a regular basis this past year; I originally stopped due to the medicine I was taking, but I guess I just lost my self assurance since I no longer take that medicine anymore.
Confidence has a lot to do with how you drive as well as your reflexes too.

We live in an area where we have more senior citizens than younger people on our roads and it seems to me that most should either be retested or have their licenses revoked! Not counting the tourists who consistently seem to get lost; one day one stopped in mid traffic like he was frozen. Don't get me wrong we love you guys but you have to be more careful and check a GPS or a map!
Too many run red lights at intersections, do not look as carefully as they should pulling out of diagonal parking spaces, where there have been a few people run over by this careless practice.

Once when I was doing real well and still driving I was on route forty-one, the Tamiami Trail, our main road to everything, it is six lanes, three in each direction north and south and a car with an elderly driver in it was driving right towards me in my lane; fortunately I switched lanes just in the nick of time!
Another time a person was in the far left passing lane going 25 miles an hour when the speed limit on that same road is 45MPH; he should have been in the far right, right?
It is scary how some drive without much thought at all; I think quite of few forget how lethal a weapon a car could become.

Whenever you hear these things on the news about careless driving it makes me happy that my husband is a good driver and that he is retired and able to drive us where we need to go.

PS these bad drivers had perfect weather … remember it is in the 80’s and clear as a bell here!

Good night to all and to all be careful out there, and know your limitations and take public transit if you can’t drive.

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