A Woman Driver

I spend too much time in the driver’s seat of my car. I tried to calculate the exact amount of time I spend a week driving around town. I figure I am behind the steering wheel about 12 maybe 14 hours a week. The number may even be more than that. I know where the construction spots are and how to avoid them. I can tell you which roads to travel through town that have the slightly higher speed limits. The time it takes me to go between violin lessons and ballet is calculated out perfectly. I am on time to all of the various appointments on my schedule 99% of the time. Sometimes weather or traffic incidents crash the well oiled machine of my schedule. Oh, and I have no speeding tickets or traffic accidents on my record. Having spent a considerable amount of time on the road, I feel I can speak about driving with some expertise.

Four way stops seem to be a problem for some drivers. What exactly are the rules with four way stops when two or even three cars arrive at the stop at the same time? Heaven forbid if four cars get to the intersection all at once. I know the rule. So I will politely wait for the car to my right to go. Too many times the car to the right doesn’t seem to know the rule. The driver will hesitate at the stop, waiting for someone else to take the lead. I watch the confused even worried look on the driver’s face across from me. I can even imagine the thoughts going through his or her mind. “Did I get here first? Oh no, we got here at the same time! Now what do I do?” Not that I am an aggressive driver, but I do have a schedule, so if there is a moment of hesitation with the driver who should be taking the lead, I decided I get to go. Of course if there is a police officer at one of the stop signs, I will politely wait for it to pass first. Maybe stop sign confusion is why I am seeing more round-a-bouts in town. No stop sign, no confusion. Traffic moves along at a continuous flow.

I also think people have forgotten that they have a signal switch on the side of their steering wheel. There are good reasons to let the cars behind you know if you are turning or changing lanes and which direction you are changing in. We have GPS now that can tell us where to go and where we are. Maybe we need to have a nice motherly voice come on to remind us to signal when we turn the wheel a certain degree to the left or right….”Please signal now.”

Please don’t ride my bumper. I can’t talk about tail-gating drivers with patience. If the speed limit is 30, I will go 33. Riding on my back bumper will only make me go slower. I drive an oversize van. If a little car is driving too close behind me, I can’t see it in my mirrors. I guess I know how a semi truck driver must feel. Once a small car was driving way to close behind me, I started to slow down several miles an hour below the posted speed limit. Of course that only brought the car closer to my bumper. Finally I slammed on my brakes! Stop tailing me! In my state, the law says if you hit my bumper, it is your fault, period. I think the driver got the message. It followed me at a safer distance until I turned off the road.

The world seems to be in one big race. We all have places to be and things to do….Now. What would happen if everyone listened to relaxing music or funny stories while they drove? What would happen if we all enjoyed the drive just a little more?
I think I am pretty good driver, at least around town in my big, oversize van. I have a good record. I try to be courteous and conscientious. So don’t say women drivers are bad drivers.

Now for a confession. I went to quickly return some video rentals. I pulled into the parking lot and quickly ran into the store, dropped off the DVD’s. Before I could turn around I heard a slight crunch sound. I turned around and saw the van nose to nose with another car in the parking lot. I thought, “Shoot that car just hit me.” Then I realized the van wasn’t where I parked it. It was sitting in the middle of the parking lot no longer in a designated parking place. Damage was very minor, but I won’t tell you while in a hurry who forgot to take the vehicle out of drive and put it in park before running into the store.