REVEREND FB.COM | Daren’s Driving Handbook - Chapter 11

Daren’s Driving Handbook

Chapter 11 - Random Thoughts

The idea for this chapter came up by accident. (DAMN! I used that word again!) Actually, it came up because I got tired of re-printing a whole damn chapter every time I thought of something to add. Those ink cartridges cost a FORTUNE!

You can also tell that a green light is about to turn yellow if you see a flashing "DON’T WALK" sign.

NEVER pass a car making a turn if you can’t see up the street he’s turning into. Remember: Cars create bindspots, as do walls, fences, bushes, telephone poles, traffic signs, and anything else.

Wearing a seatbelt (with the shoulder harness) reduces your chances of death or serious injury by 50%. An airbag alone provides minimal protection, because your body will not stay in the right position to be protected.

Without a seatbelt, hitting a wall at 30 MPH throws your body into the windshield with a force of several thousand pounds. That’s about 35 G’s, if you recall that conversation. I don’t really know for sure, but I believe a "good" roller coaster never goes over several "G’s." And as I recall, fighter pilots pass out around ten or fifteen "G’s." I could be wrong about roller coasters and fighter pilots, but trust me just that 35 G’s is fatal. Wear your seatbelt. Make it a habit. Most accidents happen on trips around the block. Statistically, you’re less likely to get into an accident on a long trip - but more likely to get killed in one if you do - so either way, YOU NEED TO WEAR A SEATBELT. (If that point is not 100% perfectly clear, or if you just think I’m somehow being silly about it, please let me know. Thanks.)

You need to be ESPECIALLY careful in cars with automatic shoulder harnesses. They"fool" you into thinking you have a seatbelt on.

Use your horn sparingly, but definitely when you don't get eye contact with someone waiting to pull out onto your road. NOTE: Two short beeps sound "more polite" than one long blast... and it's better at getting someone's attention.

NEVER pull out of a side street if some car is making a right turn into "your" street from the shoulder. That car making the turn creates a blindspot that all too often hides another car. (Remember the intersection at Wawa?)

NEVER pass a line of cars on the right - or ANY car - at more than a "crawl" - there are simply too many ways that doing that can screw you up.

In the general population, alcohol causes over 50% of the 50,000 annual fatalities in car crashes. It is much higher in young people 15-21. When you combine an inexperienced driver with an inexperienced drinker... well, you might as well just shoot yourself in the head. DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!