Crash Course - Turn Signal

Turn signals normally mean someone wants to merge over into a lane or turn somewhere, right? So if you're behind the driver while in the opposite lane you keep a steady speed and let them merge in, correct? That's how it should be, but where I live it isn't for many drivers.

For some reason when you put your turn signal on while in traffic around this area people will FLOOR IT to keep their vehicle at the same speed next to your car or pass you like it's an emergency. There can be at least four car lengths of room to merge over and this happens. Why do they do this? It's like they think they're in a nascar race and your turn signal means there's an opening for them to get ahead. You're not racing! Stop that!

Crash Course - Patience

When I go out driving I try to use common sense and utilize the basic rules of driving etiquette. You know, because that's why they invented driving rules in the first place even if we don't always follow them. There have been cases though where I can only try to understand why people become completely irrational in their way of thought when they step behind the wheel, to the point where their impatience makes them seem completely ignorant.

I could maybe understand her frustration considering the opening to the shopping center was only the size of one car, which really makes no sense since it appeared to be built during the 70's when cars were the size of today's trucks, but there was no need for her constant honking and screaming. What did she think our turn signal meant we intended to do? Turn right? Her vehicle was so large we couldn't have turned right if we desired to do so.

Crash Course - Driving Day

So this was it, actually getting to drive a car instead of sitting in a class room from hell. I didn't know what type of car we were going to be driving in so my curiosity was peaked as I waited to be picked up.

If I remember correctly it was a mid to late 90's Ford Focus that felt overly cramped. The seating felt more like a hard, reclining chair. The color was your typical, ugly dark blue/navy that American car manufacturers seem to love. And it was also automatic, sluggish, and it smelled like burnt coconut air freshener. This is going to be fun.

Crash Course - Why Us?

After finishing reading and quizzing through half of the driver's handbook we were told we would be starting the driving portion of this class. That would sound like a good thing, right?

Well it turned out that Trav and myself were going to be spending our mornings and evenings with Mr. Kent from now on. I vividly remember both of us having the same expression, as if we were picking straws and both us somehow ended up with short ones. In Mr. Kent's defense though he was way better at teaching driving than he was at teaching through a textbook so our mornings, as crazy they were, which you will see later on, were not as mind numbing as the classroom.

Crash Course - Corrections

So far we've learned that the teacher in this class couldn't read in a normal manner and that Trav is a genius by suggesting all of us take turns reading various parts of the textbook. That's great because we could then focus on what we were reading. But some of the students had issues with reading as well. One of them was Budd. He told me he went to a special school along with Don because they supposedly had learning issues. After spending a few minutes helping Budd to read more easily I concluded that whoever was teaching him didn't care or was on the same level of teaching ability as the instructor of this driving class. Budd wasn't stupid and he learned very quickly. During one of the classes though...

Mr. Kent corrected Budd while he was trying his best to read the textbook. The man who couldn't read correctly was correcting someone who was actually pronouning the actual word he was reading instead of saying something completely unrelated. I could tell it hurt Budd's confidence because of the manner Kent used when he corrected him. Needless to say, I was infuriated by his action and let him know it through my expression. He turned quite pale and tried to shrug it off as if he never said anything. Luckily for the rest of us he never corrected anybody again.