Crash Course - Things to Avoid

After living in your general surroundings you usually begin to see patterns in how things function. The same thing applies to when you're driving. People have certain ways of driving, certain personality shifts when they're driving, and their cars themselves can indicate how their driving will be. I've been a passenger and driver long enough to evaluate how somebody will drive just by looking at their car. The same applies to understanding what type of people will be in the area I'm in.

Crash Course - U-Turning

When I think back to when I acquired a driver's permit and was required to drive a certain amount of hours I somehow assume other people my age learned to drive on better vehicles. My mom's car at the time was a 1998(I think?)Plymouth Voyager. That car was a step up from the 80's Ford station wagon we travelled so many years in, facing backwards most of the time for myself. That's not saying much though when you consider it drove like a slug on a salt bed in the middle of summer. But, BUT, it had power steering. Where am I going with this? Well, dad mostly taught me how to drive, and most of the cars he drove didn't have power steering in them at all. Or if they did have power steering is was very limited.

So because of dad's cars posessing a congenital, abnormal alignment, or at least something of that nature, I had this assumption that most cars handled in the same manner. No, they don't handle that way. I've since learned to drive a regular vehicle.

Crash Course - Circles

When I lived in New York there were certain areas that had traffic circles for merging into different routes. Maybe it has changed since then, but from what I remembered as a kid they were nervewracking because they were commonly situated on the border of New Jersey, the state with exceptionally aggressive drivers.

The rules for yielding within these traffic circles was different for each state. For New York drivers, if I remember correctly, you yielded before pulling into the traffic circle. It was more cautious. And for New Jersey drivers they would rush right in and expect those in the traffic circle to yield for them. Strangely enough that's how people here tend to yield for anything, traffic circles or not.

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.