Driving

Lately I've had a enough of dumb driving habits.

I don't know if there is some kind of dumb driving habit club or maybe I'm just noticing it but I see dumb driving habits on the rise lately. I've seen people zoom ahead of me, cut someone off, then turn off the road onto a side street. Just yesterday I see this lady putting on her makeup, kids are not only NOT in car seats, they aren't even buckled in, and she's talking on a cell phone too, the phone balanced precariously between her ear and her shoulder. That is just insane. Last week some guy cuts me off in traffic, gets in my lane, and then slows down to a crawl. Why? I have no idea.

I don’t know about everyone else but I am acutely aware of the fact when I am driving in my vehicle that I am wrapped in two-ton machine that often has my family in it. Incredibly aware of the fact that a wrong move on my part could put my family at risk, other drivers and their passengers at risk and my own life at risk. I don’t see how anyone driving on today’s roads could be anything less than intensely aware of these simple facts, yet I see people doing dumb things constantly.

I’m almost to the point where I agree with the late George Carlin’s viewpoint on driving; we should all be issued paint guns with our driver’s license, and you get to peg anyone you catch doing something dumb. Once you cross a certain threshold of paintball hits the cops get to confiscate your license. Maybe then people would stop and think, “Am I doing something unsafe or foolish? How can I do this safer?” Or maybe just pay attention when you’re cutting me off with my family in my vehicle.