Good Drivers are Safe Drivers

To be a good driver, first you should know what a good driver is. No, I'm not going to recite the Ontario Driver's handbook, although it's a good idea to at least know the rules of the road. But I have my own opinion of what makes a good driver.

First, I am not necessarily talking about me - I would like it if other people drove like this to make my drive safer too, while still allowing me to get somewhere.

1. A good driver is not talking on a cell phone, I know a lot of people will disagree, but three times I have almost been hit by a driver talking on a cell phone, twice while legally walking across an intersection. Sure the driver signalled "I'm sorry" to me but the thing is I would not enjoy being pinned under an SUV even for the few minutes it would take an ambulance to get there.

2. Sober, and not drowsy, and not fumbling around under the dash looking for a packet of CD's. I am thankful for mp3 players, I think, though I don't have one. I play CD's but I don't change them, consequently the same CD has been playing in my car since my trip to Mexico three years ago. Dido "Life for Rent", I know it by heart.

3. Leaving some space behind me, for some reason I really hate people who drive so close I can see the whites of their eyes. But I have only ever been rear ended once, and that was a really fluky situation where I was coming to a stop sign, and I could see clearly there was no oncoming traffic, so I prepared to make a turn without coming to a complete stop (I know that was bad) but when I got closer to the intersection, my view up the cross road became obscured by a line of tree trunks, so I decided to stop and got hit from behind. Just a tap, though, and we drove off without any incident. The driver behind me could see the cross road, but from my position I couldn't.

4. A good driver does not come to a stop in the middle of a lane on the 401 in order to prepare for a merge. It usually happens where one lane stops, and as soon as that happens drivers in the remaining moving lanes panic and think "I must be in the wrong lane, I must get into the stopped lane". So they come to a stop wait until a space opens up so they can move over. My strategy is to keep moving until I have a space to pull in, or until my lane actually ends. This is the correct way, according to the official Ontario Drivers Handbook.

5. I don't like drivers who are always trying to "teach other drivers a lesson", or road raging because somebody is going slow. I don't like to be held up either, but once in a while a driver is going to be in unfamiliar territory, is going to hesitate or go slow looking for a turnoff or whatever. Or it may just be my mother in front who is 84 and knows the Ontario Driver's Handbook better than you, and drives at the speed limit. Just chill, you don't need to be leaning on the horn and gesticulating. Learn to drive better and you will not be so frustrated.

6. (This may go with 5) Drivers who cannot figure out time. They leave themselves 10 minutes to get somewhere that is a 20 minute drive and get mad at people who are not going fast enough. For these people, teleportation cannot be invented soon enough.

7. A good driver is not showing off, sorry teenagers, this most frequently applies to you. But I have seen some "mature gentlemen" engaged in this activity, occasionally it is me.

8. A good driver may be going fast, but does not think that just because they are speeding, that other drivers way up ahead need to get out of the way. The faster you go, the more space you need up ahead, that's just plain physics. But people way up ahead are not that great at judging your speed, say while waiting to enter the roadway. And the further off you are, the harder it is to judge your speed. Consequently, speeders often find other people pulling out in front of them and they have to *USE THE BRAKES*. If this happens a lot, it may be idiots pulling out in front of you, or you may be going too fast.