27 SIGNS
27 SIGNS
So far I’ve got you looking around in your car to get familiar with it, looking around the roadway for traffic signs and helps and looking around the travel lanes for other vehicles and what they are doing but what are you looking for?
You’re looking for anything that will help or hurt you while you drive. The knowledge of what is happening, what can happen and what you can do about it is what you need to make informed decisions to keep safe. The hints and clues [signs] are all there to tell you what is going to happen and where not to be when it does.
Someone steps to the curb, not at a crosswalk, at a four lane road. They are going to cross but, if they look you in the eye and take a few more steps, they are going across in front of you.
A little old lady comes to a stop sign and is turning onto a busy street. An opening between cars is coming right up for her to move into and she starts looking around; at the other traffic, across the intersection at the other car and at her dash. She is not going to move into the opening.
A teenager, in an older scratched and dented car and moving a little too fast, turns into a mall parking lot and starts looking for a place to park; you had better hope there are no empty places beside your car.
You see, you do know what to look for and what is going to happen. Now here are a few more; you look in you rear view mirror and you see a car pulling out to pass you while the driver is fishing in the back seat for something. Their car moves from side to side while they accelerate to overtake you and the driver turns around to see what they are trying to find behind them. You can ignore them and hope they go away, panic and floor the gas so they cannot get beside you or pull as far to the right as you safely can and immediately slow down and let them by quickly?
You see a car that is dented and covered with primer paint, weaving in and out of heavy traffic and roaring up behind the parked cars at stop lights, then jamming on their brakes to just get stopped before they hit the back of the next car. You know that they are hoping to find someone to help them finish fixing their car with their insurance claim.
The signs of bad drivers are there in front of you [beside you and behind you, too]; all you have to do is ignore them and they will get you, sooner or later. Driving defensively means that you see these signs and avoid those people; don’t let them involve you in their next crash.
