Rollin' Rollin'... BRAKE!
I had a brilliant idea for a blog earlier today, but to save my soul I can't recall what it was. I just remember driving along thinking... "oh yeah... man I totally need to blog about that". Oh well. I'm sure it was bound to be fabulous and profound.
I did see a horse rolling around on the ground today scratching its back. That was pretty funny. I am frequently entertained by the creatures of this world as I pass them by in my big truck. I've blogged before about animal antics (here and here). Of course I've seen several new instances of mammal insanity since then. One of which was a couple of weeks ago.
I saw four horses in a field, three of which were much smaller than the fourth. The tallest horse was standing in a pose which I can only describe as "authoritative and angry". The smaller three were standing in a row, side by side, facing the larger horse with their heads down in "shame". To me it appeared that the dominant horse was lecturing the little ones about something they did wrong, much like a parent will do with three siblings who just made a huge mess of things.
I chuckled at the scene and kept on driving. Animals amuse me.
People amuse me too. Something I observe on a daily basis just about always cracks me up. I bet a lot of folks find it annoying, aggravating, and maddening... actually I do too, but if I let it really get to me that much I'd not make it one more day as a truck driver.
The action is merging. Merging is an event which I see hundreds of times a day. One which displays the gross lack of proper driving education, especially when it comes to merging into traffic on a highway or interstate. It's a simple procedure really and one which any licensed driver should be able perform with a little throttle, a little observance and apparently a lot of courage.
If I recall correctly, when I was studying to obtain my learners permit back in the day there were illustrations in the Drivers Handbook labeling all the major markings on roadways. It also included illustrations for a multitude of signage one might encounter while driving. In reference to the stretch of road that enters a lane of travel on an expressway there were terms like "acceleration lane" and "merge area". It was explained that you enter an expressway by using an acceleration lane, in which, while yielding to expressway traffic, you should accelerate to the speed of the existing traffic and thus merge safely.
I don't recall anything about slamming on your brakes at the last minute to scared to merge into that fast moving traffic. And there was certainly nothing about the need to nearly end up rear-ended by other mergers who are not afraid to merge, unlike yourself. I also don't recall anything about expressway traffic yielding to merging traffic by slamming on their brakes afraid that you won't fit into the space ahead of or behind their car.
It's just madness. And completely unnecessary.
And I believe that a vast majority of this particular problem could be alleviated with signs that instruct stoopid drivers to accelerate to highway speeds safely and to NOT slam on the brakes. Of course, the place this sort of instruction should really be beat into the heads of stoopid people is when they're being trained and tested to obtain their drivers license.
When I finally accepted the fact that it was time for me to get my drivers license, and quit just renewing my learners permit, I headed to the DMV to take the big test. I remembered my parents talking about the obstacle course they had to drive and then the road test which they had to complete in order to pass and be granted their license. I figured it was about the same as I could expect.
Boy was I wrong. I arrived at the DMV, checked in and waited for a test instructor to become available. I walked with him to my mom's car got in and exhibited my knowledge of the signals and such. Then he instructed me to back out of the parking spot, and drive around the perimeter of the parking lot. Simple enough... I assumed when we got close to the exit/entry he'd instruct me to head out on the highway. Nope... not at all. He then instructed me to pull over to the area with the construction cones and perform a parallel parking maneuver.
Once I successfully completed parallel parking he instructed me to pull back into the parking spot I started out in. And I was done. I assumed I screwed something up and that he didn't take me out because he knew I was a moron. Nope... I passed. Apparently the standards are just THAT low for people to get their license.
I've asked dozens of people since then how they obtained their drivers licenses and got about the same basic test layout from people under 35.
And we wonder why we have so many bad drivers on the road?! Simple lack of proper education and expectation from the givers of the gift of driving privileges.
Go figure.
....okay I'm done for now.
I did see a horse rolling around on the ground today scratching its back. That was pretty funny. I am frequently entertained by the creatures of this world as I pass them by in my big truck. I've blogged before about animal antics (here and here). Of course I've seen several new instances of mammal insanity since then. One of which was a couple of weeks ago.
I saw four horses in a field, three of which were much smaller than the fourth. The tallest horse was standing in a pose which I can only describe as "authoritative and angry". The smaller three were standing in a row, side by side, facing the larger horse with their heads down in "shame". To me it appeared that the dominant horse was lecturing the little ones about something they did wrong, much like a parent will do with three siblings who just made a huge mess of things.
I chuckled at the scene and kept on driving. Animals amuse me.
People amuse me too. Something I observe on a daily basis just about always cracks me up. I bet a lot of folks find it annoying, aggravating, and maddening... actually I do too, but if I let it really get to me that much I'd not make it one more day as a truck driver.
The action is merging. Merging is an event which I see hundreds of times a day. One which displays the gross lack of proper driving education, especially when it comes to merging into traffic on a highway or interstate. It's a simple procedure really and one which any licensed driver should be able perform with a little throttle, a little observance and apparently a lot of courage.
If I recall correctly, when I was studying to obtain my learners permit back in the day there were illustrations in the Drivers Handbook labeling all the major markings on roadways. It also included illustrations for a multitude of signage one might encounter while driving. In reference to the stretch of road that enters a lane of travel on an expressway there were terms like "acceleration lane" and "merge area". It was explained that you enter an expressway by using an acceleration lane, in which, while yielding to expressway traffic, you should accelerate to the speed of the existing traffic and thus merge safely.
I don't recall anything about slamming on your brakes at the last minute to scared to merge into that fast moving traffic. And there was certainly nothing about the need to nearly end up rear-ended by other mergers who are not afraid to merge, unlike yourself. I also don't recall anything about expressway traffic yielding to merging traffic by slamming on their brakes afraid that you won't fit into the space ahead of or behind their car.
It's just madness. And completely unnecessary.
And I believe that a vast majority of this particular problem could be alleviated with signs that instruct stoopid drivers to accelerate to highway speeds safely and to NOT slam on the brakes. Of course, the place this sort of instruction should really be beat into the heads of stoopid people is when they're being trained and tested to obtain their drivers license.
When I finally accepted the fact that it was time for me to get my drivers license, and quit just renewing my learners permit, I headed to the DMV to take the big test. I remembered my parents talking about the obstacle course they had to drive and then the road test which they had to complete in order to pass and be granted their license. I figured it was about the same as I could expect.
Boy was I wrong. I arrived at the DMV, checked in and waited for a test instructor to become available. I walked with him to my mom's car got in and exhibited my knowledge of the signals and such. Then he instructed me to back out of the parking spot, and drive around the perimeter of the parking lot. Simple enough... I assumed when we got close to the exit/entry he'd instruct me to head out on the highway. Nope... not at all. He then instructed me to pull over to the area with the construction cones and perform a parallel parking maneuver.
Once I successfully completed parallel parking he instructed me to pull back into the parking spot I started out in. And I was done. I assumed I screwed something up and that he didn't take me out because he knew I was a moron. Nope... I passed. Apparently the standards are just THAT low for people to get their license.
I've asked dozens of people since then how they obtained their drivers licenses and got about the same basic test layout from people under 35.
And we wonder why we have so many bad drivers on the road?! Simple lack of proper education and expectation from the givers of the gift of driving privileges.
Go figure.
....okay I'm done for now.
Comments
Just kidding, it was very thorough, and also performed on snow, packed on top of ice.
PS Th emerging problem was exactly the same in England.
Merry Christmas!