Important Reminders for Drivers of All Ages

There are rules of the road we all know, or at least should know, as these are basics for passing the drivers test. It's the unwritten common sense and courtesies that seems to have gone by the wayside. If we don't start to turn these bad habits around, I'm sure that many accidents that could have been easily avoided will be on the rise.

Yielding

The actual rule: "You must yield to all traffic on a main road when approaching from a driveway, alley, side ramp or side road."-DMV Answers . There are many other yielding rules and they do vary state to state, but for the sake of this article, I extracted the most relevant yielding law.

The common courtesy rule: It used to be, if there was construction, or a backed up highway, cars would go every other. Meaning the car already on the main road would let one car in, then go, the next would let one car in and go, and it would continue in this manner. Because of this, traffic wold move somewhat smoothly and eventually clear up.

Speed

The actual rule: "No person shall drive vehicle at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard to the actual and potential hazards then existing. Title 75, '3361"-Enforce Speed Laws

The common courtesy rule:

No matter what the speed limit, one would take in all factors before deciding on their speed. Some of these things would be whether or not it is a known area for wild animals. The weather was always taken into account, including rain, not just snow. In good weather, if an area was heavily populated area with pedestrians, this was taken into account. Traffic was always taken into account. Common sense, if the speed limit is 55 miles an hour, but if the driver were to go 55 and end up riding someones bumper, they would reduce speed. More and more, people will ride the bumper of the person ahead of them, then state "well the speed limit's 55". The general rule I grew up with was two car lengths behind. If that car ahead stopped suddenly, and the driver of the offending tailgating car will have no option but to hit the car ahead of them.

Other Common Sense Things That Shouldn't Even Need To Be Said, But Apparently Does

Pay Attention!

Distracting things in the car:

Crying children
Cell phones
Arguing

What you should do:

If the crying child is your own, parents have this funny ability to be able to temporarily shut out their children's whining. Put that to good use. If the child is not your own and you are not used to this type of distraction, or if you can't seem to put in those mental "mommy/daddy ear plugs" pull over and take care of the situation. Taking the five minutes to calm the child/children will take a lot less time than if you were in an accident, not to mention possible injuries.

In this age of constant instant gratification and instant contact with anyone because of cell phones, people have a hard time imagining not answering that cell phone. Remember, it was not that long ago that people actually had to wait until you were home to get in touch with you. If you are waiting on an important call, or have a sick child, etc., you have to train yourself not to immediately answer that phone. If you are waiting on an important call, safely pull into a parking lot, or park your car in a legal place and call the person back. The whole two to five minutes it will take you to do this will not change the outcome of the call. It can however change the outcome of your whole life in extreme cases. If an accident happened due to the phone call, someone could die, be paralyzed and many other bad outcomes. NO phone call or text is worth that.

Whether it is with a spouse, a family member, a friend, if you are arguing while driving, even if you think you are paying attention to the road, many things can pass by your attention. If the argument happens before you get into that car, and you will be driving alone, take the time to put that argument aside, to the back of your mind, or block it out completely if possible before hitting the road. If the person is in the car, tell them either drop the argument or get out and take the bus. Explain you will under no circumstance argue while driving. Besides distracting you from the road, if driving while angry, people tend to drive a lot more aggressively. Anyone driving aggressively is not driving defensively.

An experience two days ago is what prompted this article. My daughter who has only been driving for a month, was taking me home from a doctor's appointment. Unfortunately the road we took which is already a heavy traffic area, was having construction done. This busy road which typically has two lanes each way was reduced to one lane on our side of the road. This was backed up for at least a mile, mile and a half so its not like it was any big sudden surprise. The back up was visible long before we even reached it.

We were almost to the end of the traffic jam when someone two cars behind us managed to rear end the car behind us, which in turn rear ended us, pushing us into the car ahead of us and him into the car ahead of him. At the time of the accident, the average speed was about five to ten miles an hour. Because of this I truly cannot figure out how this woman managed to hit the car ahead of her with such force, but she did. Obviously she was not paying attention and was in some kind of hurry. So by not paying attention, she affected six lives that day. Luckily no one was seriously injured. Some aches and pains, some just flat out stunned, then my poor daughter was hysterical. Her baby was in the car, thank God for car seats, as the baby was perfectly fine. Problem is, my daughter already has anxiety issues, and this just put her over the edge momentarily. Thinking of the what ifs is a pretty scary thing to do, especially as a young mother.

I have to give credit to the Swathmore police, particularly officer Hinkley (hope I got that spelling right), who were methodical and went above and beyond to do what needed to be done, assess the situation, calm everyone down and still managed a friendly comforting smile. Very organized, the officer managed to get everything done and get everyone on their way within twenty minutes to maybe a half hour from the accident. Considering they had to deal with five cars and seven passengers, I think this is amazing time.

Personal experience
http://dmvanswers.com/questions/1851/When-must-a-driver-yield-the-right-of-way
http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/enforce/speedlaws501/toc/paspeed.pdf