The Most Dangerous Car & Driver on the Road

No this isn't an article about statistics from Car and Driver Magazine, or the government census on car safety. This is what I figured out after driving thirty-eight years. Although I have lived and driven in several different states, including the North, East, South and West, I have lived a majority of my time here in Arizona. I started to notice many years ago there was a pattern to a certain kind of driver in a certain kind of car. And the winner is.... The Person who drives the White Family Van...No Kidding!

For whatever reason, years ago I stared to notice the driving habits of the typical White Family Van Driver. It's probably because on a consistent basis they were doing the stupidest and most dangerous things you could ever imagine. Unfortunately, while they were doing this. Most of the time there was a whole van full of kids with them.

So, let me share with you some of the things that became so consistent I began to see a definite pattern with the drivers of these white elephants. The first thing I noticed were the chances they took when leaving the parking lots of the schools they were picking their children up from. Excuse me, but you don't pull out in front of cars and trucks coming at you going 45 miles per hour, when their only fifty feet away. I have actually seen these vans almost topple over because they had to turn accelerate so quickly to get out of the way of the vehicles that were so close to them when they pulled out.

The second thing that's getting really bad, is these people must be coordinating drop off or pick-ups when their driving, because they are always on the cell phone, especially when coming and going to their children's schools. The problem is they can't even stay in their own lane. Between the kids acting up in the van, and them being on the cell phone, their driving only gets about half their attention, if that.

Believe it or not, with or without kids in the van, they are speeding. Some role models for their kids when they are in their van. These parents will be the first to complain and expect sympathy when their children are killed in car accidents because they themselves were speeding. Gee, I wonder where they learned it? They change lanes without signaling, weave in and out of their lane because they're either yelling at the kids, or again on the cell phone. What is the matter with these people?

To sum it all up, I think the biggest reason for them being dangerous can be summed up in one word, Distractions. They are not paying attention to their driving, which in order to be safe, needs 100% of a driver's attention. It only takes one second to be in or cause an accident. As far as I'm concerned, any driver that's driving dangerously for any reason while there are kids in the car should be arrested for child abuse, and child endangerment. Good luck here in Tucson, they're so busy with the drive-by shootings, and drugs coming in from Mexico, they don't have the time to worry about irresponsible parents. Our loss, the bad drivers gain.

I guess you can say that all kinds of drivers, in all types of cars and trucks do these stupid and dangerous things; on this I would have to agree. However, by my observations, over years of driving, is that there is a serious pattern and consistency in the kind of driving done by the driver of the White Family Van!

*Parents who really care about their kids will ALWAYS drive safely when their kids are in their vehicles with them!