If Death is after me, apparently the form of the destructor chosen for me is an automobile.
Yesterday, I was driving through an intersection near my house where there are numerous accidents because people coming out of Wal-Mart or the grocery store get impatient and do dumb things. Despite the stop sign he had, the driver of a truck didn't think stopping was a good idea until he was halfway into the intersection. The car right in front of me tried to stop but still hit the truck. They were fine (cars not so much) and a police officer was on the scene within two minutes, but I was glad I wasn't one car further ahead (or following too closely).
Then tonight I had a green light to go through an intersection (it had been green for some time, incidentally), when a car blew through its red light at about 60 mph or more. I happened to be about two or three seconds away from the intersection when it happened, and I saw it coming out of the corner of me eye, but it was a good thing I wasn't going a bit faster.
These incidents, along with just seeing people drive on a regular basis, has led me to the conclusion that we need to change a few things about the way we give out driver's licenses.
First, we need to make sure that everyone who takes a driver's test has to do a number of basic things besides just parallel parking -- merging on and off the highway and driving in busy intersections, among others.
The second is to make people take driving tests more often. We take them when we're 16 and then that's pretty much it. People should have to take it again at 18 or 21, just to make sure they're still following safe driving practices. And then once every 10 or so years after that. Once you hit a certain age, say 65, you have to take it every 5 years to get your license renewed. This helps weed out elderly people who may not be willing to admit or may not be aware they can't still safely get behind a wheel. A lot of people probably won't like having to get tested more often, but most of them are probably the bad drivers.
And if it gets more people to use turn signals and not run red lights, I think it's probably worth it.
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4 comments:
Good lord! There was just a major accident in front of my house too. I heard tires squeal for about a second and a half, a giant crash and then more squealing. Yikes. Drive safely (maybe you should walk places for a while?)
One of my pet peeves since I came back is drivers who don't use turn signals. So. dangerous.
But it's my God given Constitutional Right to drive a big giant gas guzzling, environment destroying car, whenever and howevver I want. And don't even think about trying to take away my constitutional right to own a tank or rocket launcher.
-Kevin (Now working for at the lawfirm of Sarcam, Irony, and Just Plain Stupid Made up American Rights)
can't say i disagree with your driver safety program.
it's good to know (i suppose) that my theory about all bad drivers congregating in utah is inaccurate...
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