What Kind of Driver Are You?
This post has been in the making (in my head) for a looooong time. Keep in mind that I have a 30 minute commute to work each day in the morning and afternoon. This commute is divided into three distinct sections:
- Through residential neighborhoods
- Interstate
- Through a main road, lined on both sides with mainly businesses, restaurants, strip malls
I am a pretty passive driver (which does not mean a slow one 
It gives me an opportunity though to observe how others are interacting with the road and their co-travelers. I often wonder if there are parallels or a connection how their driving habit correlates to their outlook on live and their relationship with others.
During my commute, I observe these drivers. Man or women, young and old, with cellphones pressed to their ear, cigarettes in their mouths, putting make-up on or yelling at their kids in the car. I see most of them drive huge SUVs, which must swallow an incredible amount of gas on a daily basis. I see those big cars, like Hummers, parked in the drive way of our neighborhoods and am wondering how they continue to afford the rising gas prices or the strain on the environment.
I see drivers,who must believe that they own the road. Something in the way they act and interact with their fellow drivers on that streets seems to demand that everyone should pay tribute to them. Attitudes that seem to scream:” Here I come. Get out of my way”, “My time is more valuable than yours”, ” It is ok, as long as I don’t get caught breaking rules”, “I am above the law” or “The law does not apply to me”
Section 1 of my commute: Residential Neighborhoods
- There are drivers, who will zoom out of their driveways, no regard for school children walking to their bus stop
- There are drivers, who will drive in the right lane, passing all the cars by who are patiently waiting in the left lane and in line for 15 minutes or more to be able to turn onto the Interstate. These drivers will “throw” themselves into the left lane, across double white lines (illegal to cross) within the last 20 meters before the turn. They will do dangerous maneuvers like creating their own second parallel turn lane, that does not exist or come to a complete stop dead in the right lane, blocking all traffic behind them to force their way into the turn lane.
Section 2: Interstate
- There are drivers, who will not move, out of courtesy, into another lane when cars are trying to merge onto the interstate
- There are drivers, who will drive 50 miles an hour in the left lane. They will not move over into the right lane, oblivious to the fact that everyone has maneuver around them
- There are drivers, that will drive 80-90+ miles/hour in a 70 miles/hour zone and think nothing of it
- There are drivers, who will try to push anyone off the road, even when they are going speed limit (+ 5 miles/hours).
- They will come speeding towards the back of any car to the point of almost running into that car. Sometimes accompanied with flashing the brights. When that car tries moving over to the side, they will barely give them time to get out of the way.
- There are drivers, who will weave in and out of the traffic, endangering anyone else in their way.
Section 3: Main Road
- There are drivers, who will zoom past in order to get in front of you… only to turn into a parking lot a few feet further, so you will need to come to an almost complete stop.
- There are drivers, who will be driving in the lane next to yours, but a little further behind and still run through the red light that you stopped for.
Do you recognize any of these driver (personality) traits? Do these drivers treat others the same way once they get out of the car? Do they still think it is ok to break the law until they get caught? Will they run over anything and anybody to get where they want to?
Just wondering…
What type of driver am I? I am a reluctant driver. I wish I did not have to drive.
Twenty plus years ago I loved driving. I had a job which required driving across an area of Australia equivalent in size to western Europe. I was an auditor with a bank. Driving from one region to the next was most enjoyable.
Two decades later I was living in Singapore. An excellent public transport system with easily accessed MRT rail system linked via hubs to a comprehensive bus network that service the surrounding towns. Plus, inexpensive taxis, very inexpensive. My wife and I existed without a car for five years. It was excellent. There was no need for a car.
Now, back in Australia I rely upon a car to travel to work. Public transport is either inadequate or non-existent. I am unable to get to work via public transort. Fortunately, as a member of a car pool I only drive to work one week in three. Luckily our commute is against the traffic flow, away from the city, with the last few kilometres through dairy farms to the school. That is pleasant.
I wish we all existed in a world without cars, or at least privately owned cars. The car and the internal combustion engine are contributing to the death of this planet. Bio-fuel as a solution is, sadly, even a problem. One full tank of bio-fuel is produced using vegetable matter that could have fed a human being for a year.
Yes, I am a reluctant driver.
As for inconsiderate drivers, they can go to… a place where they are all trapped in their cars on an infinite roundabout, windows wound down, breathing in their own smog. Harsh, yes, but that is how I feel. Strangely enough, outside of the car, that same inconsiderate driver could very well be the nicest of neighbours or the most collegial of colleagues. Human beings are certainly unusual entities.
cheers, John.