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Courtesy on the road goes a long way
Article published on Thursday, March 16, 2006 |
Re: March 9 “This and That” column on drivers
Editor:
While I appreciate all the points that Mr. Michalski made in his March 9 “This and That” column, there are some other factors to consider:
We live in one of the most densely populated areas of our nation.
I cannot state as fact, but I surmise that we also claim one of the highest population in regards to drivers over the age of 55 as well. I’m one, and I’ve already made my share of mistakes even though before I left the work force, I drove for a living. As a Florida driver for more than 40 years, I know whereof I speak.
Over the years, I worked my way from journalist down to the bottom of the job chain because of health issues. At the “bottom” was my job as a medical courier for a pathology lab – translation: picking up body parts for biopsy. It was in the course of a day’s work in 2000 that I was rear-ended probably solely for the fact that I had the audacity to stop at a red light.
During that job stint, I covered two counties, Hillsborough and Pinellas, and drove every day in rush-hour traffic. In the beginning my trip included a jaunt up I-4 to the Haines City exit where I met another courier who picked up all the specimens I had collected and took them into our Orlando lab, then returned through Tampa at high rush hour.
Michalski made very valid points, especially the one that we have drivers from everywhere else on our streets. That becomes No. 1 at this time of the year when I, along with many others, suffer “Snowbird Syndrome.” The onset is usually somewhere toward the mid or latter part of February, when just about everyone who can afford to run away from lousy weather heads south. While we appreciate the extra dollars in local coffers and don’t mind sharing our great weather, it would help if there were brief public service announcements reminding tourists and natives alike of courteous driving.
For our visitors, “back home” may be a town of less than 1,000 such as where my daughter and family lived for more than six years. On a trip to visit us grandparents, a long one with two boys in car seats, this daughter made the 2,500 miles fine until she hit I-275 in Tampa. Then, and only then, did someone flip her a finger. As I was riding with her for that part of the trip, she turned to me and said sarcastically, “Well, now I know I’m home, Mom.”
However, the number one reason we have more than our share of poor drivers, as far as I’m concerned, is lack of accountability. In a smaller area, good manners rub off. In a really tiny town, such as LaMoure, N.D., where my daughter lived, one would soon be ostracized if they were rude in any behavior.
I said all that to say this: In this area, unless one lives in a close-knit mobile home or condo community, there is the likelihood that one does not even know one’s neighbors by name. My neighborhood empties out around 8:30 a.m. and fills back up sometime after 5 p.m. The rest of the time a few of us older residents have it mostly to ourselves. So it stands to reason if our neighbors are not here, they are out there – on the roadways. Add service vehicles, sales people, school buses, public transit, commuters, teenagers and “snowbirds” to that mix and you have hundreds of thousands of strangers every day rubbing fenders with each other as absolute strangers. So who is to know how they act behind the wheel except for the offended parties.
I have been unable to drive for more than three weeks following spinal surgery and have had to walk at least two miles a day per doctor’s orders. What a gift that was to me at this high-traffic time of year. I probably will never drive to my local shopping center again, choosing instead to walk. Unfortunately, the scariest part of being on foot out in this Starkey Road/Park Boulevard area is safely crossing these clogged roadways – and for no other reason than the drivers. Even this middle-aged woman pushing a walker does not deter them from taking the rightof way in a crosswalk.
An old grade-school teacher taught me a saying I will paraphrase here: “Make sure your mind is in gear before you put your vehicle in motion.” It wouldn’t hurt to put on a cloak of kindness either. Before you turn the key in the ignition today, ask yourself where else will you have the choice to affect so many lives as by the example you set from behind the wheel.
Elizabeth Brannon
Seminole
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Article published on Thursday, March 16, 2006
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