Westside Story – Safe Driving Tip

With a solid safe-driving background built upon a foundation of 22 years of Washington State Patrol Pursuit Driving Instruction, 22 years of traffic enforcement, 16 years of traffic collision investigation and 4 years as a Washington State Certified Driving Instructor, it amazes me when I observe how people operate their cars and trucks.Most drivers could improve their driving skills and habits greatly, if they were interested in doing so.You may not be willing to admit that you could possibly improve your driving.  I get that.  I am sorry, but my background and experience lends significant credibility to my opinion that most drivers can or may desperately need to improve their driving.

I wish I could tell you that I am a perfect driver.  I am not.  I make mistakes too.  The difference between me and many other drivers is I know more safe driving tactics and I work hard trying to be a safe driver and thereby reduce the number of driving mistakes I make.

After all you would not think of stepping out into the roadway and waiving a loaded gun around.   On the other hand, you think nothing of driving your car down the road in a manner that is far more dangerous than the loaded gun.

Cars kill twice as many people as guns.  If you stack your driving mistakes with just the right circumstances, you get a traffic ticket, someone is injured or someone is killed in a traffic collision.

TIP FOR TODAY:  Watch where you are going.  Pay attention.  Look beyond your hood ornament.  You should be looking at the vehicle in front of you and then past the vehicle in front of you out to about 12 seconds down the road.  You should be looking side to side and into your rear view mirror.

Drive like an old west American Indian Scout / Tracker.  Instead of looking for footprints in the dirt, bent grass, broken twigs, look for traffic pavement markings, traffic regulation signs, brake lights, side traffic, one way streets, kids, road debris, bikes and animals.

Have you ever gone the wrong way on a one-way street?  I have, more than once.  I am not proud of that and I certainly do not wish to push my luck in terms of ending up with a ticket or at fault collision.

Let’s work harder to not create a hazard by driving the wrong way.

My photo for this article was taken of a driver moving the wrong way in the drive through line at Starbucks.  After coming nose to nose with a driver moving in the correct direction, the errant driver backed up a bit and then made an 6-point U-Turn; back and forth; back and forth until the car was sideways in the drive-though.  The driver could have backed all the way out.

I do not wish to be unkind, but I have to say, this driver could benefit from watching where they drive and improving their backing skills.

Be careful out there.