The Snowflake Chronicles

Living In The World

Living In The World

Living in the world requires responsibility, I am required to take responsibility for my own actions, thoughts and emotions. I can not blame the police officer who stops me if I am not watching my surroundings and ignoring the lights. While I can not anticipate every action of the other drivers in the lanes on either side of me or ahead of me or behind me, I can anticipate my own actions. I must watch the road ahead and see any dangers that might be lurking there. Is the person waiting for the light to change going to step suddenly into the cross walk and cross against the light, probably not, but you never know. Why because people do weird and illogical things. Look about 2 seconds ahead and see what is coming up. There are lots of people and the street and they are more than likely not watching out for themselves or maybe they are. Presume they are not that way what ever they do does not surprise.

How can I tell what two seconds ahead are that is easy enough on the open road find a land mark a bridge or something that cast a shadow. Count the seconds it takes the car ahead to enter the shadow of the bridge or landmark you have chosen. In the city just consider it two blocks (OK so in heavy traffic it probably takes longer then two seconds to travel two blocks) that way you do not have to pick a landmark or count, besides there are usually more cars on a city street than the open road (I not counting rush hour here). Anyway what I am trying to get at is I and all of us need to be more aware when we are driving. I know a lot of times I am thinking about other things when I am driving.

I say a prayer of protection before I leave the driveway or garage to go any where in Las Vegas. However, just because I say a prayer of protection does not mean I am not responsible for remaining aware of my surroundings. Driving requires more than simply getting into the car, turning on the ignition and backing out of the drive way. I must look behind when I am backing out and I must remain aware while I am driving. Getting to my destination and not knowing how I got there is not a good idea. I need to keep cushion of safety around my car which means I should know what is going on around me.

One may ask what brought this on, well yesterday I took a 5 hour drivers refreshers course as a result of getting a ticket in December. The course made me aware of some of the stupid things I have been doing while I was driving. I do not mean talking on a cell phone because I do not have a cell phone. I am talking about other stupid things like not looking ahead for any danger zone. A danger zone is anything that may cause a problem when I am passing it. A danger zone can be anything from road work to a driver parked and getting out of the car without looking. If I think there might be a problem and there is a possibility of me changing lanes before getting to it I should change lanes.