And with a smile / I'll take you to the seven seas of Rhye

[ase]

The problem with driving isn't that I'm inexperienced (read: really not that good!), it's when I'm inexperienced and other drivers are bad too. Some day I'm going to startle and slam on my breaks when the car behind me is riding my backside so tight I'm contemplating a harassment and paternity suit, and then there will be busted crumple zones, tears, recriminations, and duelling insurance companies. It's like Mendelian genetics! Two good (dominant) drivers will be okay, a good and a bad driver will be okay, but two bad drivers? Lethal recessive.

Today I gave myself sunburn and a late afternoon victory lap of Eisenhower Ave with norabombay, because I drove myself to her place like a pro, and she's been trying to get me in a car for years. I've got the basic driving toolbox down. At some point I need to refine the tricky parts* but I'm past the beginning of the beginning and into the middle of the beginning of driving. Yay!

*"Tricky": brake or tire crisis management, backing and/or parking in tight spaces, left-hand turns, driving in weather, high-speed driving with rush-hour Beltway lunatics, maneuvering in garages with support pillars in scary and unexpected places, fast short merge lanes, driving with rowdy passengers, mountain-style hairpin curves - seriously, barely at the middle of the beginning. All I can do now is drive uneventfully and in an unflashy way in good weather.

When you have nothing really interesting to say, quote ashcomp on sushi: "it's a delivery mechanism for spicy green stuff."

Comments

Passing lane

[ekovar.livejournal.com]

If I have a chance (and it's easy to do) I'll pull over to one side and let them go by. And when there's a passing lane and someone revs up to go past me I let my car slow down so it's easier for them. But I've almost always done this on a long country road; it's harder to find places to do it in the suburbs.

And, of course, if I'm on the highway I put on my turn signal and move to the right. It turns out that it's easier to be polite than not.

BTW, the subject line is the title of a song. Since it came out in 1973 or so I doubt anyone would know:

"Gimme that highway, better go my way
Crank up the big wheels, let'em roll on
I'm moving like a fast train, gimme that passing lane
And I'm gone, I'm packing my load a little further down the road."

I'll add that 'big wheels' doesn't mean driving one, it means hitchhiking with a long-haul driver. For whatever it's worth I've always found truck drivers to be the polite sort.

Re: Passing lane

[ase.livejournal.com]

It's not the areas with a passing lane that are a problem. Morons just cut around you at unsafe speeds when there's two lanes. It's the one lane country roads and 97 during heavy-traffic rush hour that are problematic.