By Jim Green
My wife and I go to Southern California, from time to time, to visit family and friends there. I like the drive down, with one exception. The closer we get, the more likely it is to see a multitude of poor or downright bad driving practices. What alarms me most is the fact that I”m seeing more and more of that big city driving mentality right here in Lake County.
In the Nov. 6 edition Stephanie Codling did a good job mentioning some of the new laws that have been passed with respect to operating a vehicle in our state. The plain and simple fact of the matter is that driving is a privilege, not an obligation. Additionally, ignorance of the law is not an excuse! It seems that people don”t care about the law anymore. More and more people are doing whatever they want, regardless of the law. I call this the “It”s all about me” philosophy, in which one does not need to signal to let others know where they are going, they already know where they are going. However, it would be nice if they”d let others know also.
Another example is “I don”t really need to stop at stop signs or heed speed signs on the road.” Many drivers roll through stop signs like they”re not even there. I recently had someone shout an obscenity at me for stopping at the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff. Law enforcement used to give out tickets for rolling stop. Is that still a law? And how many times have you seen someone go flying past you just to cut you off at an off-ramp? And what about courtesy at three-way and four-way stop signs? Many drivers don”t care whose turn it is or who got there first, they just plow on through the intersection, after rolling that stop sign, I might add.
Driving is a full-time job. Playing around with the radio, stereo, texting, talking on a cell phone and other such distractions are just that, a distraction to driving. Why do you think that a law was passed to prohibit cell phone use without “hands free” application? I, too, have seen both local sheriff”s deputies and police using their cell phones while driving. What kind of signal does that send to the public? On the other hand, every CHP officer that I”ve seen has always been at the side of the road while talking on their cell phones.
I have seen many disabled drivers motoring around with blue placards hanging from their mirrors. This placard blocks a very important part of the viewing area of the windshield. Can it be that these folks are also unable to read? The placards state, “Remove from mirror before driving the vehicle.” So if they can read, the “It”s all about me” philosophy must apply. My intent here is not to offend any person or group of people.
My intent is to get everyone thinking about the way they drive. We all could be a bit more courteous and informed when it comes to operating a vehicle wherever we travel. Lake County is a great place to live. I”d just like to keep those big city driving attitudes out of our county as long as possible.
