The way some people drive, it boggles my brain

If you think about it, we often have little catch phrases we take with us throughout our lives. These are usually little words or a sentence that our friends and family recognize, and sometimes tease us, each time we say them. I know someone who often says “you know what I mean” after many sentences. It seems like he’s ensuring I understand him before he continues with the conversation. Or how about us Canadians who have been labelled as saying “eh” after a sentence, such as “How’s it going, eh?” (By the way, we don’t ALL say that). There is a phrase I’ve found myself saying a little too often lately – “it boggles my brain”.

I’ve found myself saying this phrase whenever I see or hear of drivers doing, for lack of a better word, something stupid behind the wheel. Now, I’m not really a big fan of that “s” word, but sometimes when the shoe fits… Driver attitude is huge reason why they put themselves, their passengers and other road users at risk, crash their vehicle and/or get a ticket. They seem to all know it’s wrong and unsafe, yet they do it anyway.

It boggles my brain when these drivers who speed, weave in and out of traffic all the while having young kids in the vehicle. The part that really annoys me is when these kids aren’t properly secured in the vehicle. These kids are trusting the adults who are driving them around town to look after them; but they don’t. These drivers need to think of the future, not the present, to realize their actions could seriously affect the safety of these kids; let alone themselves.

It boggles my brain when drivers get behind the wheel after drinking alcohol. As long as I can remember, we’ve been taught the dangers of drinking and driving. We’ve seen the news reports and the statistics each and every year, yet people still believe they are super-human. Stupid. There are so many options to avoid driving after drinking alcohol, yet drivers again think they are above it all. Sleeping over at friends instead of driving, taking a cab, using a program that takes them AND their vehicle home, etc. So many options that can avoid drinking and driving.

It boggles my brain when drivers think they can squeeze into a small space while driving. Lane changing isn’t a parallel park. You need room behind your vehicle so when you move in front of the other vehicle; they can still have room between your vehicle and them. If you move over, essentially cutting the driver off, and then brake, you’re asking for trouble. Not fair to the driver behind as well. Ensure you can see the entire vehicle in your rear view mirror before changing lanes in front of them. That helps to keep space between your vehicle and the vehicle behind you.

It boggles my brain when I see drivers blatantly turn in front of other drivers. There are a lot of assumptions going on there. The driver turning in front assumes the oncoming driver won’t hit them. The approaching driver assumes the driver turning across their path will make it across before they get there. What if the driver turning had to let off the gas or brake for a reason they never thought of? Now everything changes and a serious crash happens which could result in injuries. Did they not realize the risk involved, or did they care?

Maybe after some thought these things will also boggle your brain, perhaps enough to make you think of your actions before doing them. Maybe this will be enough to get you to talk to other drivers if they do things… that boggle your brain.

*Have a quick listen to this short “Speed Bumps” podcast as it discusses why following the rules helps everyone.