The picture on the right represents the myriad of minor traffic mishaps that happen every minute of every day. They don't just happen here in America, indeed they happen rather less than they used to; but roads are busy, and folk allow themselves to become distracted.
While accident statistics have improved, and death or serious injury is less common, it is still the single biggest killer of young people, and we need to do better.
I have criticized Tulsa drivers in the past. I have complained that, in my experience, they are among the worst drivers that it has ever been my misfortune to share a road with. Having driven in many countries, and many places even in this country, it is a view forged in the white hot climate of Highway 169, and I believe the opinion to be valid.
Back in the 1970s, about 90% of American teens received "Driver's Ed." in High School. Today that number has diminished, via budget constraints and the requirements of "No Child Left Behind", to a current figure of about 15%. This is not a political point, merely an observation that a reduction in training cannot possibly be doing very much to raise standards. While the quality of Driver's Ed. may have been variable, the fact that it existed at all did give a platform on which improvements could be made. Some Schools Districts, for example, are still committed to the program and are investing up to $15000 per station to equip their schools with modern simulators.
Here in Oklahoma, the only State I have direct experience of, I know that the Driver, and Rider testing standards are not merely low, but pitiful. My European Driver's License was not good enough to exempt me from testing for an OK License, so I got to see first hand how they do it. I failed the Motorcycle Practical the first time around. In the many driving tests I have taken, that was the first one I have ever failed, and the reason was pitiful. The Examiner took the view that I had taken the wrong line through a completely clear intersection. I told him that I was a better rider than he was, and that the line I took was the safest in the circumstances (he had already told me that I had failed the test). I was right, he was wrong so I took the test again the following week and passed it HIS way!.
Whatever ... An incident happened today that reminded me just how much we all rely, from time to time, on the skill and awareness of others. I've been there, and so have you :) I am talking about those moments when a momentary, maybe fleeting lack of attention puts you in a dangerous situation. In those instances we have good cause to be thankful for the attentive nature, and the skill of other drivers. It might be a forgetful lane-change, a slight misjudgement on a curve, the point is that none of us is perfect.
Today I had cause to be reminded that "none of us is perfect" includes even professional drivers, this particular one being an Oklahoma State Trooper.
I was taking the kids to drop them off at the movies. Cruising down a local street at maybe 35/36 mph I spotted a State Trooper emerging from a neighborhood to my right. He was stopped at the Stop sign. As I approached he started to move forwards, and my foot hit the brake so fast and hard that I heard the squeal and felt the ABS doing what the ABS was designed to do. I guess the cop heard it too because he stopped rather quickly as well.
I slowed sufficiently to be sure he was stopped, then simply carried on. No harm, no foul, as they say.
It is quite possible that the driver had seen me, and was simply preparing to drop in behind, but his stopped position, that became a moving one meant that he also might simply not have seen me, and my response saved him from having a Ford Taurus where he should have a driver's door.
In that instance, he made a tiny, momentary error because he did something that caused another driver to take swift avoiding action. He was lucky because I was paying attention, and tomorrow the boot could very easily be on the other foot (although if that situation were reversed I might get a ticket).
It simply reminded me that the better the training of us all, the better placed we are to cover for those small errors. One person being inattentive can usually be accommodated if that person, and it could be me, is surrounded by others who are well trained, skilled, and paying attention.
I am happy to support tougher and more effective training, and an increase in the standard of the testing regime. In the situation above, a bit of bent metal and some bruised feelings would have been the worst of it, but when I am out on the bike something so small and almost inconsequential can be the difference between life and death.
Thanks for listening.
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