What have you seen lately?
We have roughly 23 million drivers in Canada these days. We get more and more every year. Each year I continue driving, I see an increasing number of drivers doing strange and unusual things. What have you seen lately?
Just the other day as I was traveling to work, I noticed a driver putting on make-up. I know we’ve seen this before, but it’s usually at a red light. This driver was doing her eyes, and I’m sure they looked lovely, but this was while she was in motion. With both hands too! What goes on in some people’s mind that they think they can safely operate a vehicle with their knees?
As I started to write this column it leads me to think about the other weird and unusual things I’ve seen done by other drivers. One of my favorites is when a driver is reading while driving. Now I think we’ve all seen drivers reading a map, or trying to, while driving. This time I saw a driver reading a book while on the highway. I know that reading a book is a novel idea, but doing it while driving? Traffic volume was moderate and flowing normally as I came up beside her. I decided to pass her quickly as I didn’t want any part of her lack of concentration.
I’ve heard of a few people misunderstanding cruise control too. Like the grandmother of a former co-worker of mine who put cruise control on and then reached into the cooler in the backseat to grab a can of pop. This driver thought the cruise control was the equivalent of automatic pilot. Luckily, she only received minor injuries when she crashed.
Drivers who pull up right behind a driver who has their 4-way flashers on amuse me. The lead driver, while stopped, also rolls down their window and waves to the driver behind to go around them. They’ve done everything, other than send the driver behind an e-mail that they’ve stopped, yet the driver still stops at the bumper of the lead driver and wonders why they aren’t moving. Sometimes they’ll even honk at them.
I was recently traveling along the highway when I saw a driver with a windshield screen covering half of her windshield. The driver’s half of the windshield was clear, but the passenger side was covered up. I understand how the sun can be a problem with glare, but this was around nine in the morning and the sun was already well above the point of blinding them. I wonder why they did this. Strange.
I’ve heard from many drivers when they’ve witnessed strange or weird driving behaviours. They’ve told me their stories about strange or unusual driving actions from other drivers they’ve seen. So, tell me what you’ve seen and maybe, if someone reads what they’ve done, they’ll stop doing it.
A few days ago, I had a driver behind me as I approached a stop sign. I slowed down gradually to avoid a rear-end collision, and came to a complete stop. Just when I had come to a full stop, the driver behind honked at me twice.
I suppose he or she expected me to roll the stop sign. Could it really have been that frustrating to wait an extra two seconds for me to come to a complete stop, rather than illegally roll through?
About two out of every five drivers I see are texting anymore. They drive worse then drunk drivers and we all have to stay on gaurd for getting side swiped, or worse. I always try to look at the faces of other drivers because body language tells me a lot about what they are going to do next. Waiting at stop lights it is interesting to look at the face of each driver. I see a lot of stress, anger, frustration…..not many people living happy. Once I saw someone smile.
Thanks for sharing Anna. I agree; more people need to drive when they’re happy. It makes life more worthwhile.
As a motorcyclist in toronto, who’s been struck and almost killed by a distracted driver, I am glad the law was passed but I find it unfortunate that there are not enough officers to enforce it.
No matter what vehicle I am operating I will see at least one distracted driver on my commute to and from work.
I’ve seen a man texting, and shaving on the way to work. He cut me off. I gave him a short honk, and he then flew into road rage throwing things out of his car at me on the 401.
It’s like a war zone out there some days.