The Safe Driver

Are drivers bad, selfish, unaware, distracted or just lack common sense?

I’m a watcher. I watch what drivers do on a daily basis. Good drivers blend into the background so well that many people fail to see them act responsibly on the road. However, the drivers who do things that you may question stand out in a crowd. They make poor driving choices that also affect other road users. Are they a bad driver, selfish, unaware, distracted, or just lacking common sense?

Some people may believe that common sense does not exist. I believe it does, but I’ll get to that point later. Let’s first talk about driving awareness. I recently came across four drivers who merged into traffic on the expressway traveling 20 km/h below the speed limit when traffic, including myself, were traveling right at the speed limit. Did they not realize their speed was that slow? Did they not notice the traffic in the right lane was traveling at the posted speed limit?

Since there was a steady flow of vehicles in the next lane, I couldn’t do a lane change that I would normally do. I had to reduce my speed to let them in. Their actions would generally cause a chain reaction of slowing down. This braking causes a slowdown of traffic but could all be avoided if they used more common sense and awareness of their actions. Let’s get to understanding common sense now.

By dictionary definition, it means; “the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way and to make good decisions.” To say common sense does not exist is a little naive. You would have to ask everyone their opinion and what they would do. I think common sense is more common than some may realize. I’ve often referred to common sense as being “street smart” instead of “book smart,” You could have a lot of intelligence but lack common sense.

Think of all the actions you spot from drivers that cause reactions from other road users to help reduce risky driving actions. You will find that most actions are from drivers who use common sense. If you drive in such a way that you require other road users to respond to your actions to help you drive safely and smoothly, you’re suffering from a lack of common sense while driving. Luckily, you can teach common sense to those who operate a vehicle. A few driving sessions from an experienced instructor can do the trick.

A person may lack common sense if they continue to believe or do something when there is an indication to suggest they would be better off if they think or act differently. It has that person set in their ways, perhaps because of what they were originally taught. Maybe they are just unaware of the other options. Having common sense in the driving environment, you use logic and make practical decisions based on your real-life experiences and logical reasoning of the “what if I do this” mentality.

Driving is not about having a selfish “me-me” attitude. It’s about working together to create space. It’s like having thousands of members of a team all working together. When one of those team members fails to act sensibly or logically for the situation, it can throw off the rest of the members. Driving can be similar to this. If you don’t think your actions are affecting other road users, even though many of your passengers are saying it does, take more of an awareness of your actions. It’s not too late to change.