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I have often been tempted to turn my Nexus One phone into a video recorder for when I drive. I think it would be amusing to post videos of how people drive. I am by no means throwing rocks in a glass house, as my driving has irritated some of those around me and have at times had ‘road rage’. It would be nice to be able to show those who drive badly, just how badly they really do drive.

I have driven professionally, hauling loads up to about 110,000 lbs. and have been told by many people that they are comfortable with my driving, that I am a good or safe driver. Trust me I have my moments of bad driving, however when you commute along the same routes at about the same time each day, you start to recognize vehicles (or at least I do). Based on past experience, I can typically surmise what a driver is going to do by they signals they give while they drive. I am not speaking of indicators on the vehicle or hand signals (not vulgar motions), but of the way they sit or move about in or between lanes. The way they follow other vehicles. Many of these signals can tell you what to expect before the driver actually makes a change. Where am I going with this? Simply that drivers will move their car before they give a warning that they are going move.

Having been a truck driver I can honestly say that there are a lot of truck drives that are also bad drivers. Have you been behind that gravel truck driving down the highway at 70 MPH dropping their load along the way, thus peppering your vehicle with little dents or worse breaking your windshield? Some truck drivers put little signs on the trailer stating “Keep back 200 ft. No responsible for broken windshields”, which really is a bunch of malarkey. Drivers are responsible for their load no matter what it is, if it comes off their truck and causes damage they are liable for it. Read the FMCSR for the details.

So why do people get so upset when other drives behave badly? We all expect it, we all know it’s going to happen. Well I cannot answer that, but a study showed (don’t ask me the name I can’t remember it) that the way people drive shows their true personality. Those aggressive drivers, are truly aggressive people, and most likely to shoot you for being in their way or calling them on their rudeness. Passive drives are typically mellow people.

Truly there is no excuse for being rude on the road, a little courtesy can go a long way to getting you to your destination. Our world is increasingly less forgiving and short fused, we could all use a little relief.

So… Quit driving like an idiot! You know who you are.

You just have to wonder sometimes what some people are thinking when they do things. I mean really, do we really need a warning label on a lawnmower telling us not to put our hand under it when it is running? Or should I dry my hair while in the shower with a blowdryer?

Common sense has become very un-common. When someone does something stupid that can possibly endanger their life, is it societies duty to stop them? Why would I possibly bring this up? We have so many people spending vast amounts of money to make sure that you don’t hurt yourself, and other people making laws to ‘protect’ you from whom? Others? No yourself! Why would they bother? Some would say it is for the greater good, but if you look closer they are really looking for someone to rule over. Power and greed runs the world today.

Those in power want to keep it, those who don’t have it want it. The same could be said for money, they go hand in hand. When was the last time you saw a homeless person running for public office? Mabey if we had more of that things would be a little different (not really). The system of governments where man rules over man are flawed, man is imperfect and incapable of ruling with out harming others. This brings up a quandry. If man cannot rule man because of greed (and being imperfect), how have we gotten this far. Well in the grand scheme of things, we really haven’t gotten ‘that far’. For instance; we still get sick, we still die, we work at things we don’t enjoy, people still go hungry, people don’t have a place to live, and we are killing the planet we live on. We still use technologies created hundreds of years ago even though better technologies exist. So many things are not the way they should be.

Come back later and maybe I will explain this more.