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Clues are all around you for a better commute
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Photo courtesy photoXpress.com
Get a clue! Okay, that may be a bit flippant, or perhaps even harsh, but this advice could keep your commute from becoming a nightmare. Traffic provides clues that can make us safer drivers and keep us from becoming the victims of unsafe drivers—if we’re smart enough to recognize and use them.
For example: paying attention to brake lights. I’m not talking only about those of the car right ahead of you and to which if you don’t pay attention to you may meet the driver, who may not be so happy to meet you. Make it a practice to glance several cars ahead as a part of your general scan. Like the accordion-effect, if brake lights come on several cars ahead, that’s a good indication the traffic behind may, in turn, also slow or even suddenly stop.
On the freeway, and this little tip could even save you from a ticket (you can thank me later), you’re cruising along and you notice brake lights appear on cars well up ahead of you, especially when approaching a blind curve in the roadway, you’d be wise to dump some speed—slow down. Those brake lights are probably coming on for a good reason. It could be a diligent, radar-armed trooper working to keep your freeways and highways safe, or it could be a collision had just occurred, inviting you to become a part of the fray if you don’t take the hint and slow down.
There are many more “real-world” clues given commuters, which I’ll deal with in future columns, but I’ll give you one more. In fact, I’m actually repeating this one from a previous column it’s so important. Be very careful and look for clues presented to you at marked and unmarked crosswalks. Remember, anyplace from a sidewalk corner across to another sidewalk, without a physical barrier dividing the street, is a crosswalk whether or not there are painted lines or special embedded pavers.
When you’re approaching such a situation from the opposite direction of a car stopped in the roadway or from behind in an adjacent lane, pay particular attention to stopped cars, they may be stopped for a pedestrian waiting to cross or in the process of crossing who is out of your view, or to whom you are paying no attention.
For more info: Comments & Questions email stevepomper@stevepomper.com or please visit www.stevepomper.com
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