A Service of The Arrow           Monday March 27, 2000 8:56 PM

ARROW STAFF

What is wrong with today’s drivers? For the most part nothing. There are, however, those few psycho drivers out there who can really cause damage and hurt people.

Why do people drive badly? Maybe it has something do to with repressed childhood emotions or the need to release rage. If this is the case, then they should get off the road, and stop endangering others. Most of the time bad driving is linked to being in a hurry, lack of attention, or insufficient skills. Maybe such drivers need to pull off the road and cool down, or try and recall lessons taught in drivers’ ed .

Take this scenario, for example. I’m driving home on the highway at night. It’s so foggy I can’t see five feet in front of my bumper, and on top of this its drizzling. I’m already going 60 miles per hour, yet some person decides to pass me in a no passing zone on a hill. As the car went by, it almost got hit by an oncoming car. If the passing car had been hit, I probably wouldn’t be here to write this.

One of the most common driving infractions is the so- called "California stop." The driver comes to a stop sign, taps the brake to slow down, then keeps going. I wonder how many accidents are caused by this flagrant disregard for a law designed to protect people.

Another unsafe act is doing intentional broadies in a parking lot, vacant or not. Just recently I witnessed two boys doing this is. The lot was pretty much empty, except for some light posts and my truck. These boys came within two inches of a post more than once. They also came within a foot of my truck. If they hit a light post, they only would have hurt themselves. But because I was in the lot, they were also endangering me, my friend and my truck.

Although some of the worst offenders are the kids driving around the high school They don’t look out for pedestrians, pay attention to other drivers and they speed. I hope it won’t take a serious wreck or a hurt pedestrian for drivers to wise up around here.

I got rear ended a few weeks ago. The driver’s explanation? "I wasn’t paying attention." At least he was honest. Drivers need to realize that there are things that they can do to improve their driving, it could be as simple as staying aware of your surroundings.

So before you do something crazy while driving, think of the consequences. Can this hurt someone, yourself, or your car? If the answer is yes to any of those, then perhaps you should reconsider your actions.

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