Watch out for others

Another week has gone by and I’m still in one piece. My anger level is up and my tolerance for being around others, especially driving on the streets of Edmonton, is at at an all time low. When I say watch out for others I don’t mean in a humanitarian way. Since my accident last October, I have been really cautious. Not only watching how my driving, and riding, habits and skills are, I also have to watch out for the habits of other drivers out there.

Where are most of these people getting their drivers licenses . . . from a cereal box? I’m not just talking about the young drivers but all drivers and include so called professional drivers. It seems there are more and more really terrible, inattentive and thoughtless drivers on the streets. They are not only in Edmonton but also all over the province and beyond. This past week I have had several near misses while trying to navigate the streets and roads of this city and province. One was when a young female ran a stop sign in a residential area and didn’t even slow down . . . did I mention it was also where a children cross to catch the bus? Other near misses include drivers changing lanes without looking, cutting not only me off but others as well and the list goes on.

Is everyone in too much of a hurry or just not paying attention, in a dream world or another planet? Do they think they are the only ones on the road? The number one thing that really makes my blood boil are the drivers that are talking on a cell phone! And lets not forget the ones who put on their makeup, eating a meal or, the all time dumbest thing to do, is read a map that is laid out across their steering wheel! Yes I have seen the map reading while the “passenger” was taking in the sights on Yellowhead Trail during rush hour!!!

I believe that it’s time to ban cell phones while driving as well as any other distraction. I also think that the government should close some of the so-called driving schools. There should be a higher standard that the driving schools have to pass in order to just teach. It seems that with the privatizing of everything standards have dropped from a high rating to a 0. With some I think they slipped the tester a bribe and got your license because there is no way they should be on the road! Also, like getting a pilots license, it should not only be mandatory to take a driving coarse with a log book recording a minimum of 50 hours classroom and 50 hours of driving instruction. Each hour or half hour would have to be signed off by a certified instructor. The mandatory driving coarse should also include taking a basic motorcycle riding coarse. But in order to get a motorcycle license you would need the same amount of classroom time and riding time. Then the testing for both should be done at a facility that is NOT associated with any driving or motorcycle riding school.