In the United States, it is relatively easy to secure (and hard to lose) a license by age 16. High school driver’s education has essentially been removed from the curriculum or outsourced to private driving schools. These private schools have changed little over the last 25 years and are of minimal value. For most of us, this is where driver training ended. No updates or refresher courses; no primers on changes in safety and handling features of newer vehicles; no “hands-on” experience driving with a trained instructor to develop accident-avoidance skills.
According to the August 27, 2006 issue of AutoWeek magazine, 2,600 troops were killed in Iraq for the 41-month period beginning in March 2003. “During the same 41-month period, more than 22,000 teenagers, ages 15 to 19, died in traffic accidents on U.S. roads.” In the last four and a half years, over 180,000 Americans died on our highways. Motorcycle rider fatalities are now accounting for 11 percent of total fatalities, and is dramatically growing and affecting the Nation’s overall highway fatality rate. In 2006, according to the NHTSA, “4,784 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States — a decrease of 12 percent from the 5,449 pedestrians killed in 1996. On average, a pedestrian is killed in a traffic crash every 110 minutes and injured in a traffic crash every 9 minutes. There were 61,000 pedestrians injured in traffic crashes in 2006."
STUPID CAR TRICKS
There are a large number of stupid, idiotic actions that many drivers’ perform that can be routinely experienced on our highways and roads. Some of my favorites are:
- #1 has to be tailgating—this “sport” is immensely popular and appeals to the gamblers’ instinct—the faster you go and the closer you are—increases the risk & accident odds—many morons in a “RUSH” play this game and are responsible for a huge number of crashes
- The great need to pass a car in the right lane and then immediately cut in front of that car and reduce your speed below that of the car just passed
- Driving in the right lane on an open highway and then increasing your speed as another vehicle attempts to pass on the left
- The “next exit Andretti” believe that they will escape punishment for speeding short distances—they “peel out” into the left lane, floor the accelerator and then rapidly cut in front of you to exit the highway-this move is becoming quite popular
- Truckers appear to enjoy moving into the passing lane by cutting in and causing significant backups and delays so they can pass another truck that’s adhering to the speed limit
See more stupid car tricks plus the rest of the story.
Read it all--order book at: www.CreateSpace.com/3341679