All five of us combined have accumulated exactly zero at-fault collisions in 60 years. Maybe that level of skill is related to being allowed to get a feel for a car at a very young age. That might not be true, but it I've watched a 20 something back over the curb while whining that she doesn't already know how to drive, therefore she can't learn.

TOne day about two summers ago my Ex laid into me about how she pays so much more attention to details around us than I ever do. Then within 20 minutes of that got in her Explorer to go to town and hit my big red F250 pickup that was parked next to it, on her driver's side no less, while backing out with absolutely zero explanation for why or how she managed to screw up a 20 foot straight backing maneuver in less than 15 feet to the point of hitting my pickup that was a good 5 feet to the left of her own vehicle in that distance.

Be then she was the same person who felt 'that karma owed her' so she left me figuring it would pay her with interest for putting up with me once she was away from me only to see her life go downhill and mine go up because of her decisions.

Who knows? Maybe this year will play out better for her and not so much for me since last year obviously didn't.

 

Be then she was the same person who felt 'that karma owed her' so she left me figuring it would pay her with interest for putting up with me once she was away from me only to see her life go downhill and mine go up because of her decisions.

Who knows? Maybe this year will play out better for her and not so much for me since last year obviously didn't.

I'm in Vegas right now and I can tell you it doesn't work like that!

 

I used to wonder why driver's ed classes always focused on the easy stuff, the basics and obeying signs.

Probably, "teaching to the test" and the fact that bending up the practice cars was considered a very bad thing to do.

The one thing I did learn in Driver's Ed was that if you let go of the steering wheel going backwards, the steering won't correct to a straight line, it will keep circling forever. Most of what has saved my life was knowing what the car will do on dirt roads and therefore other situations when the tires aren't rolling at the same speed as the car. I've gone in the ditch and back up on the road. I've flipped a car around in order to hit the collision point going backwards. I've locked up all four and slid in between other cars to avoid being run into a guard rail. All this life saving stuff happens with the tires intentionally broken loose from the pavement. They didn't teach that in High School 50 years ago and they surely won't now. Mama's precious snowflake might experience adrenalin before the day when it becomes a matter of life or death.

ps, Got the chair fixed.

 

Most of what has saved my life was knowing what the car will do...when the tires aren't rolling at the same speed as the car.

That's the nub if it, yeah. Deer avoidance might not quite fit that category but it's close.

I never got a second of training on driving while disconnected from the road. They probably told us to steer into the skid, but that's a far cry from actually knowing how to do that, and knowing how to stay calm while you're doing it.

 

My son is our first born. And a typical one at that. In his teen years, there were a couple minor incidents.

I live in Massachusetts, where there are very specific junior operator (drivers license classification) laws. Both incidents involve the law that states a junior operator cannot drive with anyone else in the car, except his/her immediate family.

Many parents ignored this law, allowing their children to drive whomever they pleased. But, I told my son that in our house, that law was to be observed. And if it were broke, his mother and I would know immediately (we were very active in the community).

Well, the first week my wife received a phone call. When I got home, I went up to his room to "chat". After some small talk, I asked "Do you have anything to tell me?"

He looked at me and whispered, "You know."

We then had a small discussion. I told him that this was the first and only offense and he admitted it, he'd get a mulligan.

The second time, he was a passenger in a car that was stopped by the police, for cutting off the police car in traffic. After citing the driver, the officer handed my son the keys and said "Drive your friends home" (my son was a big kid).

He turned to the officer, and refused the keys. "I'm a junior operator, sir." He called me from the police station and I picked them all up. He didn't get in trouble that time.

Good for him. Even if he had driven his friends home I don't think I would have made a big deal out of it. He would have been in a tough situation having to weight two competing options and either choice would have been reasonably defensible.

 

ROFL! In Kentucky, my grandmother was driving before Drivers Licenses were invented. She decided she didn't need one because she pre-dated them, and she never got one. She taught all us grand-kids how fast to drive the '56 Buick Roadmaster in order to "smooth out" the washboard roads by the time we were 12 years old.

In 1941, when my Dad was either 13 or 14, he got pulled over for the third time while driving to/from school without a license. The judge ordered my grandmother to drive him to school from then on otherwise he would throw HER in jail for a week the next time it happened (I don't know if he could have actually done that). When she pointed out that she not only didn't have a license, but didn't know how to drive, the judge told my dad that he had exactly one week to teach his mother how do drive and for her to get her license before his ultimatum when into effect. He did and she did. She drove him to/from school until he turned sixteen. To the best of my knowledge, she never drove again the rest of her life.

 

I'm in Vegas right now and I can tell you it doesn't work like that!

Yea. Her and I were in a Las Vegas a bit over 2 years ago and I won $500 on a $1 slot play. Boy did that wind her up despite the fact I had agreed that if either of us won anything we would split the money 50/50.

I don't remember how much of her half she burned up on slots trying to beat me but I know for a fact that only one of us went home broke even if not slightly ahead for the trip!

I know damn well had she won $500 without me standing as witness I would have never heard a thing about it let alone seen my half of it.

 

I know damn well had she won $500 without me standing as witness I would have never heard a thing about it let alone seen my half of it.

I learned that lesson, too.
I always went into marriage thinking we were now a team.
I eventually I found out it's only a team while it's running on my money.