Many Drivers Appear to be Stupid

I think it is fair to say that I have seen and experienced a few things in life that would be outside that of the average person in the street. You don’t spend 30–years in the police service and avoid witnessing the sometimes raw side of humanity that’s for sure.

Even so, this doesn’t make me a bigger and better person than the next man, just someone who, to coin a phrase, has been around the block a few times and has seen things that do provoke thought.

Around 20–years of my police service was spent on traffic patrol, a department that is now referred to as Roads Policing that in my day specialised in dealing with traffic matters. This brought me into contact will all sorts of things and I never knew, when I went into work, what that day was going to throw at me.

What Causes People to be at Their Crash Site

Having seen how so many have perished on the road, or have acquired brutal scars or been maimed in ways that has changed their lives, it is very strange to sometimes find out what circumstances caused the people involved in a tragedy to be at that place and at that exact time.

Why did the lone car on a rain–swept motorway aquaplane and crash into the only section of barrier where a joint had not been fixed together, so impaling the car and severing both legs of each front seat occupant? What made the driver of another car hit the only tree along a straight road; a collision that took his life? Is this what they call fate, I wonder?

Exposure to aspects of doing that job taught me to you look at life perhaps from a different angle to others. I became very much aware early on that nothing is for certain and not even life itself can be relied upon to last for its normal span. You really don’t know what is waiting for you around the next corner, that’s for sure.

Life is so Fragile and Yet People Are so Careless With it

Life can be so easily snuffed out in an instant, and I have seen it happen. I have attended these tragedies often, even been with people at the roadside when they died. So many times I have called to a house in the middle of the night to tell a wife that her husband is not going to come home any more. Breaking the news to the parents whose son or daughter has been killed in a car crash isn’t a task to be relished either. There never is an easy way to do it.

And when you look at the circumstances of these deaths and terrible injuries, so, so many of them could have been very easily avoided. 4 people in a car that crashed into a tree at 60mph left three of them dead, but one who lived, all because he was the only one of the four who was sensible enough to wear a seatbelt.

I saw this quite a few times, and yet you still get people who will justify their own preference for not wearing a seatbelt based upon that idiot story of the unbelted driver who only lived because he was thrown from his car on impact.

Many People Appear to be so Stupid

It is easy to regard people as being stupid, and by and large many are. You see parents riding in cars when wearing a seatbelt, but a child is riding on their lap being held in arms. The idea is that during impact the parent will be able to retain a grip on that youngster, but there is no chance.

A two–year old child in a vehicle travelling at 30mph will, if that vehicle crashes, take on the weight of a baby elephant. Just as bad you see parents with children sharing a seatbelt, with the youngster on mum or dad’s lap.

In a 30mph collision a child between a seatbelt and its parent will be almost cut in two by that belt with the weight of the adult pushing behind it. If the 2–year old assumes the weight of a baby elephant in the crash, the adult will as sure as heck assume the weight of the elephant’s parent.

Why Do Driver’s Expose Their Children to Such Danger?

A standard box of tissues on a back parcel shelf in a car during a 30mph impact will assume the weight of a house brick and yet people allow their kids to roam free in the back of cars unbelted. I’ve seen a 3–year old lying on the back parcel shelf of a Ford Fiesta that was being drive along a motorway whilst the child played with his toy car as though lying on the floor of his bedroom.

Attitude towards driving and safety on the road is largely poor, but I suppose you could say a lot of it is ignorance and lack if intelligence. Yet there are plenty of public information programmes, TV adverts and safety campaigns to warn of the dangers. It seems that a huge proportion of car drivers and other road users ignore these, assuming perhaps that bad things only happen to someone else.

Considering every animal on the planet has a basic instinct for survival, why is it that some human beings seem pre-disposed to exposing themselves to life threatening situations?

Egotistical Drivers Can be The Most Stupid

Being ignorant about consequences is one thing, but ego is another. If were to choose between them, I would say ego is what I hate the most, especially when mixed with self–righteousness. I am talking about what I call good armchair drivers. Those who talk great technique and yet have not the first clue what they are on about and who believe they are in some way cleverer than others, if not invincible.

These are people who believe they are unlikely to be affected by those situations that bring so much misery to others and this will mould their behaviour. Those who take risks, who repeatedly drive on the edge, will develop a state of mind they are in some way gifted; they have some superior skills that will allow them to do what they do, whilst not coming to any harm.

However, what they don’t realise is they only get away with it because of luck. That’s all it is, and of course they have only met other drivers who have been skilled enough themselves to keep out of a collision during those sticky moments.

There is Evidence of Stupidity all Around us

I saw a thread once, on a very well known motoring Internet forum, posted by someone who said he drove a Porsche. The topic of conversation was that of tailgating on motorways. The Porsche driver added his piece about how the car he drove had such powerful brakes he could tailgate in safety, because in an emergency he could stop quicker than the car he was following.

The frightening thing is people believe this stuff, both in terms of the writer and some readers. I have read many comments from owners of so called superior cars, whose words suggest the car has makes them better drivers.

Highly Trained in Advanced Driving Skills Does Not Always Translate to Safety

Driving is perhaps the most egotistical activity ever embarked upon by human beings. There are so many self–perceived great drivers out there, and we have all met some of them. Then there are those who are really better than most, as they have benefitted from great training, but are just as dangerous as those who are poorly trained drivers.

What was also frightening, and I have experienced this also, that some highly trained police drivers I have known have revealed some very poor attitudes themselves. I am talking about the belief the high–grade training they have received will in some way make them bullet proof.

This supports the theory that an expert can be more dangerous than the novice, as the novice knows they are at the bottom end of the skills and knowledge chain, whereas the expert believes he is at the top. What is also dangerous is where the super ego driven expert will try to press his influence onto others, cajoling others into thinking they can to behave in the same way. This, I suppose, makes them feel more just in practicing their own behaviour.

A Truly Good Driver is One Who Knows He Will Make Mistakes

The true state of driving is, no matter how much you learn, or the number of hours you spend training, there is always more that can be learned. It is also true that every journey that you drive should be completed by a continuous process of risk assessment and with that assessment based upon the individual circumstances actually appreciated at the time.

Human beings are fallible creatures and every one that is born is flawed; no one is perfect. Therefore, it can never be, nor should be, guaranteed that you will always reach your destination in complete safety by car. Even the very best driver will make mistakes and the outcome of those mistakes will only be decided by when and where those mistakes take place – not if.

You Are Here » Home » Blogs Menu » Drivers Appear Stupid

This page was last updated
Saturday, 29-Jan-2011

Many Drivers Appear to be Stupid