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Everybody complains about how everybody else drives, and there’s much truth to it. Government reacts strongly to some aspects of bad driving, such as speeding and running red lights, claiming safety concerns. Often, as all but admitted by Governor Napolitano, enforcement is really a revenue enhancement tool.

What government should pay more attention to is teaching drivers when they should speed up.

The idea that the best way to unclog our roads is to build more of them is incomplete. How about getting those who use them to do so more efficiently?

Ten years ago, Driver Education was a standard course in 90 percent of our high schools. It’s now taught in less than 20 percent, a victim of “No Child Left Behind” and AIMS tests. Schools don’t bother any more — no room.

I still recall from California’s Driver Ed many years ago a principle called “flow of traffic.” Drivers were obligated not to slow everybody else down. Cops would leave drivers alone if they were all moving along in a safe and orderly fashion, and a concept called “reasonable and proper” speed was the guideline. I suspect lawyers had something to do with changing that to our current traffic enforcement system based on “gotcha.”

How badly the flow concept has eroded is illustrated anytime you try to make a left turn into oncoming traffic with a 45 mph speed limit. Drivers are going anywhere from 35 to 55, causing you to wait much longer to turn than if they all bunched up and flowed. Worse, from a safety standpoint, you’re being forced to guess how fast a multiple number of approaching cars are going.

Drive any two lane road — we have lots on the Northwest side. Note how many times a line of traffic is held up by someone driving 40 or even 35 in a 45 zone. Notice what happens at stop lights. Many turning left wait an inordinate amount of time to follow the car in front and add to the numbers left behind waiting for the next cycle. Some leave twice as many car lengths in front of them as necessary, causing others to miss the light. All of the above add to gas wasted and further clog existing roads.

Who are these slowpokes? You expect a snowbird with out of state plates, or another narcissist with a phone in his ear, but often it’s someone appearing otherwise normal. I’m guessing culprits often are people with no mandatory auto insurance, or who have lost their driver’s license for inability to pay often-huge compound penalties for relatively minor offenses. Some are also illegal aliens. Others could afford the insurance but not the fines and penalties they must pay to get their license back, often in a Catch 22 needing the license to get the insurance and vice-versa. They are over-compensating because they’re scared. Unfortunately, slower doesn’t equate safer.

We need several reforms. One is re-establishing high school Driver Ed classes. Another is accenting, in everything from driving tests to those alternate safety classes we’ve all taken to avoid fines, the need to be part of the flow of traffic. We need to further accent that with ticketing those driving below the speed limit. We also need a rehab program for those without a license owing substantial sums to local governments. Putting most of them legally back on the road is better for all of us.

The biggest single cause of vehicle accidents isn’t speed or booze. It’s inattention. Being aware that there is a flow of traffic that you are part of adds to safer driving by itself.

Slow drivers are a problem, too

April 30, 2008

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