Drive Safely

Today I took a driving class. It was one of those AARP 55 Alive driving classes.  In Minnesota, car insurance companies have to give you 10% off your car, truck, or motorcycle insurance costs if you show proof of taking the class.  I didn't have much going in November and I could use some extra money in my pocket so I thought I'd get the 8 hour class in now.  The closest one on a Saturday was at Hamline Auto Body in Lauderdale.  Although we were cramped into a tiny room I have to say Hamline Auto Body was VERY gracious and accommodating.  They offered us all kinds of refreshments and a lunch.  I imagine the entire auto repair industry was happy about the weather today.  I had to be there at 8 a.m. so I left at 7.  My road was terrible!  At least 3 inches of wet, slushy snow covered the surface.  I thought the highway would be better and it was but it was still slow going.  When I saw the third vehicle in the ditch, a white SUV with tires pointing at the sky, I thought, "How ironic would it be if I got into a car accident on my way to my safe driving class?"  Our instructor was very good.  He was engaging and informative and he didn't let some people in the class talk as much as they wanted to.  For each segment of the curriculum, he had a newspaper article illustrating the point.  He talked about car accidents or roads in Minnesota.  He really had a thing about Highway 8. He asked, "Who has taken Highway 8?"  I raised my hand.  "Why?" he asked.  I answered, "Uh, to get to Taylors Falls."  He wants us to avoid Highway 8 because there are too many accidents on that road.  He talked about the three second rule.  You should stay at least 3 seconds behind the car ahead of you.  Pick a landmark on the road like a sign or the shadow of a pole.  Start counting when the car ahead of you passes the landmark and then count, "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand."  If you get to the landmark before three one thousand, you are driving too close.  The three second rule if for ideal conditions.   On a day like today, we should be 4 or 5 seconds behind the vehicle ahead of you.  Our instructor talked a long time the blind spots on our cars and the blind spots of the cars and trucks near us.  He says left turns are more dangerous than right turns.  If we can, he suggests we take 3 right turns to avoid taking a left.  He says the highway patrol has two main driving mistakes that they especially want to ticket.  One of those if not pulling over a lane when an emergency vehicle is on the shoulder and the other one is backing up on the freeway because you missed your exit.  That happened to me once.  I was in college and the professor was taking a group of us to a school in Clear Lake. She missed the exit on Highway 94 so she backed up on the freeway.  Our instructor talked about how age affects driving ability.  Right now some states have rules for teenage drivers that say they can't drive after dark or they can have a limited number of passengers.  I wonder if there will be rules for older folks someday such as those over 90 can't drive after dark.  I thought it was a good class.