Monday, August 11, 2014

Rearview mirrors are not for putting on make-up.

I suppose we've all seen it - the person in front has their rearview mirror skewed so they can put on make-up, adjust their hair, shave, put their contact lenses in, or any number of other actions other than using it for it's designed purpose - to see what's behind you. Invariably, if this happens in stationary traffic, they won't adjust the mirror back again when the traffic starts moving, so they're essentially driving blind. I would say that they could use the outside mirrors, but then that assumes that they know what those are for. It seems more and more people are less and less concerned with the action of actually driving, being safe on the road, and being responsible. I suppose that explains why so many people want self-driving drone cars - people are so bored with the act of driving that they'll find any excuse to not do it. Which is a real shame, not to mention a danger to everyone else on the road. Imagine if airline pilots got to 1500ft from landing and said "screw it - I'm bored with this" and started texting.
I love driving and it drives me crazy (pun intended) to see so much abhorrent behaviour on the roads now. Really, if you're that bored, and think you're so important that the safety of everyone around you is a secondary concern, you ought to be in a bus. Or a taxi. Or a train. In fact you ought to be anywhere other than driving a 2-ton weapon badly.
The lack of training, lack of enthusiasm, lack of skill, lack of ability and lack of understanding is just epidemic now. People who pull out from side roads in front of you, instead of behind you where the traffic is clear. People who don't use their indicators, who stop in the middle of the road for no reason, and yes, people who do use their mirrors but for entirely the wrong purpose. What the hell happened? When did driving become the secondary function of being in a car?