It’s been a long time since I took driver’s training, so I honestly don’t recall if they did back then, but I wonder if today’s young drivers are told how important it is to realize that many people will NOT be following the rules of the road. I am 100%-positive that young drivers are lectured to obey the rules themselves, but are they cautioned about everyone else?
Expect the Unexpected
The impetus of this tale is another “wow, he just did that” moment. While those of us in cars were driving north and south on a two-lane 50 mph road, a cyclist decided that he could sprint out from a side road and head due west through a gap in the traffic. Did he have right-of-way? No. Was it reckless? Yes. Is that road typically full of traffic? No. Could he have waited a few minutes and not had cars traveling toward him at high speed from both directions? Yes. Was he successful? Yes.
When They Choose Not to Wait
I’m moderately surprised when people do stupid things, but I’m not actually shocked anymore. I’ve come to expect that, on any given day, I’ll see at least one person who is choosing not to follow the rules of the road. It may be something small, like the car that has been creeping out and eventually turns right even though his light has changed to red and the cars with the green light are heading toward him now. Other times, it’s the person who, apparently, has weighed the odds and decided the oncoming traffic will slow down because he wants to go n-o-w. I’ll bet we’ve all gotten used to seeing versions of that near-miss scenario.
Be Prepared for Rule-Breakers
So whether it’s driving or any other “routine” interactions with other people, we’d all do well to remember that some people will always choose to act as though they are the only ones on the planet. It’s not that we have to make allowances for them – but we do have to be careful that their irresponsible actions don’t come back to hurt us. Even if we follow all of the rules, we’re better off expecting that some will be broken.