Welcome to Real World Driving!

Welcome to Real World Driving

 

My name is Lawrence, and I want to welcome you to the first posting of the Real World Driving Blog. This blog is going to be a place where I answer questions relating to driving, and teach about current problems in driving and anything I see that I think people need to be aware of. Before I start, I want to thank you for your time and attention. The internet is a vast world of stimuli, and I appreciate that you came here and gave of your time and energy. 

Before we start though, I can see two possible questions from you right off the bat. First is why should you listen to me as a driving teacher? Two, everyone drives, why does anyone need to be taught anything past what Driver’s Ed. taught them? Those are good questions, and worthy of response.

First off, the question of my qualifications as a driving teacher: Why should you listen to me? It’s a fair question, and to answer it let me say that the first reason is because I’ve been driving in one form or another since I was 13 (I’m 44 as I write this). Second, I am an actual teacher, so I know how to teach concepts and present them in a way that will make sense. Last reason: my experience. I was a test driver for General Motors for seven years, and every job I’ve ever had, with the exception of my current one as an English teacher, has involved driving. I have driven everything from small, mundane items like scooters, mopeds, motorcycles, forklifts and golf carts, to middle of the road things like pickup trucks and delivery vans, to more complex and difficult things like Zambonis, right hand drive Japanese sedans and delivery trucks, and large trucks with hi-lo transmissions. I have driven just about anything this side of a submarine, tank or aircraft carrier, and have learned much from every vehicle.

Ok, now for the one that might seem like the Duh moment: everyone drives already and almost all of us have passed the test, why do we need to learn more? This is an excellent question, and to answer it, I draw your attention to two aspects of human behavior. The first is driving, the second, kissing.

Let’s look at driving. Most of us have licenses, most of us have experience, most of us are good drivers, but pay attention to the news in the morning as you get ready for work (those of you who work days of course…), what do you see? Story after story about this accident blocking traffic this morning, or that drunk driver one night at 3 a.m. who crashed into a bus stop where a poor shift worker was waiting for a morning bus (true story). In short, many people do not know how to drive when it involves anything other than a straight road, a well-working car, pleasant drivers in other cars, and a bright, sun-shiny day. Give them rain, bad tires, a stuck throttle, a bad or aggressive driver, or a car problem, and the skill of many motorists evaporates. This blog was created to help with many of those situations, and others which likely have not even been thought of yet.

Now for kissing: I want you to think back at most of the kisses you’ve had throughout your life. If you were honest, how often would you say that the person kissing you knew what they were doing? Oh I agree its simple enough: put your lips together, pucker, press against other (hopefully willing) lips, and repeat, but how few people do it well? If you’re honest, I’ll bet you’d say very few. Most women reading this will likely agree with me. Kissing is something we all do, but many do poorly. It might be a lack of experience, an improper technique, but whatever it is, it results in bad kisses, no matter how often it’s done. It is the same as driving. We all do it, but very few of us do it really well. We get by on auto pilot and luck, but not usually on skill. That is why there are so many accidents, and that is also why, unfortunately, not everyone walks away from them. The purpose of this blog, and the YouTube channel of the same name, is to educate and make people better drivers. Before I go on, I’m not perfect, I’m not better than anyone else, nor would I ever claim to be. I have had many accidents, and learned from every one. All I claim is a wealth of experience behind the wheel, and I hope to be able to take some of that experience and use it to help someone who might not be as experienced. That is my goal for this blog.

So  I want to take this opportunity to thank you for reading, and to encourage you to ask questions, challenge any assertion you disagree with, and contribute to this blog so that your experiences, and mine,  can help mold this into something that all can benefit from. If you’re ready, let’s begin…