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{driving as life} henry gray Driving as an Analogy for Life People have bad moments. Sometimes, seven people all have a bad moment at the same time, in the same intersection. Be patient. You cannot control the tempo of rush hour. Be calm. You cannot control the tempo of rush hour. But you can control your emotions. Communicate adriotly: your turn signals are your best means of communication with other drivers. Be sophisticated: Use them. Learn how to merge into the flow of traffic. Be calm. You never know where the bottleneck is, where the congestions ends, where the road will open back up to its normal pace. You may even be surprised. Just breathe. What you do affects others, even if you can’t see them. They call it the “wave effect”: when in dense traffic – if you press down on your brakes, the person behind you will do the same, rippling the effect backwards. This will effect the efficient flow of traffic. Use your cognitive faculties to determine location, direction and final destination. Think of it as a brain exercise. You will become better at it. Be present. Be aware. Your sense of peripheral vision will be tested. Grow it. You should be able to assess much of the road in quick glances. Be graceful. Find the green wave. Use the moment’s timing and with the correct speed you may find that all the lights ahead will be green. When you are forced to merge into traffic, you will need to make the adjustments necessary in velocity and positioning to work into the flow of traffic – it is not the traffic’s responsibility to accommodate you. Are your mirrors really positioned correctly? Do you really need to see the side of your car? I think not. There is a much more sophisticated way to arrange your mirrors – one that will eliminate most blind spots and give you complete range of vision behind you. Just because the flow of traffic typically remains constant in ideal conditions – does not mean that it always will. If you look away for one long second the situation and arrangement of cars before you may have changed. Understand your options. You are in control of the car’s velocity. Be artful about your decisions: if you possess a strong aptitude for backing your car in – back that thing in to all the parking spots you can for easy escape when you return from your shopping spree. Wrecks are fascinating. And, sometimes: violent. Your vehicle will carry you far: to places you’ve never been. In it much will happen: love and loss, life and death – treat it delicately. Don’t drive herkey-jerkey, be elegant in your use of the gas pedal. |
