Unsafe At Any Speed
Criticizing other people’s driving is like critiquing other people’s performance in bed. We’ve probably all done it, and our listeners have been too loyal, kind, polite or uninterested to say: are you sure you’re qualified to judge?
But, really, even when we’re recounting instances of the grossest incompetence that would reasonably beg the question how x made it through high school let alone through half or more of his or her adult life—and they’re out there, fumbling into their dotage—the most justified criticism ultimately comes down to: x inconvenienced me, cut me off, delayed me, came close to hitting me, did hit me, rear-ended me, sideswiped me, did two thousand dollars’ of damage in under a second, just wanted to do what he or she wanted to with no consideration for anybody else’s safety; x was behaving as if this were a race; x was waving others through like a good Samaritan when everyone knows the best intentions do, in fact, oft go awry.
Once x is on his or her way, do we worry about what he or she will inflict on the next unfortunate to cross their path?
Getting back to driving—I do think Americans have gotten ruder and more incompetent in the last, say, fifteen years. And more self-absorbed. Now people are texting! Mobile phone use was bad enough.
If there’s one time when the use of personal handheld devices is inappropriate, surely this is it.
