This morning I set the mpg meter to zero before my commute. At 98 miles I arrived at my destination. The Fiesta achieved 46.8 average miles per gallon. My average speed was roughly 66 miles per hour. At 24,350 miles on the odometer, this little green Ford is going strong.
I was behind this guy on I-71 yesterday on the way to work. After about 30 seconds I decided we should part company.
I've been traveling quite a bit this summer. In a three day period last week I drove more than 1900 miles. Just yesterday I headed south from Dayton, Ohio to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. One constant that I see is that very few (VERY FEW) drivers signal their intent to change lanes.
I know that when I was taught to drive the instructor would say, "if you're going into a different lane than you are now driving, you MUST signal first. If you are turning from one street to another, you MUST signal first. If you are pulling to the side of the road, you MUST signal first." I guess you get the point.
This makes me wonder how often we don't signal our intent during conversation. How often have you been talking with someone and you find that the topic has taken a sudden turn? Did you know this was happening? Or are you in a moment of complete disconnect, because you are still thinking of responses from the previous train of thought? Do you sometimes find yourself clarifying their last statement because you haven't a clue about what they are now saying? How often does this lead to argument at home -- for no apparent reason than two people have gone two completely different directions. You don't necessarily disagree with each other; you simply don't know what the other person is saying. You weren't told the conversation was going elsewhere.
This same dilemma can affect the comprehension of your content when you are presenting a class, workshop, or even a proposal. If you haven't told your listeners that you are going to switch lanes -- or that you are taking a sidebar -- or that you have moved beyond the last topic of learning, they will likely become confused. Is your key message going to be lost because they don't know how to connect it to the thread that they thought was still taking place?
In most cases, when we signal our intent we are warning the people around us that the environment is changing. It gives them a chance to slow down, to look around, or to clear their mind to prepare for the change. When the people on the road have switched lanes without warning, others become angry, get confused or even create dangerous situations that could result in tragedy.
If you are moving another direction, do the right thing. Signal your intent.
FAYETTE COUNTY, Ohio -- A man called 911 for help after he jumped on a trailer and held onto a ladder while the semi traveled for almost 17 miles on a U.S. route without stopping or slowing.Brandon Farmer, 24, called 911 Friday morning and reported that he jumped on a semi trailer stopped at a red light at the split (or Y) on Court Street in Washington Court House.
Farmer, of Washington Court House, said he and buddy were drinking and he was dared to jump on the back of a semi as it was traveling westbound.
"It was kind of a joke," he told the 911 dispatcher.
Click here to listen to the 911 call.
According to the Fayette County Sheriff's office, Farmer told authorities that his intent was to ride on the back of the trailer until it stopped at the next traffic signal in the downtown and then dismount.
However, Farmer was unaware that the traffic signals in the downtown area were in sequence to remain green during the evening hours unless cross traffic from a side street pulled up to the intersection and triggered the sensor to change the traffic flow.
"With very light traffic at that hour of the morning, the semi was able to proceed through Washington Court House without stopping for a red signal," said Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth.
Officials said the semi driver was unaware Farmer had jumped on the back of the trailer.
"I was joking around. You know? It was stupid. Now, I'm scared of falling …" he said.
The semi traveled almost 17 miles, without stopping, before Farmer called 911 at about 3:32 a.m.
Farmer told the 911 dispatcher he was passing Carter Lumber off U.S. Route 22/state Route 3.
At about 3:40 a.m., a Sabina police officer, parked at the IGA, spotted Farmer hanging off the semi trailer.
Farmer was waving and yelling for help while clinging to the trailer ladder.
The officer activated his lights and sirens so the semi would pull over.
The semi stopped near the intersection of U.S. 22/S.R. 33 and Sherman Street.
The officer aided Farmer, and Farmer was transported to the Fayette County sheriff's office.
Farmer was not injured in the incident.
According to the Fayette County Sheriff's office, Farmer was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 28.
By, Kennan Oliphant
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - Many people think they have skills behind the wheel, but when it comes to texting and driving...no one wins. Teens like Katie Glander say texting and driving is quickly becoming a way of life.
"Um, I have seen people texting while driving."
Teen driver Kasidy Muncy admits she's guilty of it.
"I acutally have done it myself now that I have a touchscreen phone I can't do it as much."
According to to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drivers younger than 20 had the highest distracted-driving fatality rate among all age groups last year. The NHTSA said nearly six-thousand people died last year as a result of distracted driving.
How dangerous is it? I found a virtual driving course on line that forces the user to go through gates by pushing a number on the keypad. Once you add the texting part, it all goes awry. I'm hitting gates and can't keep myself in the lane.
You might ask yourself, how realistic is that? When you're in a car you're not trying to use a keyboard or a mouse while you're trying to text and drive at the same time. Instead, I used my blackberry to send a text message to somebody. I thought the familiarity of my own phone would help me out. Unfortunately, I still hit the barriers and could not text successfully.
"Texting and driving is as bad as driving drunk," Jeff Caldwell, a driving instructor at PDS driving school said.
"I mean you just see pictures all the time on the news where people are running into other people because they're paying attention to that phone and not up where they should be."
Muncy says she will not text and drive because she's afraid of the consequences."I'm not paying attention and then if I would hit somebody like that would just be, I wouldn't be able to live with it."
And Glander figures her family will keep her doing the right thing while on the road.
"my grandpa would freak out about it, he's really nervous about it. He'll tell me not to text all the time."
www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/19/technology/20090719-driving-game.html
Rich's results
I found this to be absolutely nerve-wracking. I took a long time to complete because I purposely tried to focus on the gates and not the cell phone in the beginning of the game. As I tried to figure out what to do to respond I found that I would easily be distracted from the gate numbers.
I don't know if it would have been easier with a regular cell phone than the on screen version, but I can guarantee that I was fully distracted at times.
I never saw the grey lady.
This is an interesting approach by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to educate parents about the importance of setting rules for their teen drivers. It shows the parents to be very nervous about the subject -- nervous enough to employ a lawyer to establish the rules as a contract.
My last post didn't seem to work quite right, so I've deleted it and
am trying again. The video never encoded properly and it didn't cross
post to my other sites. That's the beauty of doing new things,
though. We learn and we adapt through the new challenges.
We're lodging in Byron, GA tonight. We'll get up for breakfast and a
swim for the wife... then back on the road to Orlando.
((tag:travel, orlando, driving, hotels))
I'm just a singer, songwriter, safety educator, public information officer, new media enthusiast, dad, husband, and fan of many things online.
