Passing thoughts

I'm tired of driving. Not that I been drive all that much, but I've been doing it for like 40 years and I'm just tired of it. Maybe it's because too many people I encounter on the roads, while nice people I'm sure, are just not cut out to be drivers. Driving properly requires a combination of complete attention and strategic planning that is clearly beyond the ability of many people whom the state has deemed worthy of  sharing the road with me.

Most folks probably don't think of strategic planning when they are driving, but that's a mistake. Driving is pretty difficult and bloody dangerous and one is foolish to think differently. But you can be strategic about it if you keep your objective in mind, and objective is simply this: Get from point A to Point B without bumping into anything. Everything else you do flows from that. Since it's much harder to avoid moving objects than stationary ones, keep the moving things (cars, trucks, bikes, people) as far away from your car as possible at all times, and never do anything that could be surprising to another driver.

Lately, the most frequent mistake I've seen people making is getting impatient behind someone making a left turn, swinging out to the right and going around them, especially on a road with 2 lanes in each direction. This is so risky as to be just plain stupid. You simply cannot look everywhere another car might be coming from at the same time, since you need to see (1) if there's someone coming in the right lane, (2) if someone behind you is doing the same thing at the same time, (3) if someone in front of you is doing the same thing at the same time, and (4) if someone going in the other direction is making a left turn into your lane as you swing around. Sorry, can't be done. If you get away with it you're lucky, but still stupid.