Ree Visanian ([info]treebones) wrote,
@ 2007-02-28 16:31:00
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Bad Driver. No Passenger.
Over the last two years, I've accrued over 12 points on my license. That means that the fine people at the Secretary of State send you a letter saying you need to come in to be reassessed.

On the plus side, despite the 12 points and three accidents in that time frame, they let me keep my license. On the down side, they've decided I'm only allowed to endanger myself and my blood kin directly, and thus I am not allowed to drive with passengers. I can provide a car for any carpooling I wish to do. But I'm not allowed to be the driver.

The good news is, most of the habits I need to change to keep this pattern from continuing, I'd already been training myself in. I'm speeding a lot less. I have cruise control and use it. When I'm tired, I'm either not driving, or driving with a lot more stops. I'm trying to train in the 3 second following distance to decrease the rear-ending risk. That one is going to be hardest, because traffic patterns aren't always supportive of the habit. It is my plan to pony up for Driver's Ed Adult Reprise after I graduate.

No matter how personally annoying I find this (and I do, I'm no saint), I'm simultaneously *very* glad to find out they have a process in place for catching up with drivers with records like mine. 'Cause, let's face it, we've got a high potential for being a total menace.

Irritatingly enough, I think I can actually blame one piece of this on the cancer. Before I had the thyroid removed, I suspect I was mildly hyperthyroid. Not enough to cause me problems, but just enough to do small useful things...like shorten my reaction time. I lost that edge, but was still driving like Andretti.

So. Time to go change my ways. If any of you know of any good adult driver training companies in the Ann Arbor-ish area, let me know.

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[info]netmouse
2007-02-28 10:17 pm UTC (link)
what kind of traffic do you think your rear-ending risk is highest in?

I tend to increaswe my following distance in stop-and-go traffic, in order to reduce the number of times I have to stop and eliminate standing waves of people stopping only because people used to stop there. I try to go the average speed of traffic.

not having passengers does reduce the risk of accidents - only one I've been in was partly due to a tickle fight being enacted by the passengers.

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[info]treebones
2007-03-02 08:53 pm UTC (link)
I'm highest risk during rush hour traffic. Maintaining a three second following distance is not particularly feasible, since other people will cut into any real space you give them.

I'm higher risk with passangers, because, as is pointed out by my mom later in this thread, I tend to want to make eye contact with them when I talk. (:

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[info]tlatoani
2007-02-28 10:44 pm UTC (link)
I'd bet your biggest risk is that you don't get enough sleep, so you spend a lot of time driving when you're sleep-deprived. That can be as severe an impairment as alcohol use.

Expanding on what [info]netmouse said, you might want to look at the circumstances around your accidents:

- did you have passengers?
- was it late at night?
- was it in start and stop traffic, or on rural roads?
- were you actually speeding?

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[info]treebones
2007-03-02 09:58 pm UTC (link)
I've had three. One involved micro-sleeping, one involved icy pavement, and one involved rush hour traffic in the area of an onramp. No passengers. No night. Two highway, one stop and go on icy surface streets.

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[info]metalfatigue0
2007-03-01 02:16 am UTC (link)
Um. You speed more and drive more aggressively than I do (or at least, you used to—I haven't ridden with you in quite some time). So…I can't argue.

I know that in my case it's a form of indirect self-destructive behavior. I don't know why you do it. It might be worth pondering.

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[info]treebones
2007-03-02 09:59 pm UTC (link)
It's on the self-examination list.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Bad Driver. No passengers
(Anonymous)
2007-03-01 12:53 pm UTC (link)
I agree that Michigan seems to have a good handle getting bad drivers off the road, I'm just sorry that you can only kill blood kin! I suppose that would cut down on the lawsuits, don't you know? Wait'll Phil gets a load of this! Oh, my! One thing, besides speeding, that you might not be aware of, is when you have a passenger in your vehicle, you tend to look at them as you talk, like you want to maintain eye contact. That was something Phil noticed from the backseat!!! But, since you don't have any blood kin to ferry around, that's not a current problem. How long does this last?

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Bad Driver. No passengers
[info]treebones
2007-03-02 10:00 pm UTC (link)
A year, until next February.

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[info]blorky
2007-03-06 08:07 pm UTC (link)
Sorry for the extravagently off-topic post here, but you're a little more wired in to the massage therapy community than I am. Do you know anyone that might be interested in http://annarbor.craigslist.org/for/289030796.html ?

Thanks,
M

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[info]treebones
2007-03-07 04:44 pm UTC (link)
No harm, let me forward this on to a few people I know. (:

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