Thursday, July 06, 2000
Bad drivers come in all ages
By KAREN SAMPLES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A state trooper recently told me I'm a bad driver.
Of course he didn't say “bad.” That would have been unprofessional. Instead, he silently made notes on a scorecard as I drove through Edgewood, thinking I was doing well.
Oh, the humiliation.
I was researching Tuesday's column on teen-agers being bad drivers. Trooper Steve Hartman was kind enough to take me on the route he travels five to 20 times a day. About 24 percent of would-be drivers fail the Kentucky road test the first time. Afterwards, some of these mortified teen-agers burst into tears.
I, on the other hand, was full of excuses. There were no other cars in the neighborhood, so of course I swung wide on that right turn! How could I have known traffic was two-way in the parking lot? And what on earth is a “turnabout?” Having no clue, I thought that U-turn was my only option!
Bad habits take over
Trooper Hartman was nice about it, but he wasn't budging. The U-turn was illegal, so I automatically flunked the test. Then I did a bunch of other screwy things.
“Isn't what happened exactly what happens all day long?” he said later. “You either let bad habits take over, or you didn't remember what you should have.”
He's right. Days afterwards, I'm still feeling chastened. On the verge of a resolution, even.
I must get more serious behind the wheel.
Perhaps we should all say it together.
Teen-agers caused about 21 percent of all Kentucky accidents in 1998, while accounting for about 6 percent of drivers, state statistics show. That still leaves 99,360 wrecks for the rest of us.
After they turn 16, young people are supposed to practice with licensed drivers for six months before taking their road tests. The waiting period is mandatory because of a new state law, but some teens aren't taking advantage, Trooper Hartman says.
“We have them come in here a lot that haven't practiced at all,” he says.
He thinks long-time drivers, if they were tested again, might fare even worse.
Lucky breaks
Bad habits become ingrained. We survive a few close calls and think we have some gift for driving, when really we just got lucky.
No matter how tough its laws, the state cannot guarantee that people will be smart on the road.
“What we're saying is, "You meet the basic criteria to safely drive your car,'” Trooper Hartman says. “We're not saying you're never going to have an accident.”
His 17-year-old daughter, Jacque, passed her test but still had two wrecks. After talking with her, I flashed back to my own lucky breaks. There was the time in Eastern Kentucky when I left a coal-mine explosion in a hurry, trying to make deadline, and ended up in a creek. No one was hurt.
More recently, I hydroplaned on the interstate between here and Chicago, did a couple of spins and came perilously close to a semi-trailer.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
July is as good a time as any to make a resolution.
No more driving fast in the rain. No more distractions — the CD player, the sandwich, the dash of lipstick at stoplights.
No more false confidence. Thanks, Trooper Hartman, for scaring me.
Karen Samples is Kentucky columnist for the Enquirer. She can be reached at 578-5584 or ksamples@enquirer.com.
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