Sarah's rules - Driving Is A Game

I'm chatting with my niece, Sarah, not long after her 16th birthday. Our conversation has turned to what I'll call "Sarah's rules" in the game of driving.

Watch this article and subsequent articles for what they are and why I'm putting them down here. I invite your comments and contributions. If we get enough, maybe we can put together a real manual and rule book for this game. For now, it's really how I amuse myself when driving, and keep a positive mental attitude in the face of all the game-losers on the road around me.

Driving today is one of the most dangerous activities we can participate in. Vehicle accidents take more lives in the Western world than any home-grown or foreign terrorists - by a factor of hundreds.

In most cases, driving doesn't need to be nearly as dangerous as it can be - mostly because of the attitude of the driver.

I've been driving for 40+ years (ok, today's my 60th birthday and I got my license 1 month after I turned 16) and have put something well in excess of 3 million miles on various vehicles, including cars, trucks and motorcycles. In that time I've both been the cause of accidents and the victim in a few more. I've had tickets, and I've gotten away with almost every law on the books.

Today I had a wonderful conversation (ok, chat) with Sarah via Facebook about driving, and started talking about "the game of driving" and she suggested that now is a good time for me to write down the rules.

Driving is a Game

Driving is a game - it has rules and it has penalties; with the driver's death being one of the most obvious penalties but not necessarily the worst. We'll get to that later. For now, let's talk about some of the more realistic rules and penalties.

Today, you play video games.

I'm not much of a video game player since the days of "pong" and "donkey kong." Really, the game that I've played the most is Railroad Tycoon, and I haven't played it for years.

You might play one of the MMOs or you might not play online games at all; but you play something, sometime, if you're human and from somewhere in even a semi-developed country.

But if you're over the age of 16 in North America, you're bound to play the driving game. The problem is, the rules you learned from your driving manual are only some of them; the rest are only obvious after you've been driving for a while.

The Basics

The most basic rule is - if you screw up, there is a penalty. In this game, the points are measured in seconds; seconds lost or seconds gained. It seems that everyone is trying to save time, so time is what we'll count.

What the penalty (or bonus) is depends mostly on your attitude and somewhat on chance.

The chance part includes whether there is someone who cares about your driving near you. This can include the likes of a police officer, whose duty includes recognizing and penalizing people who break the law, and other citizens who decide you've crossed their particular comfort threashhold, and who "turn you in."

The attitude part is what will make the most difference over the long run. That's what I'm going to talk about here.

Take It Like A Man

or woman, as the case may be.

OK - take it like an adult. The fact that you've been given a driving license (even a learner's permit) says you are an adult, at least in the area of responsibility for your driving.

The first part of dealing with the driving game is to take the penalties as they come to you - in stride, and as a part of playing the game.

The second part is recognizing that many of the reasons for penalties are not in the driving manual or in the driving laws.

Yes, if (when) you get caught running a red light or going faster than the speed limit, you'll get a ticket that might cost you dollars and peer status. I hate to say this, but relax, it's part of the game and you're not likely to get through without one or many such tickets. The part where the game comes in includes the time you spend by the side of the road waiting while the nice officer checks your registration and writes out the ticket. Get a ticket, lose 10 minutes. It's part of the game.

But... - if you miss a turn, there may be (at least) two potential penalties, depending on your reaction:

1. you curse and weave, and maybe do a U-turn to get where you're going regardless of the game, endangering others and yourself to the potential of getting broad-sided and dying; or causing an accident and paying for it the rest of your life in guilt and suffering. Lose a lifetime, game over.
2. you accept the penalty (driving around the block,) and get on with your life. Lose some seconds.

Missing a turn (as in driving past the turn-off for your destination) is the offence. Driving around the block or to the next exit is the penalty.

You didn't plan your trip. You didn't look at a map or properly consult your GPS unit - or didn't buy one that has the latest info; no matter, YOU screwed up. The guy in the car ahead, behind, beside, down-the-road didn't screw up, YOU DID!

The penalty is going back, within the driving laws, and trying again. Go around the block - or go to the next freeway exit.

The penalty is NOT doing a U-turn in front of a family of 4 in a mini-van just to save 45 seconds. You lose 45 seconds.

The penalty is not being allowed to back up on the freeway to save you going to the next exit. You lose 2 minutes.

There are Bonuses Too

What good is a game where there are only penalties? How about earning some points too?

OK - here's one that anyone with a bit of familiarity with the driving manual can earn. In fact, here are two:

1. Earn 30 seconds by running a red light - but not just any red light, this one's special
   A pedestrian-controlled crossing light in the middle of a block, where there is no intersection. You have to stop for the red light, but you can go through it as soon as the pedestrian(s) are clear without waiting for it to turn green. There are several in the Vancouver area, but the one I see people sitting at and just waiting all the time is on Pacific, near Yaletown.
    
2. Earn 30 seconds by turning left against a red light onto a one-way street, even if you are on a two-way street.
   Yes, you can turn across the oncoming lane, onto the one-way street when the light is red, because there can't be any traffic coming towards you since their light is red too. Again, there are lots of examples of this in Vancouver and other cities where there are one-way streets - but again I have a notable one: the left turn off Pacific onto Hornby after getting off the Burrard bridge. People sit at that one and let cars pile up behind them all the time.
   The rules are exactly the same as for turning right at a light - do it when the way is clear.

Driving in Rush Hour Traffic

This section of the game involves how you interact with the traffic around you. I started practicing it when I was commuting almost daily across the Lions Gate bridge in Vancouver. The stop-and-go traffic just cried out for me to see how far I could get without putting my foot on the brake; how close to the average speed of the traffic could I guess so that the cars ahead of me could stop and then get back up to speed again before I had to brake to avoid hitting them.

It turns out that what I was doing was actually making the commute for the people behind me better and safer. Others call it "Jam-Busting" There have been studies that show that the actual volume of traffic that a road can handle can be away up with cars all going the average speed and no interruptions - but the first time someone hits the brakes and their lights flash, things get really slow all of a sudden and of course, that's when rear-enders happen and then things get really slow.

On the other hand, there is a point at which you can be too steady - and I recall not properly paying attention one day on the Barnett Highway when the cars in front of me finally sped up so much I was left far behind with a tail of hundreds of others I was holding up - when I finally woke up to the fact an poured on the speed - the finger bouquets I got from the others were penalty enough that I've not done that again.

Some drivers following you don't understand the game. They will dodge and weave and blink their lights and basically work hard (and dangerously) to get in front of you and join the tail of the stop-and-go dragon. Let them; it's safer that way as you can see them better when they're in front of you.

That being said, there are now, at least here in the Vancouver area, quite a few drivers who actually understand what it is you're doing, and they'll follow along quite happily. They're team members, and you have to treat them as such.

On to the rules and penalties:

1. Rear ending the car in front - penalty - 3 hours (1 by road side, 2 at insurance office/repair shop)
2. Being rear ended - penalty - 3 hours (1 by road side, 2 at insurance office/repair shop)
   Why are both penalties the same? Isn't being rear-ended the other guy's fault? Nope - it is YOUR fault for not letting the person behind you have enough notice that you were going to stop. And at that, you're getting off lightly as injury can add hundreds of hours to your actual penalty in either case.
3. Using your brakes - lose 1 second for each second you use your brakes to slow down
4. Using your brake lights to warn those behind you you're slowing down without braking - gain 1 second each time
   WHAT??? Yup - the moment you take your foot off the gas and recognize that you need to slow down, even though you might be 50 yards/meters from the car in front, tap the brakes twice to signal that's what is happening. If you are 100% consistent with this you can "train" your team mate behind you to recognize what you're doing in only a couple of instances, then they'll watch for it. Tapping is not seen by people as applying the brakes and does not result in the whole line of cars behind you applying theirs "just in case"
5. Going 2.5km or 1 mile without having to stop when the car in front of you has had to stop - gain 5 seconds
   Even if you have to actually use your brakes but don't actually stop because you've left enough room, you gain. You also gain respect from your team mate behind you if you don't make him/her stop too.
6. Letting the idiot behind you get in front of you - gain 5 seconds
   They're not your team member - they don't care about the game - they are part of the opposition, the idiots you're trying to stay away from.

I'll be adding sections and rules to this via other posts - do you have your own personal "driving game" rules? Let me know here or on Facebook or by e-mail and I'll add them.

richard

For those of you wanting to read more about what others think about driving, try this page of links