Thursday Thirteen

Tuesday night in the dark, with fog and rain making driving difficult under any circumstance, I had a little vehicle accident. I hit a deer. Well, actually the deer sort of ran into the side of the car. It was a small animal and it mostly ran into the wheel. No damage to the vehicle and the deer, after a moment of stunned and momentary confusion, ran away. I am hoping it was only bruised.

In any event, with icy weather coming and more darkness meaning more driving in the night, I thought I'd offer up 13 safe driving tips today.

1. Pay attention. I saw the deer as it entered the fog lights on my car, as I did not have the brights on because with foggy weather brights do not work well. Had I not been watching the road, I probably would have plowed into the deer instead of the deer running into me.

2. Don't trust other drivers. Unfortunately, too many people do not pay attention. They have their cell phones on and they are talking or texting, or maybe jamming out to music. I've seen people apply lipstick and once some guy in an open-door delivery vehicle beeped his horn at me as I passed him on the interstate so I could see that he had his penis out and he was jerking himself off. Obviously he was not paying attention to the road.

3. Yield to the other drivers. Sometimes you have the right of way but I have noticed that especially at four-way stops, nobody knows who is supposed to go first. The rule is the vehicle to the right goes first.

4. Wear your seat belt. This is the law in most (if not all) states in the U.S. Restraining yourself so you don't tumble from the vehicle and be crushed by it does make sense now, doesn't it?

5. Look ahead. I try to figure out my next move with vehicles, particularly in heavy traffic, far ahead of what I need to do. For instance, if I have to get off at an exit, I find my way into the correct lane long before I need to be there. I notice if people are hitting their brakes way in front of me. I slow down if traffic looks odd. (My husband, on the other hand, apparently only sees about three feet in front of the car sometimes.)

6. Slow down. Be aware of the road and weather conditions. Fortunately, I was driving slowly the other night because of the rain and fog. I am sure that was a factor in keeping me from being hurt or having my car damaged.

7. Choose your route. I go out of my way to try not to make left turns, though of course sometimes you have to. Left turns are dangerous, but they can be avoided by taking just a moment to make a right and then a legal U-turn or whatever you must do to avoid the left turn.

8. Learn how to recover from a skid. This takes a little practice because it is counterintuitive to release the brake pedal and steer toward the skid. Being a farm girl I learned how to do this a long time ago by driving an old vehicle around in a field, but I doubt everyone has that opportunity.

9. Don't drive while you are impaired. This does not simply mean don't drink and drive. It also means if you're sick, or if have an injury, you need to realize that you may not be as quick with your reflexes as you normally might. For instance, I have a chronic issue with my right ankle. I keep that in mind when I'm driving. In fact, on days when it is really acting up and swelling, I simply don't drive.

10. Slow down at intersections. I know you've passed through the one at your house a thousand times, but you never know when someone is going to plow on through even if you have the green light and the right-of-way.

11. Maintain your vehicle. Check the tires, make sure the headlights and tail lights work, keep the brakes in working order. If you have a problem with the vehicle, have it fixed.

12. Be careful when backing up. You can't always see small things. I learned this the hard way when I backed into my husband's motorcycle. He had parked it just out of my line of sight and as I backed out of the garage, I hit the front tire, which was turned a little and in my path. As you know, with a motorcycle it doesn't take much to damage it when it hits the ground.

13. Use common sense. This is probably the hardest one, because I think common sense left the room a long time ago, but if people would only think a bit about their actions when they drive, many accidents could be avoided.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 423rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.