Distracted Driving Awareness Month on April, 2025: help with driving, please?

April, 2025 is Distracted Driving Awareness Month 2025. Teen Driving Safety Teach Your Teen To Avoid Distracted Driving & Keep The Road Safe.

help with driving, please?

it really isnt all that hard. it is a different experience switchin from co-pilot to pilot. my dad trained me, and he was a otr trucker.

first, dont just gaze at a spot 10' ahead of the car....that spot disappeared about 30 seconds ago. look as far down the road as possible. u will still see the steering wheel in the periphrial vision below u. what u wanna do is, put the center of the wheel in the center of the lane. that will put u dead center in the lane. now u need to relax. nervousness will just stiffen u up, distract u, and make u wide open to mistakes.

ok, now for rules to keep u alive. my 'top 10':

1: assume that every1 is blind...they dont see u. especially if u see a cell phone. dead giveaway this dude isnt 100% paying attention, and could be a dangerous threat to u.

2: develop situational awareness. this a cardinal rule. this is the ability to scan, identify, prioritize, and track anything that is in, about to enter, or could enter ur airspace. my mantra: never ride faster than where u brain was 5 seconds ago.

3: when u see cars on side streets waiting to pull out: watch their front wheels. u will detect movement alot sooner, and if these wheels move, i assume they're about to bolt, and i prepare for a hard braking.

4: never ever switch lanes without fully verifing that NOTHING is in the blind spot. dont just glance, actually LOOK. so far this riding season, i've had 3 cars almost take me out just because the driver just glanced at the mirror. look over ur shoulder and make sure. if u dont and there's a biker there, u'll wind up killing him.

5: what u dont see can get u hurt. unless u put the car in a position that u can see what's coming without going left of center, others wont see u either and will assume u arent there. on four lane roads (not freeways), it would be highly adviseable to never 'hide' alongside a semi....if there's a side street, and the rig is going to turn, a car could wind up pulling out from a side street, and u 2 are gonna tangle.

6: keep the windsheild CLEAN. inside and out. u wont belive how bad ur visibility gets reduced at night with a gunky windsheild, especially at night and in a thunderstorm.

7: he who gets at the stop sign first gets the right of way. typically tho, left turner's have to yeild.

8: remember this 1...it could save ur life. double check intersection after the light turns green..dont just go on the spot. reason: to avoid gettin creamed by some moron that refused to start to slow down for that yellow light about 50 yards back, and is comin thru at about 70 right thru the red light. if ur in the intersection, he's gonna smoke u hard.

9: leave urself a way out. dont tailgate. u wont have any room to evade if the car ahead has to slam on the brakes.

10: the true kings of the road is the semi's. treat them with respect. never ever cut them off. picture what ur car will look like after gettin run over with a 70,000 pound truck. if u cant see a semi's mirror's, he cant see u either. never draft a truck. u'll have 'trailer a'la mode' if he has to slam on the brakes, and he wont know ur back there. trucks also have big blind spots...dont hang around on the sides. also remember this mantra: left side=pass side. right side=suicide. trucks need alot of room to turn, especially to the right. dont even think of trying to pass on the right. u will lose. btw, u are required to yeild to a turning truck. if u were too close to the light, and a truck is legally turning, u have to back up and give him room. at certain intersections, there will be a white line that seems to be set back quite a bit from the light. there's a reason for it. its where traffic is supposed to stop so a truck that's turning will be able to make the turn.

there is 1 thing i forgot, but it needs to be said. be on a sharp lookout for motorcycles. our small size isnt gonna make it easy for u to see us, but i will tell u a very simple way to spot us. look for the headlight. a smart rider will ride with the high beams on. some even replace the stock light with a modulating light that alternates between high and low beams. u really gotta make some effort to see us in some cases tho, heavy traffic is 1 of them. i suggest making maximum effort to see us, because in some states, if u cause a rider to go down, they will come down on u real hard...especially if u kill us.

Do u text and drive.?

Do u text and drive.?

The CDC just reported that 60% of older teens routinely Text and Drive. I think its starting to become clear that legislation has value in raising public awareness in forums like this one but it will be difficult to solely legislate our way out of this issue. I also read that over 3/4 of teens text daily - many text more than 4000 times a month. New college students no longer have email addresses! They use texting and Facebook - even with their professors. Tweens (ages 9 -12) send texts to each other from their bikes. This text and drive issue is in its infancy and its not going away.

I decided to do something about distracted driving after my three year old daughter was nearly run down right in front of me by a texting driver. Instead of a shackle that locks down phones and alienates the user, I built a texting asset called OTTER that is a simple and intuitive GPS based, texting auto reply app for smartphones. While driving, OTTER silences those distracting call ringtones and chimes unless a bluetooth is enabled. The texting auto reply allows anyone to schedule a ‘texting blackout period’ in any situation like a meeting or a lecture without feeling disconnected. This software is a social messaging tool for the end user that also empowers this same individual to be a sustainably safer driver.

Erik Wood, owner

OTTER app

do one thing well... be great.

Got a ticket a while back for being on the phone while driving.?

Got a ticket a while back for being on the phone while driving.?

Washington now forbids talking on a cell phone unless you have hands free. Driving a car is not an activity that plays well with multitasking. Being at a stoplight, you are still driving the car. You have the responsibility to be totally aware of traffic around you, and you cannot do that when you are yakking ion a phone, eating a sandwich, applying makeup or reading the paper. Hang up and drive!

Holidays also on this date Tuesday, April 1, 2025...