Driving to the Conditions AND the Silly Season

N.B. This is a soapbox rant, entirely my personal views.

I've often been asked about a message to drivers during the holidays and one of my messages is always 'Drive to the Conditions'. But what does that mean? What is the biggest critical condition? It sits above your shoulders.

I was reading a group Facebook post this morning and someone was complaining that they had two cracks on their windscreen because people were driving too fast on new seal and as a consequence stone chips were flying through the air. I've been there. It's not the road that's the problem, it's the drivers who are in too much of a hurry and not being considerate of others.

I've got a back injury and can't drive at the moment, so I've had the opportunity to watch drivers as they head into Christmas party time. Sometimes it seems like everybody has lost the plot. I've even had to talk to taxi drivers about having one hand on the phone "Do you mind if I answer this, it's my wife?" and the other hand on the mobile data terminal bidding for the next available job before they have even dropped me off.

It's been really interesting seeing the behaviour of 'professional' drivers. I'm not going to point fingers, but the number of drivers who are on the phone "just checking something", driving right through compulsory stops, tailgating are high. Would it surprise you that the better behaved 'professional drivers' are the ones who are being rated by their passengers?

It seems like everybody needs to be on the phone while they drive. Hands free kits are cheap as chips and most newer cars have it built into the entertainment system. There is never a need to physically pick up a phone while you drive IMHO. If it's that urgent you can pull over. My wife had her car totalled while she was stationary at a red light on a freeway off ramp. She heard the van tyres screeching and turned to see a panicked driver, who WAS STILL HOLDING THE PHONE to his ear as he hit her motionless car at around 50 km per hour. It crumpled as it was designed to but she got whiplash. That was just before a previous Christmas and of course we had to deal with not having the car, insurance and an injury that has troubled her since. What do you do when you're at a red light and the car behind you isn't going to stop? He was of course very apologetic, but was it an accident?

We all have had experiences of varying extremes and I'm sure you can think of one now. They weren't caused by road conditions, weather, hazards or even car problems. They were caused by people.

People are a condition. I remember when I first got my driving license and I had a couple of lessons from an instructor. He told me to drive like everyone else was mad. Were you told that? Sometimes it seems like they are.

What can you do?

For starters you can plan your journey. What is the weather like? Do you need to allow more time. Is your car in perfect condition for the drive, especially a long one? I'll bet a large percentage of crashes happen close to home or work. Your tyres, wiper fluid, lights, brakes... When did you last test them on a quiet road and slam the brakes on to make sure you and your car are ready to take action if you need to.

What is the traffic like? Have you checked the route online, on your mobile, your car nav unit with live traffic, Social Media or the DOT website or other travel information service? Do you know how long you need to allow, so you are not in a rush.

Are you alert and fresh, well hydrated, not hungover or worse? You'd be amazed how many people drive fatigued. In reality we have probably all done it at some stage and if you're reading this, we got lucky.

I once woke up at 6AM to a loud thump that shook my little house. I jumped out of bed, went out my front door and found a guy dozing in his car which had jumped a ditch, flew through the air, and my metal fence pole was lodged inside the car behind the radiator.

I rushed to see if he was OK. He had fallen asleep behind the wheel. The fact that he was so relaxed and had his seat belt on probably saved him.

He had alcohol on his breath but he swore to me that he hadn't had a drink since the previous night and begged me not to tell the Police. Sorry friend, but you could have killed yourself and it is amazing that you didn't take anyone else with you. No sympathy from me. I told them alright.

We do have an "it will never happen to me" attitude and unfortunately you can do everything right and still be a victim. So many people are.

I was talking to someone during the week and she was saying that she wanted to buy a dashcam because the standard of driving was so scary. I told her about the one I got from AliExpress for about $30. It's great other than the instructions being in Chinese, but I figured it out.

Having a dashcam is a great idea. There is a good reason why truck drivers use them, because they are so often cut off by motorists passing and going for the gap. Some people don't realise that a heavily laden truck takes a lot longer to stop than a car.

I think a dash cam makes you both more aware of what is going on on the road as well as your own driving, because it will catch you just as easily as it will catch someone else. It can't see you but it can hear you. Anything that makes you more alert to the dangers is great, so long as you aren't then looking at the camera to make sure it is pointed in the right direction while other drivers are doing something stupid, because then you are the distracted driver again. Save that for when you get home.

I've written about distracted drivers before. Check out what's already happened around the world this month in the news! So many good people have died as a result of a simple bit of inattention, turning around to tell the kids to sit still, or to tell the dog to sit down, or just reaching to grab something off the seat when suddenly, it's all over. Here are 13 examples of ways people are distracted pretty much most days of the week.

I guess I'm just rambling now, as I sometimes do and this is just my personal message for Christmas. Please remember when you hear, "drive to the conditions", it's not just rain, or a greasy road, or some roadworks. It's you. You are the traffic and you are one of the conditions.

Many years ago I attended a funeral for a friend's brother, a teenager whose car was too powerful. Afterwards, the V8's all revved their engines up as a salute to this kid who would never get married, raise a family, never get a job, would miss out on maybe 50 or 60 years of life and left behind a traumatised family after his car left the motorway at 2 in the morning and flipped, without another car in sight. I wrote this song for him.

"It thundered down the road like a young boy racer's dream

The Rockford Fosgate sub beat like a life support machine.

He didn't know what hit him on the wrong side of the bend

He didn't have an inkling that his life was going to end."

Let's have a safe holiday everyone. Take a bit more time and don't be someone else's condition.