An interview with Jesus about driving pt. 2 (1, 2, 3, 4)
Jesus: "Main responsibilities while driving. Good question, how much time do we have? I'd have to say avoid distractions, plan accordingly, obey the rules, watch your speed, don't be surprised, stay straight, be polite, and stay calm. How's that?"
HWJD: "Pretty general, care to elaborate?"
Jesus: "Sure. How about one at a time?"
HWJD: "That'd be great!"
Jesus: "First, distractions. There are a ton of them, worst one, the cell phone. HANG UP AND DRIVE people! If I see someone driving, um, lets say 'poorly', I can almost guarantee they have a cell phone stuck to their ear. Too much distraction. It's not easy focusing on a conversation and driving at the same time, never mind the fact you have one hand tied up holding the phone. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying never use your phone in the car, but be smart about it, get a headset and call when you are in good traffic and good weather."
HWJD: "What other distractions do you think are the worst offenders?"
Jesus: "I've seen it all; eating; drinking, have you seen the size of those big soda cups these days, one sip blocks your whole field of view and things can happen in a split second; grooming, and not just women with makeup, men shaving, everyone fixing their hair etc... What else, oh yeah, doing work; reading; trying to stop the kids from fighting in the back seat; messing with the radio; and now, cars have televisions and video distractions; and I won't even begin to discuss the distractions caused when couples are in a car alone together. Let's just say anything that takes any part of you away from driving, whether it is your eyes, your hands, your feet, your brain or some other part, should be avoided."
HWJD: "Okay, so no distractions. Next you mentioned planning accordingly."
Jesus: "Should be common sense but when rain, snow, traffic at rush hour, or some other common sense event causes delays, it seems to catch people off guard. If you know in advance the weather or rush hour traffic, or anything else for that matter might delay you, even a little, you should plan. Planning might mean leaving a bit early to give you more time, or, it might mean you plan for the fact that you WILL be delayed because of 'whatever' so when you are, you don't become frustrated."
HWJD: "You know, I always try to plan for weather but I never thought of preparing myself for other potential delays. I guess if you are always ready for something it is less stressful."
Jesus: "Exactly. I think the next topic was obey the rules, but maybe I should have said obey the rules and don't try to enforce them."
HWJD: "What do you mean?"
Jesus: "Maybe an example would help. Have you ever been driving down the highway in the high speed lane at the speed limit, maybe a little faster (wink) and somebody comes speeding up behind you? Don't answer, you have, we all have. You say to yourself, 'I am going the speed limit I don't need to move over for this person' (maybe not the exact term you used but you get the point), so you drive along, all the while getting more irritated because they are tailgating you and they are getting more irritated because you won't move. You aren't wrong, but trying to prove a point is just adding fuel to an extremely dangerous fire."