LESSONS LEARNED AT TRAFFIC SCHOOL

FROM SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, 2006
I have only received two speeding tickets in my whole life. Unfortunately, they have both been within the past seven months. I don't think that it's because I all of a sudden have a lead foot... I think I've just been lucky enough to not get caught -- until recently that is. Just as with everything else, I took it as a sign that I needed to learn something -- like I need to learn to SLOW down! And not just when driving, but maybe in life just a bit too. It's amazing how much I have noticed (now that I'm paying more attention to my speed) that I seem to rush everywhere I go. And now that I have made a conscious effort to slow down... I'm much calmer. Even if I do arrive somewhere a mere two minutes late.

When I was pulled over and given my second ticket this past June, I was rushing from one side of town to another, on my way to one of our center sites to do a classroom observation. As usual, I was running a bit late. As a result of the ticket, I had to make a brief appearance in court, where the judge offered (didn't mandate) that I could go to traffic school for five hours on a Saturday and I could have this second ticket erased from my record. I decided it might be worth it, even though I still had to pay the fine and an additional $40 for the session of traffic school, just to avoid an increase in my car insurance. My insurance agent also advised, in a very nice way, that I might just be surprised at how much I might learn.

Yesterday was my scheduled class at traffic school. I really did hate giving up half of my Saturday, but in return I learned about more than just who should go first at a 4-way stop. Overall, the class was a bit dry. I mean there's only so much you can do to make driving laws and protocol exciting. (And we actually got out a whole hour and fifteen minutes early too!) The instructor did have quite a few clips and pictures of what can happen when people don't drive properly or safely. She warned us ahead of time that things might be a bit graphic. Since that has never bothered me, I didn't think twice about it. I learned, or was reminded of various rights of way, laws, consequences, and basic common sense practices for driving. But it was when she got to the section on wearing seatbelts that I started to feel some of the seriousness of what she was there to teach us. She showed a clip of a driver, who wasn't wearing their seatbelt, get into an accident. Their vehicle rolled, and you could see the driver fly out of the car, many feet into the air, and then land on the opposite side of the freeway where oncoming traffic sped by and over him. Immediately, I had a mental picture of what it may have looked like when my best friend,
two years ago, was in an roll-over accident that threw her from the truck she was driving. It became very hard for me to watch and maintain emotional control. The man in the video clip did not survive, but my friend did, even though she lives with the ever so challenging and permanent injuries she sustained. I am just so glad she is still with us! I learned not only that I shouldn't treat my seatbelt as unimportant, but that I should be thankful for the blessings of life, even when they look so much like trials.

1 Comment: your Blogs either make me cry or laugh, you really need to stop making me cry. I love you too:) (Dee)