{"id":1541,"date":"2011-09-14T07:00:57","date_gmt":"2011-09-14T14:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=1541"},"modified":"2011-09-14T07:00:57","modified_gmt":"2011-09-14T14:00:57","slug":"driving-miss-crazy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/1541","title":{"rendered":"Driving Miss…Crazy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tWhenever I leave my cozy little burg in off-the-beaten-path Idaho and hit the “seasoned” streets of a mega metropolis, I get a wake up call. People drive like they\u2019re gunning for redemption! San Francisco was a wild ride, lemme tell ya – and then there’s New York, Seattle, and, heck, even Spokane can get me all shook up. If you see a car puttering along in the emergency lane, give me a country wave.<\/p>\n

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West St. Overpass,Chatswood, Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Peter Hardy<\/p><\/div>\n

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I’m not pining for the bygone horse-and-buggy days. Not exactly, anyway. I’m just sitting here at the end of my dirt road with my wheels turning…<\/p>\n

What is it about getting behind the wheel that brings out less-than-ladylike behavior in some drivers?\u00a0 I’m thinking it has something to do with anonymity. Out on the open road, it’s all about other vehicles’ behavior – “that crazy car<\/em> just cut me off” or “I wish that pushy pickup<\/em> would back off my bumper.” It’s easy to forget that autos aren’t on auto-pilot.<\/p>\n

Once in a while, we could all use a refresher course on driving etiquette. I’m game, are you?<\/p>\n

Even the mildest manners can get ruffled by one of those “road rage” encounters, and I’m convinced the “grrr” factor is contagious. One grouchy gesture leads to another, and when you’re hurdling down a highway\u2014or even plodding around a parking lot\u2014things can get downright dangerous.<\/p>\n

So I’m making a pledge to polish my own motorized manners, whether I’m in here in Moscow or braving the superhighways of my next big city adventure. Wanna join me? After all, courtesy is contagious, too. A simple smile or a wave to let another driver get ahead are the kinds of gestures that will help get us all home safely and in a GOOD mood. Can you imagine??<\/p>\n

Take a look at Karla Davis’ “Manners and Etiquette for Driving”<\/a> and let me know how you plan to put your driving decorum into action.<\/p>\n

P.S. My first goal? To remember that there is a real, live person behind every pair of passing headlights.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whenever I leave my cozy little burg in off-the-beaten-path Idaho and hit the “seasoned” streets of a mega metropolis, I get a wake up call. People drive like they\u2019re gunning for redemption! San Francisco was a wild ride, lemme tell … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[145,254,280,535,793,914],"class_list":["post-1541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gallant_manners","tag-cars","tag-driving","tag-etiquette","tag-manners","tag-san-francisco","tag-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}