Driving to Safety!

It is not in my nature to boast. But safety always comes first to me.

For instance, when I decided to take driving classes, from that very instant when I sat behind the wheel beside the old lady instructor, I knew I would walk out of the driving institute with a driving license and a pledge to ensure a safe driving environment.

You know, reliable.

On my first day on the road, the instructor, who had boasted of her years of experience and expertise, choked, wheezed and mumbled under her breathe with her hands folded through the hour. There was just the incident of driving up onto the pavement, reversing onto dustbins and creating a small line of school buses and cars honking and hooting unnecessarily when I braked in the middle of a busy road. But every one of my actions were intended on saving a human life – strange humans who appeared unexpectedly into my line of vision.

At the end of the class, my instructor took my hands in hers and thanked me profusely with tears in her eyes. She even mentioned having children at home.

The lady must have been depressed.

That was the last I saw of her.

In the classes that ensued, I was assigned a male instructor. All through the first class, he just sat rigid, staring. However, he warmed up in the classes that followed for I often heard him say, between deep breaths, that I was a ‘rare’ sort of student. He even told me that I was talented enough to do things with the car that even the manufacturer had failed to think of.

Nevertheless, after 40 plus classes and having picked up a thing or two, I passed my test.

When I went to thank him with the news, wonder why he seemed shocked.

He must have had some hair-raising experiences, as I reckon that not all students could have been as safe as me, for he said that he was planning on a career change.

Dear Friends, wishing you all a lovely weekend!

It is no news that there is every kind of driver on the road – the over-confident newbies, the adrenaline junkies who view the road as a Formula 1 racing track and test their driving skills with the likes Vettel and Hamilton, the jugglers who believe that driving can be multi tasked with adding the final touches to makeup, texting and taking a peek into social media and then there are the others who take caution and safe driving so seriously that walking the way would be a better option.

So the choice becomes yours on what you value more – saving a life or saving time.

Happy Driving!