Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Caution: Stupid Drivers

Come in, sit down and shut up. Class is now in session at the school of hard knocks and we're taking no prisoners.

Today's lesson is on driving, how it is done and how it should be done.

If you'll recall, we had a lesson a while back concerning truckers and their antics on the roads. There was one response to the class, with the writer making some valid points. However, those points were blown out of the water by a couple of other statements made.

It seems this person is under the impression truck drivers should be treated with special care because the trucking industry is taxed heavily on fuels. However, what the writer failed to mention is this same industry is responsible for the vast majority of damage to the state's highway and interstate system.

After all, these roads were not originally designed to carry 80,000 pounds as they do now. Yet, the trucking industry is wanting to up the load limit to 100,000 pounds. Guess what, you want the weight, deal with the extra taxes because if you're going to play, you're going to pay.

The other statement, which was laughable, dealt with the 65 mile an hour speed limit on the interstates. It seems our friend was delusional and though truckers actually follow the law where this is concerned. Well, we must be driving on different interstates, because few truckers I have seen bother to drive 65 as posted. The numbers 6 and 5 are only to be passed while driving much faster.

But, our author did bring out the point truckers aren't the only ones causing problems on the roads and he was right. There are plenty of other stupid drivers out there as well.

In Arkansas everyone has to take a written and driving test to make sure they know the rules of the road. However, it seems as though once the test is over and license is in hand, these laws are forgotten or dismissed.

Perhaps an additional test should also be administered  an IQ test to see how many of these people are smart enough to handle the responsibility driving entails.

This is a small town by anyone's standards, and we all tend to be a little lax in obeying all of the laws concerning driving. These include coming to a full and complete stop at all signs. Let's face it, if we can get away with a "California stop," we will. For those unfamiliar with this term, it means slowing enough at a stop sign to see if anything's coming, then proceeding without actually stopping.

And, people, the little lever on the left side of the steering column  this is called a turn signal switch. When raised in the "up" position, it means the driver will be turning right. When brought "down", it signifies a left turn. USE IT, WILL YOU!

There are those who must think everyone else is telepathic and know which way the driver plans to turn, therefore, signals are unnecessary. Listen up, those who think this way don't have enough of a mind to read, and even if they did, it wouldn't be worth the effort. So, use the turn signal for its intended purpose.

By the way, make sure you turn the direction the signal shows you to be turning. It's quite disconcerting to see a signal flashing for one direction, with the driver turning the other way.

Next up is the speed limit. On interstates in Arkansas, this is 70 mph, and 55 mph on state highways. Inside city limits it varies, but is usually around 30 mph.

These numbers weren't just pulled out of a hat, but were selected for safety purposes for everyone on the road. Please try and stay within a reasonable range of them, unless you really like getting speeding tickets and paying an outrageous amount for auto insurance.

The roads in this area aren't designed for high speed driving, especially the right lane of I-30, which has been compared to driving on an old-fashioned washboard, as it bounces motorists all over the road and is a hazard.

Additionally, those who drive to slow are probably a bigger menace than the speeders, as they tend to block traffic flow. This results in people getting irate and hostile, then taking stupid chances when passing.

While these, by far, aren't the only problems with driving, our time in class is nearly up. But, before we go, let me suggest this  those drivers from age 16-25, and from 60 and up, should be given the written and driving portion of the test on an annual basis, to make sure they have the skills needed and remember the rules of the road.