How’s my driving? CALL 1-800 …

If every vehicle carried the sticker that begs, “HOW’S MY DRIVING? CALL 1-800-000-0000,” I’d be making more phone calls than Dakota Direct — and the answer would often be, “NOT TOO WELL.” To make the calls from my car, I’d not only exceed my cell phone minute-allowance, but I’d foil my own attempt at precision driving by talking on the phone constantly.

Darned thing is, the commercial vehicles carrying those stickers also seem to carry some pretty good drivers. I like exposing driving errors, but whenever I see the sign in place, the driver of that conveyance is doing a fine job. If that’s all it takes to make everyone a sharp operator, then I’m all for more stickers. But instead, I believe that those drivers are better because they are commercial drivers — who, as a result of the continuous miles they log, have exposure to all situations over and over. If they don’t interact with traffic properly, accidents and loss of jobs will ensue.

Well I suppose that most drivers don’t think that they’re part of that not-too-well category, but my observation differs. You’re only as good as your last successful outing, and maybe that wasn’t even as good as it was lucky.

Here’s a self-test for you next driving excursion. When you travel through a steady green light, where is your vision focused as you approach? Most drivers — including me when I have an attention lapse — have their head pointed straight ahead, eyes focused down the road. If this is your habit, you might as well make like Seabiscuit and put on the blinders.

You see, I’ve had enough driving exposure to find that the concept of drivers running through steady red lights is more than just theory — it happens! When you proceed gleefully through your green light without backing off a bit, and turning your head to check both ways, you are playing intersection roulette.

Really — the next time you drive, pay attention to how you handle green light or other right-of-way intersections. I know that a lot of otherwise good drivers sail right through, eyes fixed ahead — I’ve ridden with them. Even with the pressure I put on myself to look, I sometimes forget, and gamble on clear passage. Maybe young drivers, infrequent drivers, or those who are lucky, have never experienced the terror of a speeding “bullet” appearing in the periphery of their vision. And those who have gone through it, and lived through it, may not have learned from it.

I’ve sure learned from the few times it has happened to me. Panic stops, where every loose item in the car ends up on the floor, and your heart ends up in your throat, aren’t any fun. Besides that, the n’er-do-well that runs the light is usually speeding, so they literally come into your vision out of “nowhere.” Light runners at normal speed are hard enough to miss, but if you’re unlucky enough to be entering the intersection when some lout is attempting to evade the cops at 100 mph, even due vigilance might not save you. In situations like this, unfortunately, even good drivers are playing an odds-game.

So, you are not ensured clear passage just because your light is green, and even an extra side-to-side glance might not be enough to avoid a collision in extreme cases — but this column is all about improving your odds of driving survival. I believe that in most two-car collisions, it takes two inattentive drivers — if I’m always attentive, it improves my odds. My defensive practices are aided by the fact that I’m a longtime motorcycle rider. While the driver of a car or truck may be able to take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’, I know that a bike rider cannot.

You don’t need to foul up traffic flow by hitting the binders at every green light, but to be safe, you must lift your heavy foot, turn your head left and right, and ready yourself to stop in case a blip appears on the radar. You must, that is, if you want to survive this driving thing long term.

For fun, and more importantly for improved safety, let’s all pretend that our vehicles are sporting “HOW’S MY DRIVING?” bumper stickers, complete with our phone numbers. Would there be a lot of obscene phone calls? Probably, but maybe it would be a step toward precision driving for all — attentive, skillful driving, mixed with knowledge of our vehicles and rules of the road.

Dos and Don’ts

I’m compiling a precision driving dos and don’ts list — if you have driving pet peeves, send them in for possible inclusion.