Mover Mike

Don’t get me wrong. Dad was a good driving instructor. When I turned 15, old enough for a driving permit, parents generally taught their kids how to drive. Dad took me to Madison High’s big parking lot, we exchanged seats and I drove from one end to the other, round and round until I was proficient enough to pass the test. Dad sat shotgun, smoking one cigarette after another and never yelled at me.

Dad was a good instructor, after all he was a professional driver. He had a chauffeur’s license. He was employed by Finley’s Mortuary to drive families to and from funerals in those big, black stretch limos. He drove in all kinds of weather and as far as I know, never had an accident. He will be 90 this year and still drives. Aftr he retired from Finley’s he drove a school bus and drove buses and garbage haulers out to Oregon from Michigan.

It wasn’t until I got my CDL, some 47 years later, did I get any formal training in defensive driving. As school bus drivers, we are taught the Smith System of defensive driving. I’m writing about the Smith System because the students on my bus are high schoolers from Lincoln High, either about ready toget their permits or are already driving. Spring vacation is coming soon, they will be out on the road going skiing, going to the beach and just having fun. I want them all to come back to my bus in three weeks after vacation. I get attached to the little dudes.

So what is the Smith System? The system uses an ackronym: All Good Kids Love Milk

• All - Aim high in steering. That means you don’t just look at the vehicle in front of you, but 15 seconds down the road. If you look down the road, you see the car backing out of the drive way; you see the pedestrian waiting to cross the road; you see the kids playing with the ball, the dog, the bicycle rider teetering. You are prepared for any eventuality
• Good - Get the big picture. Know what’s going on around you as you drive. Is someone speeding up behind you or tailgating? Are cars traveling in packs. Whats the weather like? If it’s snowing and you are going up a hill are some drivers without chains.
• Kids - Keep your eyes moving. Check every five seconds all your mirrors. Moving your eyes keeps you from having tunnel vision.
• Love - Leave yourself an out. Don’t travel in packs. If one driver gets in trouble it could involve all drivers. If something happens, have an escape route. If you are boxed in, take your foot off the gas. Slow down to exit the pack. If you stop real close behind another vehicle and he stalls, you can not go around.
• Milk - Make sure they see you. Turn on your lights, signal well ahead of time. Lightly press on the brake to signal you are slowing. Make eye contact with other drivers. |Signal your intensions with hnd signals. Remember, the sun could be in their eyes, it may be foggy, their windshield wipers may be defective. Make sure they see you.

Drive safely by practicing defensive driving. I wished I learned these techniques when I was younger.

The one experience that wakes me up sweating, sometimes, is the time I was driving my wife, our two girls and my wife’s parents from Montana to Portland via Spokane. I was driving on this four-lane curvy U.S. highway. There was gravel on the highway. I was going too fast for the conditions and passing cars in the inside lane. I was lucky nothing happened, but I knew then as I know now that I was not driving defensively and I was not prepared. I had no out. Things happen so fast. We could have been a statistic rather than arriving home in one piece.

Have a great and safe Spring Vacation. I’ll see you in a little over three weeks.

Another Tales From The Yellow Bus.

Tags: Yellow Bus //
Trackback URL: Trackback URL.