It long ago occurred to me that our entire system of driving safety is predicated on the idea that every car is driven by someone who holds the value of his life and that of his family above all other things. That’s the only thing that allows us to use a pair of painted lines to keep cars going in opposite directions on the same road from smashing into each other in what would invariably be fatal collisions.
It occurred to me at the same time that if each of us can’t assume that oncoming drivers value their lives as much as we do, the whole system of road design in the United States breaks down.
When our daughter learned to drive the first thing I told her, “always assume everyone else on the road drives like a-holes” and even if she’s in an old clunker about to fall apart, drive with the same level of caution as if it were a fully restored 57 Chevy (she drives our 64 Chevy at times with no problem) The epitome of defensive driving. Gotta admit she’s got a cleaner driving record than me when I was her age🙄😀