This morning dropping off my high schooler I took note of the fact that I was feeling very pressured in my driving skills. Not from my own child mind you, his head was buried in the alternative texting, gaming, fantasy world that is his I-Phone. No it was in fact from the kids that were driving alongside and behind me. The tailgating, speeding, wreck less driving that is coming from our youth is astounding to me. At times coming in this four lane road feels more like a run against John Force at Infineon raceway. When we round the corner I am cutting the lane on Tony Stewart. I keep waiting for my crew Chief to let me know I’m “clear low” (those who follow NASCAR will get that one). Yet today for some reason I parked facing out to watch in coming traffic. To get a better read on my assessment of this daily routine. After 10 minutes I came to a conclusion. IT’S NOT THE KIDS!!! Oh yeah that’s right, it was the parents! Don’t get me wrong there was a handful of stop sign running kids but over all the rubber squealing, stop sign running, speeding idiots were the parents! I wanted to pull them over and scream! Apparently they don’t realize or care that the impression they are leaving on there own kids will result in their children driving like asses too.
Let me also say, I by no means was a driving Angel. I had a sweet truck with an awesome motor and it hauled ass! But as a parent I feel it’s my responsibility to lead by example, my dad and mom both drove like a bat out of HELL! Yet they expected me to drive like a law abiding citizen. HAH! A ticket and two accidents later (luckily no one hurt) I figured out the hard way that there are driving rules and laws for a reason.
The good news so far is my son hates people who break the law. He sees no point in speeding, and looks at it as being irresponsible. He thinks his friends who drive recklessly as complete morons. He swears that will never be him and he will always follow the driving rules of the road.
I should probably up my insurance..