Fuel for Thought

Popular Sightings

By Greg Huggins
Posted Dec 20th 2018 7:31AM

Christmas is only a few days away. Be extra vigilant if you’re out on the road next few weeks. Motorists have so many things on their mind this time of year. From driving all over town looking for the perfect gift, to visiting family and friends, sometimes driving (even while they are doing it) is the furthest thing from their minds.

As professional drivers, many times it is our duty to help others get down the road. If we are really watching the traffic, we can see little indications that another driver is distracted, for whatever reason.

Popular sightings this time of year include:

  1. “The out-of-town lost family” as they try to find a relative’s house with a carload of distractions.
  2. “The oh crap, there’s my exit and we are going to make it” drivers. These will cut you off to make their exit or turn without regards to your stopping abilities.
  3. “The slow moving sightseers”. With all the decorations this time of year, many take to the roads to drive around and look at all the Christmas lights, without any regard of other drivers on the road.
  4. “The I have to make this light or I’ll be late” driver. Just because your light has turned green, take an extra look both ways for this driver.
  5. Lastly, watch out for Mr. and/or Mrs. Weaver aka "The Weavers". These drivers can be found on many of our roads all year long, but like many of the others above, "The Weaver" family members seem to be out on more roads, more often this time of year and weaving all over their lanes and into ours too.

This is just a sample of some of the drivers that the holidays bring out. Many of these we see all year long, but during this time of year, we tend to more of them or at least more frequently.

We all want to get home safe to our families and friends, a little extra caution is definitely needed this time of year.

If you expect to see these types of drivers and are actively looking for them, it can also reduce your own stress levels as you will not be caught off guard by their actions and can react in a calmer manner. Getting upset will do no one any good. Besides, if you get upset over their actions, guess what, you are the only only upset, they have turned the corner or taken the exit with no regards to you.

Keep calm and drive on.

 

See you down the road,

Greg