If I said to you that I practiced defensive driving all of the time, I would be lying. However, I do most of the time, and I find that if I don’t, I can get extremely aggravated with myself and everyone else on the road. If I were to take an aggressive stance on driving I may very well would have lost my license by now. Defensive driving is something that everyone on the road should be doing, but most people wouldn’t even dream of it.
When you take classes in school to learn how to drive, they teach you defensive driving in a hopes that you will use it for your entire life. If you can keep your emotions in check, you will be OK. There are many though, who think they are more important on the road than anyone else and if they have to get somewhere, you had better get out of their way. They don’t have a clue about defensive driving, but they should be glad others do. If everyone were that aggressive on the road, there would be so many accidents no one would be able to get anywhere.
Defensive driving is taking your time to make sure you are driving safely and that you are avoiding aggressive drivers. You know the aggressive type right? They ride up on your rear bumper if they think you are going to slow, and if they do pass you, they don’t think they owe you the courtesy of a turning signal to let you know what they are doing. These people who neglect to use defensive driving skills are the ones that cause the majority of road rage cases. They are the ones with the rage, or their driving prompts it to come out in others.
Though I definitely practice defensive driving, there are moments when I get angry and turn aggressive. It takes a lot for this to happen, and it usually happens when someone seems to be passive aggressive. These are the people who go twenty miles under the speed limit when you cannot pass them, but then speed up when the opportunity to pass comes upon you. As for as I am concerned, they are just as bad as the aggressive drivers that I see every day. If you are into defensive driving, give yourself and a hand and keep doing it. The life you save may be the life of a jerk, but you will be saving your own as well.
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