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• Tuesday, July 3, 2007 11:37 AM

  1974

  been driving since 1974

  That's interesting. In 1974, the nearest highway to me was 2 lanes in either direction with a wide median of grass and bushes in between, and traffic lights every mile in towns and maybe every 5-10 miles outside of towns. Today, it's 4 lanes in either direction, no median, and no more traffic lights. Traffic lights been replaced by merges, so your average driver on the roadway is not used to slowing down every mile or so for a traffic light. Of course, back then I was able to play on the highway on Sunday afternoons while visiting with my grandparents, because there was virtually no traffic on weekends. The number of cars on the road was a fraction of today's traffic, as birth rate and immigration have greatly increased the population here and sprawl has wiped out the uninhabited areas between what used to be quaintly considered "towns."

  So learning to drive on today's superhighways is not exactly what it was like in 1974, and new drivers have not had over 30 years on the roadways to get accustomed to increasing rates of traffic, daredevil behavior, travel unimpeded by stoplights and cellphone-chatting idiots. I know 7 people who have died, and three people who survived traffic accidents and were bankrupted by medical bills. None were in SUVs.

  So it looks like your world and my world are different places. I won't presume to know your driving history and traffic conditions, and you won't even begin to understand mine.

  —Anonymous
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