The Joys of Driving

I consider myself an “expert” in the hobby of driving.

Here’s a compendium of driving experiences I’ve had growing up.

It began when I was a little tyke sitting on Dad’s lap, driving his black Ford Bronco around his property in Huntersville, NC. I wanted to go down a hill from the plateau that we were on but Dad was worried about making it back up the hill so he angled the steering wheel towards the gravelly/grassy road. This was also the area where Dad and John would do target shooting. I remember going through the dense forest to the main drag. That was my first experience driving and I loved it.

The next experience was as a volunteer in the Student Conservation Association (SCA). It was a hot and steamy summer in the Chesapeake area. The group of volunteers and the leader had a really old and dusty green pick up truck with a full backseat. A skinny tall guy with dark bushy hair who was a co-leader was putting a lot of effort into turning the steering wheel. Nonchalantly, I said, “Why is it so hard to turn?”. I knew nothing about cars or driving at that age. I was around 13 or 14, about to enter 8th grade at a school in Williamsburg, VA. He was about 10 years older and replied, “This truck <eyebrow raise> is really old and does not have power steering”. “Oh, I didn’t know that” I responded. He actually flirted with me a bit that day. His name henceforth will be known as “W”.

9th grade… I was 15, old enough for a learners permit. Mom had a beautiful and classic sky blue 5 series BMW. I learned how to drive on that car. It had the hardest clutch so I would always coast so I didn’t have to change gears… That may be one reason why I’m a good driver — I coast, which is a non-aggressive way to drive. Another funny memory is when Mom was coaching me on how to drive at night. She pulled up to an empty lot where men were working on a construction project or landfill (or something). We switched seats and she points at me and then the guys saying, “They’re watching you, they know what this is so you better not mess up”. The nervousness built up in me and I said, “Oh and you think that helps”. Needless to say, I throttled the clutch and the car petered out. Mom had me try again and it worked. During 9th and 10th grade, we lived in Asheville, NC which is the foot of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The hairpin curves are a fond memory. I remember the aghast look on Mom’s face as I would hug the curves at high speeds. Daredevil, I was!

Then Grandma passed away. Mom and I traveled to Gastonia for her funeral. Mom rustled up Grandma’s old 1986 sky-blue Chevy Celebrity from her shanty garage. She was pissed when she saw the tires — dry rot had ruined them. She knew she had to keep the car rather than sell it because I was almost 16 and she loved her BMW. The Chevy was a perfect “practice car”. I took it with me to Virginia Tech. It was not a safe car to drive. There was no Automatic Braking System (ABS) on that car. It was not safe at all to drive up or down Afton Mountain, which is close to Blacksburg, VA. I remember once almost stopping on the Mountain because I was afraid the car would break down from overheating going uphill in the late summer month of August.

Another time, I had an accident making a left turn to VT campus on a snowy day. A black truck just smashed into my right fender. He couldn’t stop. I had the right of way. It really rattled me because I got out of the car and was shaky. People thought I was hurt because of the way I walked back then. I had to explain a few times that I wasn’t hurt. The supervisor of the interpreters at VT picked me up at the scene and took me back to the dorm. Scary. I met someone around that time so Mom felt a little bit of pressure to get a car to impress potential in-laws.

So we went over to the famous Duncan Hokie Honda. First, we looked at a Honda Civic, green in color. I drove it with the salesperson in the passenger seat and Mom in the backseat. Test drive over, we climb out. I say, “It was ok, I’d be happy with it.” Mom motions to the salesperson to let us have a few minutes to talk. Mom then says, “I didn’t like the way that car drove. I’m used to cars with serious weight, like my BMW.” I was like “Ok well there was another car I saw on the website. It is a 1997 black Honda CR-V, which means it was around 6 years old. We climb into the crossover and I did a test drive. This was before I started using hand controls. Test drive over, I look over to Mom and said “I like it.” She knew it was a done deal because it was a very good car within her price range of 10,000. She also bought it because I had started my very first “real” job at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). Later, I anointed it with the name, “Black Beauty”, a favorite book I read when I was a kid.

Working at VTTI gave me an inside look at the world of driving behaviors. I think that VTTI was where I learned defensive driving and how to drive in unsafe conditions like rain or snow. For instance, I learned not to accelerate while turning on slick surfaces like snow because it causes the car to slide/skid. Armed with this knowledge, I went driving with my “new” car to show it off to a new friend named Katty. We were in the valley and I was just going up and down the hills surrounding the valley. On one hill there was a large ice pack on a curve. Katty looked a bit alarmed. I was chill and coasted over the ice patch while in the turn. Another thing I figured out while at VTTI is that if there is a curve in the road, it is better to be on the inside of the truck. That way, if the truck tips over, it will tip away due to the force of gravity.

Also, a word to the wise, do not ever use cruise control in slick conditions. Here’s why. In slick conditions like rain or snow, tires typically lose contact or traction with the road. When in cruise control, losing contact with the road makes the computer think you’re losing speed. Hence, the computer will spin the tires faster, thinking that it’s not making any progress. Then when you do hit dry road or a section where the tires get traction, the car will take off like a rocket because the tires were spinning really fast due to no traction.

d/Deaf people are better drivers than most people. Driving is a visual activity and we’re very sensitive to any type of movement. We are also sensitive to car/driver behavior, which is a huge help in us being safe drivers.

Another thing, it is the SLOW drivers that cause the most gridlock and accidents because everyone’s trying to get AROUND them. This is why I try to avoid exit and entrance areas on the highway. I always zoom over to the outer lane. Recently, I did get into a squishy situation with 2 full sized trucks. Again, this is why I avoid exit and entrance lanes in highways. This happened when I was in the lane next to the entrance/exit lane. A truck was trying to merge and didn’t see me. Then, in the next lane over a truck was trying to move into my lane. I sort of didn’t know what to do as the entering truck had to go off-road to avoid killing me. I just became a scaredy-cat and didn’t know what to do. Then a voice in my head yelled, “GET OUT OF THERE!”. I was like, “Ok!” and speeded up past the 2 trucks. Whew. Close call. Black Beauty is now over 30 years old and she is still with me. What a workhorse.