Oct 29, 2023
5:00 pm

Poppy, Rory,

Both of you have (or will soon) achieved the age where you can get a driver’s license or “learner’s permit”. This must be very exciting. Yet also a little scary. Cars, if not managed properly, are like iron monsters that can be lethal weapons! They can also be viewed as a source of independence, freedom, and adventure.

So, as one of your “elders”, I have some advice. I hasten to acknowledge that you will get advice from many places – parents, teachers, peers, books, youtube videos, DMV booklets, etc, etc.

I won’t put all my advice in this one letter; rather there will be a series of letters. If I wrote just one long letter it would be TL;DR = too long, didn’t read. 😊

* How to change lanes on the freeway?

S M O G

S - signal - turn signal - left or right
M - mirror - check it
O - over the shoulder - to visually check again
G - Go

3 additional points:

1. These days many cars have “blind spot alerts”. You would check these in addition to the mirror.
2. The G for Go is important. When it’s time to go you should Go. You don’t want to communicate indecision or vacillation to the other drivers on the road.
3. my father (one of your great-grandfathers) once advised me that when changing lanes it is good to accelerate – especially if you’re changing lanes to the left into a faster lane.

“Relax. You have plenty of time.”

Hold your Horses.
This is Life, Not a Race.

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