Parking

Contrarily to what you might think, when sitting behind the wheel of your car the most dangerous place to be is not the freeway.
It is the parking lot.
It is when you are backing out of a parking space that you are most likely to be plowed into.

Hindered by the car on their right and the car on their left, and with a limited rear vision, most of the people find it extremely hazardous to extricate themselves from their parking space.
The danger is cars whizzing by at unsafe speeds.

When leaving the garage, many people don’t seem to have a minute to spare.
They are in such a hurry that they are unwilling to stop, even when they see a car pulling out.

The most common courtesy would dictate that upon noticing somebody trying to back out, one would stop and allow the other person to complete his maneuver.
But such is not the case.
I am not sure if it is selfishness or recklessness, but these oafs are clearly unwilling to stop and let you through.

Probably pressured by the car lobby, it seems that officials are only too willing to issue driving licenses to anybody who ask for it.

When cars sported manual transmissions, it took longer for beginners the tame the beast. But now, with most American cars equipped with automatic gearboxes, it seems that anybody can get behind the wheel and immediately operate a two-ton urban warfare vehicle.

IMG_7003This is why future cars will be equipped with front and rear cameras… and upon my personal request, a truck’s air horn.
When somebody will refuse to yield, I will have the option to blast him or her with an ear-splitting toot.
I feel pretty confident that this forceful argument will stop even the most uncooperative driver.

In Russia, due to drivers’ vodka fueled shenanigans, many people have installed dashboard cameras.
In case of an accident, the camera will clearly document what happened, and who was at fault.

The Russians are distinctly ahead of us in this respect and you should not be surprised to find this option on your next new car.

In the meantime, enjoy the video clip below (filmed with Dash Cams) and be glad that you are driving on American freeways instead of Mother Russia’s roads.

Alain