Know what you don’t know, it could save your life.

That is how I drive and I believe that it has saved me more than once. If you have ever said to yourself, “Where did that car come from?”, then you likely do not follow this principle.

When the truck was motoring up the entrance ramp to my right, I knew that the driver would only see me if he did what he was supposed to do, by turning his head to look backwards out the window. Since I knew that I did not know if he would look to avoid me, it was up to me to avoid him. I also knew that the truck on my left was going the same speed as the car ahead in my lane, so I would be trapped if he did not look.

He didn’t look. With my foot already on the brake pedal I hit my brakes. I swerved behind the truck to my left or I would have been squished into a Doc sandwich between two slices of truck bread.

Often I stare at the wheels of a car coming from a side road on my right. Ready to act, I know that I don’t know if they will look my way again before pulling out. I cannot count the number of times that had my foot over the brake pedal ready for the bad move by the other driver, then had to brake in order to avoid the collision. Truth is that this happened again the day after I wrote this, then again to days later. The young driver gave me a nice smile when she saw that I had slowed to avoid hitting her.

My roommate and I were jogging as we passed in front of a building on OSU campus. I noticed we were passing a convertible with two cute girls which was slowly rolling up the drive. My friend kept the pace as I disappointingly watched the driver looking at him running ahead. The car in front of her stopped suddenly. She braked but still hit the bumper before she could stop. The passenger yelled, “What are you doing?” She replied too loudly, “I was looking at his butt.”

It only takes one driver to avoid an accident. Don’t count on it being the one looking at butts.

Ever been around little kids? Tell them not to do something, but when you turn you back don’t you know that they will just do it anyway? I saw a student looking at me during class. This should be a good thing, but he almost never was watching the lesson. I also noticed he lowered his left arm below the table with something in his hand. I turned back to the face the board and counted to three.

Then I said without turning around, “Bobby stop doing that.”

In total shock, Bobby replied, “How did you know I was doing something?” Simple. I knew what I didn’t know.

I expect to retire in time to be able to teach each of my grandchildren how to drive. Happy to teach them that they don’t know what other drivers will do, and I know it. So drive like it.

I know that you will have a Happy Friday.