Q: I’m an older woman who is a self-professed bad driver. My friends who are good drivers agree. I don’t like driving and avoid it whenever possible.
My problem is that I become distracted by my own thoughts and get into a state of flow that has nothing to do with the task at hand, which is driving. It happens more on familiar routes or long stretches of a featureless freeway.
I have never had an accident on the road. Parking lots, yes.
Kerrin Hogan-Evans, Santa Cruz
A: I bet this is more common than we think.
Q: Oh, Great Arbiter Of The Road, my question to people who claim they are good drivers: How often do you use your turn signals?
Maurice Krumrey, Fremont
A: Many others pose the same question.
Q: Am I a good driver? No, because we all make mistakes. So please have patience with me. Please let me merge onto the freeway as I try to gain speed. If I turn on my blinker, please let me in instead of speeding up. And if I make a mistake and was not perfect with my driving skills please do not honk or flip me off. If we are kind to each other, we would all be good drivers.
Daniel Chapman, Santa Clara
A: Kindness is indeed welcome. Road rage is unacceptable.
Q: I don’t get angry when some other driver does something stupid, like cut me off. There is no point to honking my horn after it occurs. I don’t get riled up when that driver honks back in retaliation, or for whatever reason that I don’t understand.
I don’t always signal turns. If I am in a left-turn lane or exiting a freeway, I usually don’t signal.
John Selin, Belmont
A: Be a thinker. Use use your blinker.
Q: When turning right on a red light, I do not always come to a complete stop. I slow to a creep, look left for cars, pedestrians or bicycles, glance right and continue on at a snail’s pace.
Bob Fish, Danville
A: No creeping allowed.
Q: The self-proclaimed “good drivers” who qualify themselves as such because they can handle a car really well. They can zip through curves, stop on a dime, and parallel park in their sleep. Therefore, they feel entitled to tailgate, speed, swerve in an out, ignore other drivers, and so on. They are good at handling a car, but they are bad drivers.
Scott Miller, San Jose
A: On Friday, how a crash on the Bay Bridge turned a bad driver into a good one.
Join Gary Richards for an hourlong chat noon Wednesday at www.mercurynews.com/live-chats. Look for Gary Richards at Facebook.com/mr.roadshow, or contact him at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com or 408-920-5335.
