Signals

I have noticed that in my ever aging brain, I am more and more bothered by petty things. I admit, this has probably added extra gray hairs to my scalp, but for some reason, I enjoy the inner conflict. It seems the top of the list is the inability of vehicle drivers to use their signals when turning.

Humans have been using signals for communication forever, regardless of their success. Hand signals, sign language, eye contact, body language, fashion; all giving off visual signals to other humans. All animals do it. But human being are starting to play and evolutionary games of Russian roulette with their signal misuse, especially while traveling in a steel box with wheels.

Traffic is hideous everywhere in the world. People driving are becoming worse with the amount of distractions in the world. Kids today are capable of multitasking far better than any generation. Remember when speed reading was 'a thing'? Did those people scanning the pages of a book remember what they read? Are kids today really absorbing all the multitasks or are they just dipping their toes in the water?

I wonder this as I see more and more drivers distracted these days. With the dashboards lit up with everything possible, from sattelite radio to gps, nevermind their cell phone laying in their laps (tsk tsk), it's no wonder why simple driving rules are disrespected. I have chosen to not learn to drive, and fess up to being a bad vocal passenger, but I'm certainly not snipping at the driver beside me.

As a pedestrian I'm surprised I haven't been hit by a car yet in my years of adulthood. I assume that cars have signals for communicating to other cars and close by people on football of the direction they intend to travel. Unfortunately, most drivers now seem to think we are.all using The Force to read which way they are directing their car. The other day a car at a 4 way stop had their left hand turn signal blinking. I began to walk across the sidewalk while they were supposed to be turning left. They proceded to drive straight almost into me, as I stared the driver down. I signalled that he needed to turn left as he was intending to do. I stood my ground and made him turn.

Cars drive on the road assuming we all know what we they are doing. Are they just like our super multitasking children, just dipping their toes in the DMV road test? For some reason, it's okay to drive like a 5 year old, claiming confusion when pulling a Canada's Worst Driver move on the roads. When I was learning to drive in my teens, my father taught me that driving should be instinct, where you shouldn't have to think about everything you do on the road. Well I never went farther than passing my written test but, I agree with him.

Wish me luck out there. Pedestrians are risking their lives. "I'm walkin' here!"