About Driving Responsibly

Here at Automoblog.net, we are all car enthusiasts. We like driving fast, sometimes too fast, sliding around, and generally having fun in our sports cars. We write a lot about fast cars and their various high-speed abilities, but rarely talk about the importance of driving safely on public roads. I know it’s boring, but pay attention.

Earlier today I was driving to the Olive Garden for lunch (love the soup, salad & breadsticks) and witnessed a lady in her Chrysler Town & Country taking a left turn at an intersection, not paying attention, run off the side of the road into the ditch and hit a sign, almost flipping the minivan. She was okay, but it got me thinking about how little people pay attention to driving when they’re driving.

Nowadays we’re so busy with our lives that we multitask everything. While driving, I’ve seen people put on makeup, read a newspaper, eat and drink, talk on their cell phones, text message, and even use a laptop while driving. Somewhere in the course of their commute, they felt it was reasonable to pilot a 2 ton hunk of metal down the road at 55 mph and check their email at the same time! Let’s evaluate ourselves here and think about why that’s a really, really bad idea. Shouldn’t take long.

Breaking News: Snow and Ice are Slippery!
The More You Talk, The Slower You Drive

Driving enthusiasts get it a little bit more. We value the driving experience. Paying attention to what we’re doing while driving is part of the enjoyment, so that’s not a problem most of the time. However, we tend to get overconfident in our driving ability at times (admit it guys,) and drive way too fast, or corner a bit harder than we should on public roads. I admit I’ve curbed my Z once (overcorrected my slide, lesson learned) and I’ll take it far past the speed limit on occasion, and it’s not smart. Car parts are expensive, and really add up when repairing your car. Trust me.

We’ve covered a few instances of this type of driving that didn’t end very well for the driver:

Idiot Crashes Bugatti Veyron Into Lake
Dealer Crashes Ultra Rare Koenigsegg CCX
Ferrari Enzo Wreck
Wrecked Ferrari 360 Modena
Ferrari Testarossa Crash
140 mph Speeder gets Nailed via Youtube

All due to negligence from the driver. This sort of thing happens so often, in fact, WreckedExotics.com is dedicated to exotic car wrecks, and is one of the most popular websites on the internet. Thanks to them for three of the pictures in this article.

Driving while impaired is even worse, because you know before you even get into the car that you’re being irresponsible. Innocent people get killed every day from drunk drivers, yet thousands of people still do it every night because of the fundamentally incorrect “won’t happen to me” mentality. It’s a stupid decision that has always confused me as to why someone would think it’s okay to drive drunk.

It’s rather simple, actually. When you’re driving a car, no matter how boring it is, pay attention. You have other people’s lives in your hand – other drivers as well as your passengers (spouse, children, friends,) who are all trusting you with their lives, and when you put their lives and your own at risk because you feel it’s more important to text message your BFF, that’s totally not cool.

Driving enthusiasts…here’s a secret: you’re not as good a driver as you think you are. Tracks exist for a reason. They’re made so you can go fast and do almost anything in your car you want and have a great time going fast. Save it for the track, it’s not worth the risk.

Filed Under: Car News • Car Opinions • Idiots