My
august employer self-insures, so all employees must take a driver’s education
test if they plan to use vehicles on the company dime. It was an accordingly nostalgic morning for
me last week. Accident fatality statistics,
ghoulish videos of car wrecks, state Department of Transportation documents
(sample advice: “NEVER take your anger out on someone else on the road”), and
the sort of recommendations from insurance companies that make you wonder how
entrepreneurs like Hank Greenberg and Warren Buffett ever made their
acquisition-oriented buccaneering ways to the top of the industry. Do you, for example, turn off the radio and
crack the window when traffic gets heavy, so you can hear all and avoid
distractions? Do you stay four seconds
behind other drivers at all times (up from two seconds when I first got my
license)?
It wasn't easy for me to learn how far I am from that level of ultra-responsibilty. But who I really felt bad for were the purchasers of bond insurance. It's important to drive safely. But when you're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars packaged in pretty esoteric ways? Consider of all the slide
shows, re-enactments, and paeans to the power of the certificate of deposit
that they must all go through!
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1. Posted by Christine on July 1, 2008 @ 8:33 | Permalink
I still do everything they told us in drivers ed., including "10 and 2." Many people have suggested an "investor's license" by the way, which I don't think is a horrible idea.
2. Posted by David Zaring on July 1, 2008 @ 8:45 | Permalink
More power to you. But how is it even possible to stay four seconds behind everyone else on the highway?
3. Posted by Jake on July 1, 2008 @ 21:29 | Permalink
What is with the "four seconds" stuff?
When I learned to drive, the noble science of physics was still taught routinely in high school. Anyone who can deal with Newtonian mechanics knows better than to generalize with a "four second" rule when piloting a couple of tons of steel about public thoroughfares.
One suspects the "four second" rule is well intended to protect the ignorant.
4. Posted by Joan Heminway on July 3, 2008 @ 16:03 | Permalink
I was told "one second for every car length." However, I would benefit from the four-second rule; it would be safer the way I drive . . . . :>) And I heard that "10 and 2" is out. Now, it's roughly "9 and 3." See SmartMotorist.com.
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