Driving in Northwest Arkansas

As a former New Yorker, I found David Wilson’s May 31 essay on driving in Northwest Arkansas of interest. I learned to drive in lower Manhattan, back when high schools had driver-ed as a standard part of their curriculum. In the intervening 40some years, I have driven more than two million miles, including 770,000 accident free miles with J.B. Hunt. Since coming here 10 years ago, I have learned a lot about forbearance on the road; New York is a place where people drive with a lot more urgency than they do here.

Mr. Wilson has some suggestions for accommodating the drivers he encounters, the “98-yearold who can’t see” with a birthday cake in his car, as he puts it. While patience and understanding are always in order when on the road, at the same time, it is also important for everyone to use common sense and courtesy.

With that in mind, some thoughts:

• Pay attention! Especially, put your phone down. Driving is already a multi-tasking situation, with many things going on inside and outside of the vehicle that require a driver’s attention to see and respond to them appropriately. Being on the phone greatly reduces the ability to do that.

• Drive for conditions. If it’s not clear and dry, reduce your speed, increase your following distance. This reduces the likelihood of a rear end collision or going in the ditch.

• Have courtesy for those behind you. One of the great frustrations of open road driving is the left lane hog: the guy who is sitting in the left lane, often below the speed limit, who refuses to move over for faster traffic. Standard practice in North America is to drive on the right, pass on the left. Vehicles

in the left lane are required to move over for faster vehicles, regardless of speed. This is not only good highway courtesy, it’s also the law in many states, Arkansas among them. Adhering to these practices will make everyone’s driving experience safer and less stressful.

Mr. Wilson has some good ideas, and we’d all do better if we would just have some patience. But it is also necessary for all drivers to use good, courteous practices while on public highways.

From: Thomas A. Beckett Siloam Springs