Getting the Finger Salute

Recently I was returning to Toronto from Penetanguishene (white rolling sand). The connecting road to highway #400 is highway #93. This two lane drive follows the road originally built in 1814-15. It is approximately twenty-four kilometres in length. Unfortunately this highway is mostly two lanes and is dotted with many slow down areas where improvements are being made. The average speed allows 80k, but through small towns and construction sites, it often changes to 50k and even 30k.

Now I am not saying a lot of drivers, as they sped around me at the first opportunity, gave me the finger but I assume they wished they did! The middle finger salute is used to insult someone who you feel has offended you.  I at least imagined that happening a lot times given the way they crowded me until they got chance to pass. The thing is, I follow the instructions: if the sign says 50k I slow down to 50k, and if the sign says 30k I slow down to 30k. What a good boy am I!

So now you can picture the situation. As the "speeding" drivers pass me what they see is an octogenarian, grey hair and clutching the steering wheel, travelling in their estimation, much too slowly. I imagine them thinking "There goes another grey haired senior creeping along the highway, peering over the steering wheel, and slowing down the traffic." Has my imagination gone wild, or is there some truth to this. I am not sure!  I must confess I have had those same thoughts in my younger years!

Now that I am the law abiding senior driver I see things very differently.  To maintain my driver's licence in Ontario I am required to attend a workshop and be tested every two years. Now I don't feel any differently behind the wheel than I did years ago.   I don't deny there are a few older drivers out there who are not as quick. Having taken the course I now know that if I break the rule one time - not coming to a full stop when making a right turn or exceeding the speed limit ONCE - because of my age, I will not only lose my licence but have to repeat the workshop and the driver tests. Is this reason enough for me to be so exacting with the traffic laws - YOU BET IT IS!  Am I a super cautious, aging old grey hair dodder people can't wait to pass, or am I protecting my right to sit  in the drivers seat? Whether I like it or not, the car is still my ticket to freedom and right now I don't wish to lose that ticket.

What this experience teaches me is that so often we are too quick to judge others. How many of those anxious young bucks behind the wheels of their souped-up chargers really know the pressure we seniors are under? Probably none of them. I did not know how serious it was until I took my first mandatory driver test!  I know they will keep on judging my exacting submission to the rules of the road, as just another old man at the wheel. But of course, I will go on judging them, without the least bit of proof as to what they are thinking!

And that's Dick's View of thew World this Week.