Given that it is nearing late January, I was going to write a post on the decline of the Green Bay Packers. However, occurrences over Friday evening and Saturday morning this past week reinforced recent events that I now have come to see a certain issue not simply as a few bad actors, but as much more--it is now a matter of public safety. For years news reports often refer to a traffic incident with words such as: "SUV hits pedestrian." It is like the SUV is some robot not controlled by a human. Even though SUV's and Cross-overs are all the rage, the press makes it seem as if they alone run a muck. However, for every vehicle there is a driver, and I am now certain that, at least from anecdotal evidence, there is something about Honda drivers.
My first driving experience with a Honda was an Accord that my wife owned at the time of our dating and early part of marriage. That was over 25 years ago, and my wife is one of the better drivers I know. Heck, she is almost as good a driver as I am (a statement sure to get her dander up). Seldom does the husband app have to go off while she was driving. In the few instances it could have, the husband knew better than to comment on his wife's driving. For a few years, I have noticed a significant amount of bad driving was related to those driving Toyota vehicles. But the past few weeks has shown that Honda drivers are the worst. Let me provide some examples.
Yesterday while heading west on our local collector street to US Highway 51, a car was driving very (and I mean very) slow along the right side in the parking lane, of the road. It was not like it was being done for only a hundred feet to get around a person making a left turn. No, it went on several blocks. What was the elderly lady driving? A Honda cross-over. Just as the road turned to a left-straight and right turn lane I moved to the left-straight lane. In an excruciatingly slow manner the Honda driver made her way up to the right turn lane. But, to make matters even worse, as I was in the left turn lane another vehicle was ahead of me, and even my wife commented on how slow the turn was made by that vehicle. I bet you can guess the type of vehicle. Another Honda. This time a van. Do Honda's have such poor turning and driving capability that they have to take a corner so slow? Perhaps the women was carrying the atomic clock housed at the Naval Observatory. Two incidents in within seconds of each other failed to allay concerns and stereotypes that Honda drivers are a nuisance and threat to public safety. It reinforced that growing opinion. Going too slow, and travelling in a parking lane is not just good driving.
But, it became personal Saturday morning. I was out for an 8:00 am walk on a beautiful Saturday morning, with temperatures in the mid to upper 20's, and the newly risen sun shining where buildings and vegetation would not block its rays. In other words, it was a great morning for a walk. I just had to watch for ice on the sidewalks not properly cleared from last Monday's snow. As I was southbound I crossed a intersecting street. I almost half way through the cross walk, when all of a sudden my eye catches a car coming from behind me making a left turn. I momentarily stop and the car makes it left turn right near me. It perhaps missed me by about three feet. I may have been hit had I not stalled for that split second. I suppose, given the danger I was in the car seemed to move faster than it pehaps was going. As the car travels up the road I turned my head to get a look at the vehicle. It was of course, a Honda. The small trendy cross over called a CRV. Different driver, and different color than the one the older lady was driving along the side of the street the prior day. As slow as those two Honda's on Friday evening were driven, one could surmise that this Honda driver was not concerned that his car would fall apart if it by chance had hit me. The way those two women had driven their passenger less Honda's I had to think they were concerned for their safety.
These experiences, in a matter of less about sixteen hours, with sleep time in between, made me wonder if Honda drivers are given a manual on bad driving techniques. Do Zimbrick Honda sales persons provide instruction in how to bring about disdain from other drivers? My wife used to drive a Honda, but that was a quarter century past, so it must have predated her time of owning a Honda. Or, perhaps Honda drivers are so callous, self absorbed and trendy that they view themselves as the only ones on the road? Experience has shown they are a tribal group. Of course as gingerly as the older lady drove and the young women in the minivan making the left turn, perhaps the driver who almost hit me should have been more worried about what my small 60 year old body would have done to such a tender vehicle. Yet, it may be more. When first married, I took my wife's burgundy Honda Accord to get some service work at Zimbrick, since I only worked a few miles south on Fish Hatchery Road. After paying the bill and retrieving the keys I was told were the car was parked. I go outside to the prescribed lot and noticed about 20 burgundy Honda Accords. I could not figure out which one she owned until I started looking inside for something I recognized. So, perhaps the poor driving by Honda owners is their way to counter the heavy Japanese trend of cultural conformity. Do drivers of these Japanese vehicles unknowingly systematize American independence and liberty and take it over board, into bad driving? We know that by their purchase of a Japanese vehicle they care little to none about the American factory union worker. Is this their way of showing an independent attitude free from the entrenched conformity?
Some Americans like to be trendy. Heck, I am myself a trend setter--simply by virtue of waiting for the trend to come back around. Another American tendency is laziness. Also on my walk Saturday morning I came across a home with the garage door open and the dog running around the drive and related yard. A man looked as if had just picked up doggie do, and was in coat and hat, and flip flops. 27 degrees out and this guy is outside in flip flops. Either he is so trendy that he has to wear flip flops in the below zero weather, or is too lazy to put on his shoes. Guess what make vehicle was in his garage? A Honda, not a CRV, but the larger SUV, being the Pilot. If it was sheer laziness this example is outdone by what I saw a couple weeks ago. Again on my daily walk, but a very cold morning where exhaled breath froze on my mustache, and with no sidewalk I was on the left hand side of the street. Ahead of me I noticed a Honda CRV backing out of a garage. The driver backed down his driveway and I patiently awaited his move to back into the road and pull ahead to get on his way. Did he do the expected? No! He maneuvered to his garbage container, opened his window and grabbed the container with his left hand and drove back up (probably a distance of 45' consisting of 15' terrace and 30' setback) to the garage and parked the container just to the left side of the garage door. I do have to say, it was accomplished with a certain deftness so I thought this could not have been the first time. I have to think a typical person would walk down and get the container. But, this is not a typical person, this is a Honda driver.
I will agree that Honda has a certain panache, probably driven by tribalism, with some elements of the driving public. However, they now have, in my mind, replaced Toyota drivers as the din of the driving public. Yes, it is a matter of public safety. Be careful out there, particularly if you are near a person driving a Honda as you never know what awaits.
My first driving experience with a Honda was an Accord that my wife owned at the time of our dating and early part of marriage. That was over 25 years ago, and my wife is one of the better drivers I know. Heck, she is almost as good a driver as I am (a statement sure to get her dander up). Seldom does the husband app have to go off while she was driving. In the few instances it could have, the husband knew better than to comment on his wife's driving. For a few years, I have noticed a significant amount of bad driving was related to those driving Toyota vehicles. But the past few weeks has shown that Honda drivers are the worst. Let me provide some examples.
Yesterday while heading west on our local collector street to US Highway 51, a car was driving very (and I mean very) slow along the right side in the parking lane, of the road. It was not like it was being done for only a hundred feet to get around a person making a left turn. No, it went on several blocks. What was the elderly lady driving? A Honda cross-over. Just as the road turned to a left-straight and right turn lane I moved to the left-straight lane. In an excruciatingly slow manner the Honda driver made her way up to the right turn lane. But, to make matters even worse, as I was in the left turn lane another vehicle was ahead of me, and even my wife commented on how slow the turn was made by that vehicle. I bet you can guess the type of vehicle. Another Honda. This time a van. Do Honda's have such poor turning and driving capability that they have to take a corner so slow? Perhaps the women was carrying the atomic clock housed at the Naval Observatory. Two incidents in within seconds of each other failed to allay concerns and stereotypes that Honda drivers are a nuisance and threat to public safety. It reinforced that growing opinion. Going too slow, and travelling in a parking lane is not just good driving.
But, it became personal Saturday morning. I was out for an 8:00 am walk on a beautiful Saturday morning, with temperatures in the mid to upper 20's, and the newly risen sun shining where buildings and vegetation would not block its rays. In other words, it was a great morning for a walk. I just had to watch for ice on the sidewalks not properly cleared from last Monday's snow. As I was southbound I crossed a intersecting street. I almost half way through the cross walk, when all of a sudden my eye catches a car coming from behind me making a left turn. I momentarily stop and the car makes it left turn right near me. It perhaps missed me by about three feet. I may have been hit had I not stalled for that split second. I suppose, given the danger I was in the car seemed to move faster than it pehaps was going. As the car travels up the road I turned my head to get a look at the vehicle. It was of course, a Honda. The small trendy cross over called a CRV. Different driver, and different color than the one the older lady was driving along the side of the street the prior day. As slow as those two Honda's on Friday evening were driven, one could surmise that this Honda driver was not concerned that his car would fall apart if it by chance had hit me. The way those two women had driven their passenger less Honda's I had to think they were concerned for their safety.
These experiences, in a matter of less about sixteen hours, with sleep time in between, made me wonder if Honda drivers are given a manual on bad driving techniques. Do Zimbrick Honda sales persons provide instruction in how to bring about disdain from other drivers? My wife used to drive a Honda, but that was a quarter century past, so it must have predated her time of owning a Honda. Or, perhaps Honda drivers are so callous, self absorbed and trendy that they view themselves as the only ones on the road? Experience has shown they are a tribal group. Of course as gingerly as the older lady drove and the young women in the minivan making the left turn, perhaps the driver who almost hit me should have been more worried about what my small 60 year old body would have done to such a tender vehicle. Yet, it may be more. When first married, I took my wife's burgundy Honda Accord to get some service work at Zimbrick, since I only worked a few miles south on Fish Hatchery Road. After paying the bill and retrieving the keys I was told were the car was parked. I go outside to the prescribed lot and noticed about 20 burgundy Honda Accords. I could not figure out which one she owned until I started looking inside for something I recognized. So, perhaps the poor driving by Honda owners is their way to counter the heavy Japanese trend of cultural conformity. Do drivers of these Japanese vehicles unknowingly systematize American independence and liberty and take it over board, into bad driving? We know that by their purchase of a Japanese vehicle they care little to none about the American factory union worker. Is this their way of showing an independent attitude free from the entrenched conformity?
Some Americans like to be trendy. Heck, I am myself a trend setter--simply by virtue of waiting for the trend to come back around. Another American tendency is laziness. Also on my walk Saturday morning I came across a home with the garage door open and the dog running around the drive and related yard. A man looked as if had just picked up doggie do, and was in coat and hat, and flip flops. 27 degrees out and this guy is outside in flip flops. Either he is so trendy that he has to wear flip flops in the below zero weather, or is too lazy to put on his shoes. Guess what make vehicle was in his garage? A Honda, not a CRV, but the larger SUV, being the Pilot. If it was sheer laziness this example is outdone by what I saw a couple weeks ago. Again on my daily walk, but a very cold morning where exhaled breath froze on my mustache, and with no sidewalk I was on the left hand side of the street. Ahead of me I noticed a Honda CRV backing out of a garage. The driver backed down his driveway and I patiently awaited his move to back into the road and pull ahead to get on his way. Did he do the expected? No! He maneuvered to his garbage container, opened his window and grabbed the container with his left hand and drove back up (probably a distance of 45' consisting of 15' terrace and 30' setback) to the garage and parked the container just to the left side of the garage door. I do have to say, it was accomplished with a certain deftness so I thought this could not have been the first time. I have to think a typical person would walk down and get the container. But, this is not a typical person, this is a Honda driver.
I will agree that Honda has a certain panache, probably driven by tribalism, with some elements of the driving public. However, they now have, in my mind, replaced Toyota drivers as the din of the driving public. Yes, it is a matter of public safety. Be careful out there, particularly if you are near a person driving a Honda as you never know what awaits.
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