driving

  Who taught you to drive? The first car I can remember steering was a 1955 Cadillac Eldorado. It was black with a grey interior. The steering wheel was the size of the wheel of a steamship. I recall sitting on my fathers lap while he allowed me to drive. I even remember the road, Abrahams path. It was a tar and chip road snaking through the woods and we were heading for Three Mile harbor. Dad was hollering, stay on the road. It's just a little memory, just a short clip, but it was such an exciting time. But, Dad didn't teach me to drive, no, that skill I picked up on my own. You see I lived on a dirt road and got to drive old junkers my brothers had. For a short time I had Pontiac Lark that I learned to drive on a fire lane through northwest woods. When it was time, I took drivers education in high school. That was mostly to get the discount on insurance, and I thought, get out of the classroom.

 Well I did get out of the classroom but not nearly as much I had had hoped for. We did spend a great deal of time in class going over the manual! The rules of the road. And watching movies. I smile today thinking about those films. I smile not because the film was funny but because I can imagine the reaction if they were shown today. Those films were actual footage taken by the Ohio State patrol. Today they would be described as traumatic! And that would be putting it mildly. Really they were real life, real time pictures of carnage. Wrecked automobiles, bodies, and body parts strewn about, pools of blood and gore. Yes, those films got your attention, if you had stomach enough to look. I'm thinking many looked away, I can remember looking away a few times myself. No, those films weren't for the faint of heart. They also weren't made to coddle sensitive children, shock and awe was more the technique. But we were assured if we wore that lap belt we could avoid a great deal of that. Well we did have padded dashboards! 

 Now the car the school had was an automatic, power steering, power brakes. The instructor had a brake pedal on his side. My teacher was Coach Ted Meyers. There would be four students, one driving, three in the backseat. Coach would put on his sun glasses and tell you where to go. He sat there calm and cool as a cucumber. Sometimes I wonder if he was even watching at all, maybe just resigned to whatever fate awaited. He would turn on the radio too. We drove around town a bit, might practice parking a little, but that's about all I remember doing. The days we got to drive were the best. I think that would have been in 1969. I can't say for certain but I believe our drivers ed car did have a three point belt. That is to say, included the shoulder belt. It wasn't until it became law that I started wearing a seat belt. I use them today to save the fine, and that is the only reason. It has become somewhat of a habit today. I still feel the same way about them however, should be optional. And I say that having watched those films where not everyone stayed in the car! Some did though, mostly impaled on the steering column. Ah, those were the days my friends when driving was an adventure. You really did need to pay attention, no warning devices on those cars. No radar lane assist, no automatic braking, and no self parking. No, it was just you and the open road. Freedom! That what it was freedom. We would go for a drive, just to drive. And in my neck of the woods we could travel to the next town and that was something. I'd drive as far as Riverhead on some days, a distance of twenty five miles. It was a regular day trip. Didn't drive that distance on a whim. That was when I learned to drive, manual shift, no power steering, hydraulic drum brakes and vaccum operated wipers. It took skills. You had to now how to operate that clutch on a hill so you didn't roll backyards or stall the engine, the car really did need to be in motion to turn that wheel, the brakes didn't always work when wet, and those vacuum operated wipers, well they didn't work either when you were going uphill or trying to pass someone. Yup, took skill and timing to get it right. And sometimes a navigator. The navigator would be responsible for unfolding that map and telling you when to turn. GPS? Ha, you started with getting the right map for the state you were in and went from there. Strange thing about those maps though, your turn was always in the fold line, the navigator needed a sharp eye. Did have an eight track player in high school for entertainment so it was good. I miss those days.