DWF (Driving While Friendly)
I’m constantly on the lookout for opportunities to do something friendly while driving, like slowing down to let someone make a much-needed lane change or allowing a car to enter the road in front of me. It’s a small gesture, but it relaxes me and makes me feel good. And I know it makes the other person feel good as there are many, many more people out there whose driving style is more in the “ruin someone’s day” category.
Tom & Ray (Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers) offer the following inspiration and advice in the introduction to The Official Car Talk Guide to Civil Driving:
Try to react to “frustrating” situations as you would if you were walking instead of driving. Would you yell at the little old lady in front of you who didn’t start to cross the street the second the light came on? Probably not. If someone almost bumped into you on the sidewalk, would you call him a jerk and make obscene gestures? (If you would, you’re hopeless and we don’t want to have coffee with you.) In fact, you’d probably say, “Excuse me,” even if he (or she) was, “in the wrong.”
Finally, this humorous letter about the “problem” with courteous drivers. Thanks Click and Clack.
Posted 1 December 2003
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