DEAR ABBY: I am a professional driver. Please allow me to offer some advice to everyone I share the road with:
(1) Please do not honk or display obscene gestures because I am driving the speed limit. It's not my fault that you're late.
(2) Please don't pass me on the right, using the curb lane, parking lane, bike lane or sidewalk. It's dangerous.
(3) Please obey the stop signs, stoplights, yield signs and other signs on the road. They're there to protect people.
(4) Please put down that breakfast sandwich, cup of coffee, lunch or dinner. If you're that hungry, pull over to eat.
(5) Please turn off your cellphones while driving. Whatever it is, it can wait.
(6) If you must discipline your children, please pull over to do it. I have seen drivers wrap their vehicles around trees and lampposts because they had turned around to talk to their child.
I drive more than 1,000 miles a week, and I see more accidents than most will in a lifetime. Many of them could have been avoided simply by paying attention to the road. If my letter prevents just one fatality, then it was well worth the time it took to write it.
- Milwaukee Mile Man
DEAR MILE MAN: Thank you for taking the time to write. As both a driver and a passenger, I have seen some frightening near-collisions because drivers chose to ignore speed limits and run stop signs and stoplights. Usually the infractions are caused by rudeness and an attitude that the rules of the road apply to everyone else.
And please don't think that automobile drivers are the only transgressors, because I have seen bikers and cyclists do some of the same things.
CONFIDENTIAL TO MY READERS: If you are partying Monday night to celebrate the arrival of the new year, please don't drink and drive. Make sure you have a designated driver.
I wish you all a happy, healthy, prosperous 2013!
- Love, Abby
