The Ethics of Driving*

OK, maybe this should be revealed up front as a recitation of some of my pet peeves, but, really, people, enough is enough.  I've been doing a lot of driving lately.  Trips back and forth to see the great grandbaby.  Hauling a dear friend's relatives around when she can't be in two places at once.  The occasional road trip to visit a friend.  Those weekly drives north of the river to attend ESOA meetings.  I thought I had seen some really nasty driving habits in Houston, but Central Texas seems to be picking up some bad behaviors of its own.

There was a time in Texas when we saw many reminders to "Drive Friendly."  Texas is, after all, advertised as "The Friendly State," so it fit very well with our supposed character to have that motto painted on various highway signs.  As I recall, it did seem to do its job as a reminder to drivers to drive courteously and lend a hand when needed.  Then we got the motto "Don't Mess With Texas."  Despite what folks outside of Texas might think, that was really an anti-litter campaign.  As in don't mess up the house, kids.  The motto replaced "Drive Friendly" on signs and, despite all intentions, morphed into some macho crapdoodle that was used far too often to mean "leave this big bad dude alone"--or some such nonsense. Nothing to do with driving anyway.

Nowadays, I'm starting to see some of those electronic signs that tell us about missing children or elders also tell us to "Share the road."  It's about time!

I rant.  Perhaps to step back a little and think about what sharing the road might mean.  Perhaps even to think in terms of the ethics of driving.  What might one do to make driving a social event--that is, an event for members of a civil society--rather than a venue for rage, reckless endangerment, death?

• Here's a simple one.  Use those headlights judiciously.  Not so hard.  Turn them on when driving at night, in the rain or other conditions where visibility is limited, or all day long--just to be helpful to other drivers who also happen to hold your life in their hands.  Dim them unless you are way the hell out in West Texas and nobody else** is on the road!  Bright lights inside the city limits or outside the city limits can be deadly.  Blind the oncoming driver, and you become responsible for the consequences, whether the injury is to him or to you.  That's how I see it anyway.  If I could see at all with your bleeping bright lights in my eyes.  You may think that the headlights are there for your sole use and benefit--but, no.  They are indeed intended to help you see the road, but they are also intended to help others see you so they can try not to hit you.  
• Another no brainer.  Use the turn signal like it means something.  Once upon a time, cars didn't come with built in turn signals.  You had to stick your arm out the window (if there was a window) and hold it straight out to signal that you were turning left or bend it at the elbow and point your hand to the sky if you were turning right.  Cars also lacked brake lights, so you needed to stick your arm out that window again and hold it straight out at a midpoint between your shoulder and your hip.  That let the folks behind you know that you were slowing down.  If you wanted to be creative, you could waggle it up and down a little just to make sure they didn't miss the signal. Lots of folks did miss those hand signals, of course; hence the need for signal lights (and tail lights).  Even so, way too many drivers nowadays seem to forget both the existence of turn signals in their vehicle and the basic need to let other drivers know their intentions.  I'm supposed to know when you want to change lanes just because your SUV is bigger than my car and you think that allows you to move it over into my lane without a signal?  Sorry, honey, all I can tell from that maneuver is that you grew up in a barn and probably have more money than sense.  As an (evolving) ethical driver, I want to help you get to where you are going--safely--just let me know when you are going to make a move into the space where my car is headed so that I can slow down to let you in rather than having to slam on my brakes, watch my belongings crash into the floorboard, and feel the bruising effect of a locked seat belt.  Use that turn signal, already!  When making a turn.  When changing lanes.  Whether on a public road or in a parking lot or other private area.  It's plain common sense, its courtesy, and, if you care, it's ethical.  In turn, I will respect the signal, not only knowing what you plan to do now that you have shown me, but allowing you to do it by giving you room to get into my lane or waiting for you to make your turn.  Even in a parking lot.
• But here's the real thing about sharing the road:  You have to do it anyway. Unless it's your private road and no one else is driving or walking or cycling on it--you don't have a choice.  You have to share the space.  At high speeds. Trying to control a heavy machine that can become a deadly weapon at any second.  Why drive as if there were no one else on the road when there are clearly dozens of other vehicles all around you?  Why drive as if those vehicles did not include other human beings whose needs and wants are just as important as yours?  You're late?  Join the club.  You want to get home soon?  Club.  You forgot that you had to stop at the store so you need to make a sudden left turn?  Signal, for garden seed.

Sure I sound grumpy here, but this is not a wish for the "good old days."  It's all an opening for me to say that this is an area where I think that ethics does have a role to play.  Above and beyond the legal requirements for safe driving, I'm thinking that we might recognize that, even though we have just gotten into our car--alone--and will have no face-to-face interaction with others while we are driving, we are still about to interact with other people.  Driving--how we drive--is an ethical activity.  Ethical in that we make choices as we drive; we affect others positively or negatively by those choices; we affect ourselves as caring, compassionate (or not) human beings by those choices.  We may be the only person in our car, no one we know may see us, but we ourselves know the choices we make.   If we are going to try to bring out the best in others, maybe we could give a thought to how we treat them on the road. 

Your thoughts? 

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*Hat tip to Adam Gravois for making me more conscious of this as an issue. 

**Why, yes, I do think that is an important point.