If asked, the majority of people would rate themselves as above average drivers.
Even those drivers who accidentally mistake "drive" for "reverse" when backing out of a parking stall managing to reach speeds of 40 km/hr to barrel through the walls of a business before hitting the brakes, stopping just in time for the waitress to take their order.
They are quick to assign blame, stating poor weather conditions or even insisting the building wasn't there before, but would never admit it was their driving abilities.
I am not one of those people who would consider themselves an above average driver. I'm not the worst driver on the road either.
Yes, I can parallel park anything from a compact car to a jacked up 4X4, but I have issues. These issues are confined to the inside of the vehicle. The person in my passenger seat is getting a front row ticket to my behind-the-wheel gong show.
No, I'm not distracted. I pay attention to what is going on around me. My issues are with how much pressure I need to apply when pressing the accelerator and the brake. This past winter, I turned a corner too fast and slid top-of-wheel deep in a snowy ditch.
Earlier on in my driving career, I had also "grazed" the side of my Horizon against one of those poles that protect the gas pumps from being driven into. It's a judgement call. I obviously didn't know the size of my vehicle.
As a new driver, I was overly cautious. I vividly remember taking Driver's Ed in high school. The first day in the vehicle was a sunny day and I was behind the wheel. My driving instructor, I can't remember his name, so I will call him Joe, was seated beside me, with another timid learner in the backseat, anxiously awaiting his turn behind the wheel.
We were travelling through a school zone, Joe had his window down. I believe I was going a tad under the 30 km/hr speed limit, (I was overly cautious, remember) when this mouthpiece of a man in a black BMW pulled up beside my vehicle, and with his window down yelled to Joe, "You should tell her to park the car. She's never going to learn how to drive."
That was it. I was done.
I stopped the car in the middle of the school zone, and got out. The mouthpiece was right. I was never going to learn how to drive. Joe coaxed me back in to try again. The words of that rude man still rang through my head, but Joe's were stronger.
Gaining confidence in my ability to drive may or may not have been the best thing for my passengers. Some have white knuckles, some hit the imaginary brake on the passenger side, and others refuse to let me drive.
I'm okay with this. I'm clearly not the best driver on the road.
