Surviving Traffic Survival School


Driving is a privilege not a right.  That's why you obtain a license. 


On August 23, 2011, while driving back home from running a series of regular errands around T-Town, I got photo flashed at the infamous Speedway and Kolb intersection.  I was about the 4th or 5th car in the flow of the traffic proceeding through the yellow light, when I saw the flash.  I prayed that it hadn't been for me but for the person behind me.  About three weeks later, I learned that flash familiar to all Tucson drivers had been for me.  The proof positive arrived in the mail from the Tucson Police Department; a photo of me behind the wheel of my BMW 325 CI, with hand raised as I swore at myself for being so stupid, along with a ticket for $335.  Ouch!

A week later, I received my "invitation" to attend the mandatory Traffic Survival School, an 8-hour class to re-teach me the rules of the road.  While others I know have attended this class and similar ones, once or several times, this was my first experience.  I wasn't sure whether the "survival" they referred to was road safety related or had to do with surviving 8 straight hours sitting in a classroom.

I arrived about 15 minutes early for my class, given at a local hotel at 8 AM on a Saturday morning.  Al, the instructor was signing people in, verifying paperwork, etc.  It was a full class of around 30 people, a cross-section of Tucson's driving population.  As is my usual classroom routine, I selected a seat in the front row, pulled out my blue-lined pad and pen, along with my  Thermos of water, and settled in for my marathon 8-hour session.  Jim had assured me that I would certainly learn a few things, and the experience would be good for me.  He's always assuring me that some new experience of mine will be a character building opportunity to which I should pay particular attention.   Thank you, Jim.

As I checked in, Al thought he knew me from somewhere.  He, a retired traffic court judge from Nevada, now lives about 70 miles south of Tucson among the cactus and beef steer ranchers.  Nope, I'd never appeared before him in Nevada.  As he introduced himself, we learned that he was first-generation Italian-American and raised on a Florida dairy farm.  With me being second-generation Italian-American, I  figured I just looked familiar to him because lots of Italian-American woman look alike .   We then went around the room and everyone gave his/her name, traffic violation, and how much paid in fines.  The tally from a class of 30 people came to around $10,000.  Most of us believed we were unjustly ticketed and that our fines went to pay T-Town operating costs of some kind.  Most of us were there because we had been caught running a red light.   Al assured us that he was not here to judge anyone's innocence or guilt, this not being a court of law, just a DMV classroom, and that our fines went to the State Government in Phoenix for victims relief.

Al began the class by blurting out all sorts of little known facts and statistics.  That's when I knew for sure this was not going to be a boring, long day.  He interspersed his lecture with an assortment of serious and humorous videos that drove home whatever point he was attempting to make us remember long after our class.  He also threw in enough personal stories to keep us awake until he called for the next 15-minute (smoke) break. 

"Do you know the color of a Yield sign?"  If you said yellow, you'd be dead wrong.  No, the color wasn't changed recently.  It has been white with a red frame since 1939!  So why do most people think a Yield sign is yellow?  Good question.  Maybe because we always associate caution with the yellow traffic light.


What are you supposed to do when you see a yellow traffic light?  The correct answer is  B R A K E.  

43,000 people died in traffic accidents in 2010.  Even with all the improved safety features on today's cars, the numbers keep rising, except for 2008.  That was because fewer people were driving due to the recession and the spike in gas prices that year. 

75% of drivers are driving distracted.  That includes not only talking on cell phones, but also eating, drinking, fiddling with the radio, CD's, a purse or applying make-up, to mention just a few.

It takes only 3 seconds to cause an accident.  Therefore, it's a good idea to keep 3 to 6 seconds between you and the vehicle in front of you, and DON"T TRUST ANYONE.  That includes not only other drivers, but pedestrians, motorcyclists and bicyclists. 

50% of other drivers are driving distracted and have never taken a driver's training class. 

Arizona drivers hold first place in the US for red light running for the last 7 years!

Arizona is also the US leader in rear-end collisions for the last 6 years.

Did you know that it only takes a tiny tap of the brake or a light bump to put your car into a 360 degree spin? 

The saddest statistic is that 50% of the people who take the Traffic Survival class will get another ticket after 3 to 12 months.  2% will get ticketed in the next 24 months.

If a person receives another traffic violation in less than 24 months, he/she can avoid racking up points on their driving record by taking a court administered Defensive Driving Session (DDS).  This is a 4-hour online class that can only be taken once in two years.  

Thanks Al Munday for waking up at 3:30 AM and driving from Patagonia to Tucson on a Saturday morning to teach me to be a more conscious and alert driver 150% of the time.   Please let me know if I have relayed any incorrect information or statistics. 

Trunk Monkey 

DUI arrest














Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 9, 2014 at 1:52 PM

    I've been in a similar situation myself. I had to attend traffic survival school and it helped me a lot. I've always considered myself a cautious person but after traffic school, I'm even more careful.

    Susan Hirst | http://www.northwestvalleytrafficschool.com

    ReplyDelete

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