What do you think? Are drivers becoming less courteous on the road? Do you signal before you break to change lanes? Click here to comment on a forum.

A funny thing happened after I cut off that irate person on Highway 169

By Suzanne Ruff

Glancing over my shoulder, I flipped on my turn signal, indicating my intention to merge into traffic and zipped onto Highway 169. There was no other car in sight . . . Honk! Honk! The hair on the back of my neck tingled. I glanced into my rear view mirror.

I had cut someone off – a very irate someone. There was a car behind me and the driver was making wild hand gestures in between honking his horn.

And, no! I wasn’t on a cell phone.

All I could think was where in the world had he come from? Had he been in my blind spot? I watched in my rear view mirror as the vehicle sped around and pulled up into the lane next to me. The driver leaned toward the passenger window and glared. Silent words foamed out of his mouth and bounced off his windshield. With a sneer on his lips, he raised his finger in the obscene salute.
Cringing, I placed my left hand on my chest close to my neck and repeatedly patted it in a gesture of apology. “My fault,” I winced as I looked over at him. “Mea culpa, mea culpa!”
A funny thing happened.

He put his finger down. A look of disbelief crossed his face. He stopped running his mouth. He stared, shrugged, gave me a nod and I thought I saw a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. With a little salute, he sped on ahead of me.

Whew! The incident gave me the willies. It made me think about being a polite and courteous driver. An “EP” driver, everyone’s polite, as my high school drivers education teacher used to say. It has been a long time since I took drivers ed. Man landed on the moon when I was in high school, that’s how long it’s been. People come in and out of your life, but what an impact my drivers ed teacher, Mr. Selzer, made.

A former Marine, he didn’t mess around teaching us to drive. There were two other student drivers in the car. We switched drivers every 15 minutes. He addressed us by our surname, as in Miss and Mister So and So.

He repeated the same thing to whoever slid behind the wheel.

“Miss So and So, driving is a privilege. It is not a right. There are rules and you must obey them in order to proceed to your destination safely. You are operating a two and a half ton vehicle. Do you understand the power behind that weight? Your decisions as you drive impact everyone’s life in this car and on the road. Be a courteous driver. It may save your life. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” we nodded, terrified.

During our time at the wheel, if we were stopped at a traffic light, he told us to look around. “What do you see? Scope out and prepare for what is ahead of you when the light changes. Is there a pedestrian waiting? A bicycle around? What is that delivery truck going to do? Anticipate! Be ready. The pedestrian might cross the street in front of you, she might continue going straight, or she might jaywalk. Anticipate! Who has the right of way?”

“Yes, sir. No, sir. The pedestrian, sir.”

In this day of cell phones and text messages, I shudder to think what Mr. Selzer would say about today’s drivers waiting at a traffic light.

“What is Webster’s definition of the word signal?” He often asked.

“A signal is a way to communicate, sir.”

“Correct!”

“When you turn your turn signal on, you have communicated with the drivers around you that you will be either turning or changing lanes. You do not hit your brake lights before you use your turn signal. Your turn signal communicates that you will be stopping or slowing down. Signal and then brake. Never brake and then signal. That is not polite. Be courteous. Do you understand? If I ever see any of you around town, hitting your brake lights before you have signaled, you will be considered a rude and careless driver. Every one of my drivers is polite. EP – everyone’s polite. It was the initials of the high school I attended – Evergreen Park High School – EPHS. ”
“Never trust mirrors!” He said that often as we turned our heads to be sure the coast was clear. On this near-miss day on Highway 169, I felt as though I let Mr. Selzer down, but I also felt gratitude to him for almost 40 years of safe driving.

And, then the irony hit. His motto applied quite well to the city where I now live: Eden Prairie – EP – where most everyone is polite.

It begins with me.

Suzanne Ruff is a resident of Eden Prairie.