Mary Jo Bellner Swartzberg
I was on my way to a local hotel to attend an Arizona Driving School class and I was thinking to myself, “I don’t want to go; I don’t want to do this. This is cutting into my precious time.” But I did have to go, I did have to do it and it had to cut into my precious time, although I do wish I was able to complete an online traffic school module instead. My story began a few weeks earlier.
I was out of SaddleBrooke doing some errands. I proceeded down Oracle and turned left into a shopping center. Afterwards I quickly got into my car then turned left out of the shopping center to catch the light at Oracle, in order to turn right for my trip north. Traffic was stopped at the light on my left, there was no oncoming traffic heading east at the intersection, so I turned right. The only problem is that I had failed to make a complete stop at the red light prior to turning right. When I saw the lights of the police car I knew right away what I had done and, frankly, answered affirmative to the officer’s question: “Do you know why I stopped you?” The rest, as they say, “is history.”
When I walked into the classroom I saw people of every age registering. I could tell by the look on their faces that they, too, did not want to give up four hours of their day. And, of course, we all were thinking to ourselves, we know the rules of the road so why is this so necessary? But do all of us know the rules?
Immediately after the start of the class I knew that the four hours would be important to me and to everyone in the classroom. And after the four hours, I knew that my time was well spent. I learned about rules I knew nothing of, as well as the physics of when one should stop his/her car in traffic to avoid a rear end collision. I learned so much during the class.
While I did take notes I am not going to reiterate the Arizona driving laws here. Go to www.jp.pima.gov – Helpful Links: Arizona Revised Statutes (Title 28) to check out any rule of which you are not sure. However, here are a few takeaways from the class. Be aware of:
* Not being on auto pilot
* Driving aggressively and of aggressive drivers
* The Move Over Law
* Arizona’s Open Range Law
* The rules that govern making left or right hand turns.
Since my driver’s education class I believe that I am more aware of my surroundings while I am on the road and I am very cognizant of not being on auto pilot. During the class this quote came to my mind: “Your car is a weapon. It can be used against you or it can be used against another.’
Indeed. It is imperative to follow the rules of the road.
This I have learned.