The reason that city driving poses such a threat to me, is simply because there is just TOO much to focus on at once. Picture this: I am driving down the freeway in Calgary and these are the things I have to focus on:
First I ask myself: "Am I speeding?".
Wait I don't even know what the speed limit is in this section.
Quickly I begin to scan the area in search of the nearest speed limit sign. I can't find one so I choose to drive at a safe 50km/hour. This seems to be too slow as people are honking at me and passing like hornets in search of their next unsuspecting toddler to sting.
I speed up to 60 km/hour when I notice that the light in front of me is turning yellow, nope it's red. Can't help but wonder where my eyes were when it turned yellow.
I slam on the breaks, thinking I will slow down, but I'm slowing to a halt in the middle of the intersection. Obviously I am in third gear, which means I end up pulling through the red light at a crawl. I swear if I get a red light ticket in the mail saying "Your licence plate "XXX-XXX" was recorded going 10km/hour through a red light" ....
What happened to police putting in a good ol' fashioned show down, the kind where they chase after you and show you who's boss. I think it's a little bit wussy that they hide in their air conditioned trucks mowing down tim bits and poutine, sneakily ruining people's lives one at a time.
Also: Who gets to decide if you pay your ticket early that you get $25 off of your felony? That's like beating your child for taking cookies, then giving him a quarter of the cookie for behaving well once he was caught.
Another major problem is the stress of one way streets. You never know what way each street goes until you're driving down a one way street travelling conveniently the WRONG way. How about a one way that turns into a 2 way street; please tell me how one is to distinguish this change when the lines on the road are so faded I would deem them non-existent?
It's imperative to have a VERY PROFICIENT front seat navigator. Without this, you will end up in the hood, being pulled over by a "police officer" conveniently driving a child molester van.
With all of the stress present when you are simply driving, avoiding the po-lice and any photo-life-ruining devices, perhaps last on the list of priorities is not striking:
- Stray animals
- Hobos in shopping carts races
- Businessmen having heated conversations in their sports cars
- Run away horse carriages
- felons escaping the police
- & lastly, Asian mothers driving van-fulls of kids to soccer games.
The city is a stressful, dangerous place, causing even twenty year olds to feel heart palpitations so strong, that they closely reflect a full on heart attack. To those who dominate the city streets with their swift driving skills, way to go, I admire you.