CSP Trooper Tips – “Just Concentrate”

Barbara Crimond | Mar 09, 2020 | Comments 0

Recently I was fortunate enough to travel to New Zealand. I tell you this, not to make you envious (you should be though, it’s an amazing country), but to of course bring to light new driving tips.

Now I have to say I’ve been driving for decades and have extensive additional emergency driver training, but I have never had to drive on the left side of the roadway, or sit on the right side of the car with a steering wheel in front of me.

The amount of concentration it takes to make a proper turn, or just driving back onto the roadway coming from say a parking lot and making sure I was on the correct side was huge. Every time I did something, I had to concentrate and give the action my full attention. Why? Because it was something new, and not just an old routine.

Even something as simple as using the turn signal lever took concentration. I found that the steering wheel is not the only thing not located on the “correct side”. There were quite a few times I notified the drivers around me that I was going to turn by indicating it with a swoosh of the windshield wipers. I’m sure over the years New Zealanders have learned that if someone has their windshield wipers on when it’s a clear day, they must be going to make a turn at some point.

With that said, I’m always thinking about what my next topic will be for Trooper Tips, and being on vacation doesn’t deter that. So, while sitting in the hotel after a day of driving down the road with my windshield wipers on I thought how can I turn this into an article.

Concentration came to my mind. I thought if we focused on driving more and didn’t concern ourselves with the little things that take away that focus things on the road will be better. Concentration could eliminate many if not all of our crashes. Concentrating on your surroundings by looking for road debris, animals, pot holes, and stop signs, allows you to able to react sooner than later, and thus eliminating a crash.

Concentrating on your speed, turn signals, and side view mirrors, instead of the radio, heater, phone, and the drink in the center console will continue to help eliminate those crashes.

Take that extra time to think about what you are doing and don’t let it be a secondary thought or habit. Make it the priority. It is easy to let things we’ve been doing for years slide to the background and not something we concentrate on.

I know I give a lot more attention to my turn signal lever these days.

As always, safe travels!

By Master Trooper Gary Cutler

Filed Under: County • Education • Featured • Law Enforcement • Media Release • Public Safety • Transportation