Mall Arkey Investments This Week

Friday, February 03, 2012
Winter Driving (by Daron Mayes)
Okay, okay, I admit it. I am an impatient driver. I like to think of myself as a safe driver, but at times I am definitely impatient.

I was reminded of this again last weekend as we were driving to one of my boys’ hockey games. In fact we were heading to Kelowna again, but this time we didn’t find the “Toll Freezer Guy”!

As we were driving between Enderby and Armstrong, we got behind a line of four vehicles that were crawling along at around 70-80km/h. It was snowing, but it was around 1pm, the roads were ploughed and plenty of traffic had kept our lane bare.

I began mumbling to myself and wishing I could get my speed up to 90km/h. My wife told me to be patient. That didn’t seem to faze me as I continued to mumble. The irony is she drives like me for the most part and whenever I’m in the passenger seat I tell her the same thing.

As we approached Armstrong and our single lane became a double lane, I proceeded to pass the four cars that were clearly holding me up. After passing the first few vehicles, I was surprised to see that it was a young man who was at the front of the pack “holding up traffic.” He looked to be only 18 or 19 years old. My wife said “Good for you!” It took me a second, but I realized she wasn’t congratulating me for the fact that I was finally passing him.

I was humbled at the notion that my impatience was being directed at a young man who clearly was being very responsible and taking the weather conditions seriously; especially considering his lack of driving experience.

We continued on to Kelowna, but I decided to slow down and relax; at least what I consider relaxed. As we were driving between Armstrong and Vernon, I notice the vehicle slip a bit; that weird feeling you get when hitting some black ice. I thought to myself, “That’s funny, the road looks to be dry and bare?!” I slowed down some more, but I continued to feel the vehicle slip at times until we got to Vernon.

When I got to the hockey game, a friend of mine said “Boy it was slippery between Armstrong and Vernon.” “Ya, I did notice that” I replied. He then told me he heard there were numerous accidents along that stretch shortly after I had driven through.

We often criticize how young people drive, but this was a reminder that there are young people who are being responsible. In fact, this young man taught me a thing or two about not only driving but being patient too. I was thankful that he set a good example for me and now the responsibility is on me to pass that along to my own kids. Hopefully you do the same.