Should Parents be Teaching Their Kids How to Drive? NMA E-Newsletter #497
By Shelia Dunn, NMA Communications Director Our son will soon turn 16 and he has no interest in learning how to drive yet. I’m relieved. I don’t want to teach him how to drive especially since I drive a stick shift. It doesn’t help that I’m not really the best role model of driving. I’m […]
Lane Courtesy or Law–A California Cultural Examination
Editor’s Note: Lane Courtesy, the principle of slower traffic yielding the left lane to faster traffic, needs to become ingrained in our driving ethos. Many drivers acknowledge the benefits of Lane Courtesy yet they don’t practice it; they never believe they’re the ones holding up traffic. We explored how the driving culture has evolved in this 2017 […]
What is the best way to stop Distracted Driving?
April had been designated Distracted Driving Month and we see numerous law enforcement campaigns to fight against all the distracted drivers out there. Texting, talking on the phone, eating, putting on makeup, fighting with your kids or your spouse, drinking coffee, listening to the radio—so many distractions. The NMA believes that distracted driving in all […]
Tips on How to Encourage Young Drivers to Follow the Rules of the Road
Did you know that car collisions are one of the leading causes of death among young drivers? Vehicle crashes involving teen drivers happen everywhere, and these may be caused by improper driving conditions, driver distractions, driver inexperience and too fast driving. Young drivers need encouragement to follow the rules of the road. Here are some […]
Bad Drivers are Taught, not Born That Way: NMA E-Newsletter #472
From NMA member Bob O’Connor “Johnny will get better as he drives more”, said the mother of a 16-year-old who was beginning to learn how to drive. This statement of course is not necessarily true because it depends on your definition of “better.” It also depends even more on how he was instructed to drive. […]
Are We the World’s Best Drivers? U.S. vs. International Driving Habits, Compared
It’s no secret that car accident rates and fatalities still plague the United States. In fact, motor vehicle crashes are currently the leading cause of death for U.S. teens. What are we doing wrong on the road? The problem may lie, not in our skills themselves, but in our arrogance regarding them. According to a […]
Teaching Kids to Interact with Police—will it help?: NMA E-Newsletter #459
Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia have passed legislation that mandates schools teach students how to conduct themselves around police. Texas passed its law in the last legislative session and mandated that high schools and especially driver’s education courses train students how to conduct themselves around law enforcement. Texas also passed a law to […]
NTSB Wants to Turn Our Highways into a For-Profit Police State
Why does the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) want to change its goal of providing legitimate highway safety research into an advocacy of ever-present, for-profit enforcement aimed primarily at safe drivers who are endangering no one? In a sweeping set of recommendations from its July 25, 2017 public meeting, the NTSB threw down a draconian […]
Putting Courtesy Back into Driving
When promoting the virtues of lane courtesy, the NMA will often get feedback from readers suggesting – some more forcefully than others – that the proper terminology should be ‘lane discipline’ or ‘keep right except to pass.’ Both of those phrases have specific and important meanings, but neither does justice to the spirit of cooperation […]
Lane Courtesy or Law–A California Cultural Examination
from Norman Risch, NMA California Member While the NMA has been increasingly promoting left lane courtesy for years, I can compare several states in which I have lived or worked. California is far worse than Maryland, DC, or Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and most other Eastern states in left and right lane courtesy (not that any […]