Learning to Drive
I grew up in rural Illinois. As far as learning to drive, that had several implications. The first implication is that my parents taught me the basics of driving before I got to Driver’s Education in HS. The second implication is that most of my driving, in miles, was on rural, unmarked roads with no posted speed limit (I believe the default speed limit when not posted was 45mph). The third implication was the road technology of the mid-1970s. Let’s start with that.
If you have ever watched the movie Cool Hand Luke, a 1967 Paul Newman movie (which I recommend if you haven’t seen it), features a defiant prisoner in a southern chain gang. In one scene, the prisoners shovel sand on top of freshly sprayed oil/tar applied to the road to hold it in place. The rural road I learned how to drive on was that kind of road. They oiled and applied a layer of sand until the next year. In the winter and spring, the road fell apart from the moisture. I remember one year when it was impassable for the school buses and my parents had to make arrangements to get us to a pick-up point in the morning. As far as learning to drive, I was encouraged to drive in the middle of the road unless there was a vehicle passing.
This fits in with the second implication as well. Rural, unmarked roads had a different set of rules than marked roads. It was expected that people would drive in the middle of the road and for the roads to have undulating hills and hard turns. As a driver, you were as worried about a cow or a deer on the road as much as an oncoming car. This also meant that snow might make the road impassible for an extended period as there were many more miles of roads than equipment to clear them.
It’s the first implication that I want to focus on. My parents were both raised on a rural farm in the same state. That, in my assessment, gave them practical tips that may not fully follow the rules of the road. For example, I learned to turn into the lane I wanted to be in for a future turn. So, for example, if I was turning right and planned to turn left thereafter, I’d turn into the outside lane. Very practical advice but against the rules of the road (when you turn, you always turn into the lane closest to you). Other practical tips I learned were to slow before a turn and accelerate through the turn (I believe this is legal) and turn into a slide (also legal). I’m sure there were many more that I just don’t remember. As far as the learning aspect, I was driving a tractor with my dad years before getting my learner’s permit and my mom let me drive the rural roads with her the summer before I got my learner’s permit. Both parents wanted me to learn the practical aspects of driving as well as the academic aspects that I’d get in the Driver’s Ed class.
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. - Proverbs 22:6 ESV
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” - Hebrews 5:12-14
I’ll always be grateful that my parents loved me and desired for me to develop into a responsible adult. They were willing to spend time training me in both the moral and practical aspects of life while letting me explore my own development when their intervention wasn’t needed. I believe I am still growing in God.
