The Wheel Training
Where I grew up, the schools required you to take a driver’s education class the semester closest to your 16th birthday (the first year you could get a driver’s license in Illinois). There was a semester of class work and several behind the wheel driving opportunities with the instructor.
The teacher was one of the PE teachers and, in retrospect, he was perfectly suited for the job. I remember him being pretty calm sitting in the shotgun seat of the car with one high school student behind the wheel and two in the backseat waiting for their turn.
Growing up in a mostly rural area, a lot of us had some experience driving farm equipment or, in my case, driving the rural roads illegally with my mother before I got my learner’s permit. My mom gave me two pieces of advice that I’ll always remember. The first piece of advice was to slow down before the turn and accelerate through the turn (that makes more sense if you think about narrow country roads and snow or gravel). The second piece of advice (which may not be strictly legal) is to turn into the lane you’ll eventually need to be in. For example if you were turning right onto a street with four lanes and a few blocks later you’ll be turning left, my mom thought you should turn into that left hand lane. Strictly illegal but the gist was to think ahead of your route and plan accordingly. I’ve avoided many accidents by noticing break light on a vehicle two or three cars ahead of my position.
Anyway, I must have been sick for one of my behind the wheel sessions and had to make it up with the next group. I did my time behind the wheel and traded places with one of my classmates. She got behind the wheel (we are on a rural road). She had never been behind the wheel of anything and was scared to death (I was too from the backseat). She drifted from one side of the road to the other side going maybe 15 mph while the teacher hovered his foot over his own break pedal. After several painful minutes of this, she started to get a feel for the amount of turn on the wheel to adjust the trajectory without over adjusting.
“Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight, Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.” Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.” - Proverbs 4:1, 5-9, 25-27 ESV
A lot of people see something wrong and want to make it right. In their haste to fix it, they create other and sometimes worse problems to deal with. My classmate would drive a few feet and see that she was coming close to the ditch and yank the steering wheel to adjust. The problem was that she adjusted too much and started moving towards the ditch on the opposite side of the road. My department used to refer to this as the left ditch/right ditch reaction by management for similar reasons. It takes experience and wisdom to not fall to the temptation to over correct and create new problems. If our elected officials would only learn this lesson.
