People driving crazy nowadays in Phoenix, for over 100 years


I was talking to a friend of mine at the Burger King on Thunderbird where I stop for coffee yesterday morning, and he reminded me to be careful out there because of the all of the people who are driving crazy nowadays. And he's right - from my point of view pedaling around Peoria it does seem as if getting behind the wheel makes ordinary people crazy.

And then I thought that it's really always been true, since the invention of cars. No doubt they were described as "crazy contraptions" that spooked horses, went out of control and drove through flower beds, and of course, ran over pedestrians. And it seems like everything that happens "nowadays" has always happened, but we just forget and imagine that it's all new.

But we can time-travel back further than the invention of cars. I'm sure that the first time someone saw someone riding a bicycle it seemed crazy, or even riding a horse. Heck, I've known people who somehow seem to manage to run into other people just walking!

My friend is no old fool, by the way. He's a careful driver, but he realizes that at some point in his life he won't be able to drive simply because of age, so we both agreed that self-driving cars would be nice to have in a decade or so. Of course, as logical as they will be, I'm sure that they will seem to be crazy, too.

Speaking for myself, I've always tried to take an indulgent view of crazy drivers - and in a long life I've seen a lot. I actually don't imagine that people are crazy, I just figure that they're doing the best they can, which often really isn't all that good. I like to pretend that their car has "Student Driver" on it when they do something strange, and I figure that they're trying to figure out how to work the brakes or something. I used to be a student driver, although it was a long time ago!

Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on Buy me a coffee, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to:

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