A mother and her daughter were having lunch at home. The daughter said: “Mom, it’s Mother’s Day tomorrow. What Mother’s Day gift would you like?”
“I want you to learn how to drive,” the mother replied. “Knowing how to drive will make you more responsible and more independent.”
“Sure!” the daughter responded enthusiastically. “Will you teach me?”
“Oh, no, not me. I wouldn’t have the patience. You better go to a driving school.”
“But you’d be the best teacher. You’ve been driving for many years, even before I was born, weren’t you?”
The mother smiled. “Yes, I’ve been driving for at least twenty-five years. But don’t tell that to anyone, or else they’ll know my true age.”
“I won’t. Did you go to a driving school?”
“No. Your daddy – may he rest in peace – taught me.”
“How was it? Was Dad patient with your driving mistakes?”
The mother smiled again. “Not really. He often told me to be thankful that the other drivers on the road were very patient with my bad driving. Once he said that I should only drive a forklift, which simply goes back and forth.”
“What car did you use to practice driving?”
“Not a car, an old Army surplus jeep. But I soon became ‘a good enough’ driver to graduate to a small car, with a manual transmission, of course. In those days, the standard for most cars was a manual transmission. It’s the opposite now. You may have noticed that our cars have an automatic transmission.”
“That makes it easier for me to learn how to drive.”
“Yes, but I want you to learn driving a manual transmission car, first. Knowing how to drive a stick will come in useful in an emergency when only a vehicle with manual transmission is available. Those who first learn to drive a manual find it easy to learn to drive an automatic, but someone who has learned to drive only automatic transmission cars would have difficulty driving a stick.”
“Oh, okay.” “Besides, driving a stick is more fun than driving a ‘matic. Rowing through the gears of a five-speed manual transmission is enjoyable. It gives you a feeling of oneness with the car, especially when there’s an open road, no traffic, and you can drive fast.”
“Mom, I’ve noticed that when I’m in the car with you driving, you like to drive fast.”
“Yes, but I don’t exceed the speed limit and I never drive too fast, so that I don’t lose control of the car. I’ve never had an accident because of driving fast. Once, when I was waiting for a traffic light to turn green, my car was bumped at the rear. Obviously, the driver of that car lost control because he was driving too fast. Another time, a speeding bus sideswiped my car’s front while I was exiting towards the street from a driveway.”
Continuing, the mother said: “The most important thing, whether you enjoy driving fast or prefer to drive slowly, is to be safe and make it safe for all other road users to be on the same road with you. Not only the other drivers on the road, but also the pedestrians, motorcycle riders and bikers.”
After a pause, the mother added: “I’ll choose a driving school for you that emphasizes safe and responsible driving, aside from teaching you the basic driving skills. A driving school that makes you learn and follow the traffic regulations, that will teach you to not call or text while driving, to not drive when drunk or on drugs, to stop when you’re tired, to practice road courtesy and consideration even when other drivers are rude or reckless.”
“I don’t drink or do drugs, Mom.”
“Thank God you do not. But there may come a time in the future when you’ll have to or want to drink socially. I hope that by then that you’ll have absorbed the importance of ‘Don’t drink and drive’ for your own safety on the road. It should be second nature to you up to the day when, in your old age, you decide to give up driving and let a chauffeur deal with the terrible traffic in Metro Manila.”
“Old age for me is at least sixty years away,” the daughter remarked. “I wonder if people will still be driving cars at that time.”
“We hear a lot about autonomous self-driving cars and even flying cars being developed. It will take years, if not decades, for those things to be perfected and made safe to use. Meanwhile, we’re in the ‘here and now’ where driving on the road can be dangerous if you don’t know how to drive safely and responsibly, if you don’t know how to share the road. . . . Come, let’s Google a driving school!”
