Driving defensively never goes out of style

When I was taking driver's education training in high school in the 1960s, the concept of “defensive driving” was emerging and being taught. The techniques, developed by the National Safety Council, continue to be taught, and remain with me to this day.

Basically, the goal is for the driver to not only follow the rules of the road but also to anticipate that others may not be following them so that you can avoid inadvertently being involved in accidents with them.

You are always watching how other drivers are driving and anticipating how to respond if they do something stupid, like running a red light or changing lanes unexpectedly.

In other words, you assume other drivers on the road may be bad drivers - or at least inattentive ones.

Unfortunately, it isn't a wrong assumption. It has kept me out of many accidents over the years, including one just the other day.