... the commercial truck/bus in front of you has a sign that says, "How Am I Doing?" and provides a number for you to call? Richard and I were behind one yesterday and I thought, "do the pros really outweigh the cons in this case?"
Let's say the person in front of you is a bad driver, and you decide to call the number to complain. Well, for at least a few minutes, you yourself will be a very distracted driver as you either (a) write down the number on a piece of scrap paper on your wheel to call later, or (b) call while on the phone and rant and rave to an automated machine.
Sure you may feel better, but what if during that time of your distraction the driver in front of you stops very suddenly, or serves into another lane (he/she is a bad driver after all, which is why you are calling). Now your reflexes are slow and a crash is more likely, if not inevitable.
Writing about this leads me to another question -- if you do call in, does anyone actually listen to the messages that you leave? Or is it just a placating and "venting" tool to make you feel better and not lash out against the company that the truck driver was working for?
PS- I desperately tried to find a picture of a truck with a "How am I doing" on the back and couldn't. Google images failed me!
PPS- Once in middle school, my friend Amy and I called in the number and rambled on for like 5 minutes about how we thought the driver was attractive. Good times.
4 comments:
I think about calling those all the time. I have almost been killed by a semi on several occasions since moving out here.
I just MMS'd you my only picture of the back of a truck. I took the picture for the egregious apostrophal error, but I see a few fuzzy areas on there that you may find, upon zooming, are "how am I doing?" numbers.
You should have Richie call while you are driving - or you call while Richie is driving.
Maybe you could take a picture with your cell phone and call later? But even doing that would distract you...Omaha has a number you can call if you see a driver flicking a cigarette out of the window. I did call that to rant about a person who flicked ashes for a block and then flicked the burning stub into the dry grass on the median. I got a real person!
That's funny that you called in middle school. I'd guess you and Richie won't be leaving messages like that together.
Post a Comment