What's Up With The Bad Drivers?

I can't decide whether the holiday season was truly more stressful for people this year, or whether it just felt that way. We personally got to the point where we were avoiding going out, not because we wanted to, but because it was starting to feel safer at home. When we did go out, people were cranky - and it showed in their driving. I'm not going to say my husband is the world's greatest driver, but in the nearly 20 years since he's had a driver's license, he's only ever gotten one speeding ticket, and he's never been in an accident. I tease him about having pretty fly reflexes, but I am very thankful he is fast on the draw and a defensive driver, because otherwise our truck would be in bad shape at the moment.

Twice last month he had people nearly whack him because they were the ones zoning out. One went to pull out right in front of him, and then suddenly stopped because they realized the road wasn't clear enough to go. DH had to slam on the brakes on that one, and missed t-boning that vehicle by one inch. Trust me, you don't realize how small one inch is until you see it. Even though we didn't hit them, with the sudden jerking of our truck, I went ahead and replaced my daughter's booster seat. Luckily she's in the age where it doesn't cost me $300 to replace a carseat anymore. (Sigh)

The second time was when DH was getting ready to turn, and someone ran a red light. Insert cranky voice here. It was pouring, and we're lucky DH managed to slam on the brakes - but you can tell the damage had been done to our brakes with all this extra stress on them for these sudden stops. Yeah, it's what they are there for, and I am very thankful nothing bad happened, don't get me wrong - but I am also perturbed that I now had to budget in getting my brakes changed when they had been fine a few months ago!

The way other people drive is one of the reasons I am very careful with our auto insurance policy. I would rather pay a little extra and have piece of mind that if anything does happen, I won't have to worry that we'll be vehicle-less for long and DH won't be able to get to work. I know it's a habit for many of us to try to save as much money as we can, and so we get the minimum car insurance we can get away with, but sometimes it's worth having a policy that includes the little things like a new car replacement, first accident forgiveness, and 24/7 claim hotlines. And it won't break the bank if you shop around for a quotes from different companies, because you can often save money on your policy and still get the coverage you need.