As you know I’ve been pondering doing more commercial posts on this blog. I’ve really agonised about doing this one. But this is a topic I have written about before, and will probably write about again, and it doesn’t feel so wrong to wheel out my rant box once again.
Except ranting doesn’t really go with the tone of this campaign. This is about being calm, being polite, being respectful. All the things that ppl so often aren’t when they are driving.
And I don’t really know why not. Why, once we are sitting in our metal boxes, do we feel invulnerable? So invulnerable that we risk life and limb just to get to where we are going that few seconds earlier? Ironically, that kind of driving probably slows us all down – I once saw a documentary that explained some traffic jams are caused by drivers going too fast, too close and having to slam on, which then causes a ripple effect rolling traffic jam even though there’s no actual blockage on the road. Something to think about – we might all get there quicker and safer by going a little slower, and leaving a little more space. *And* it’s more environmentally friendly to drive that way without heavy acceleration or overuse of the brakes. Win win.
I respect the road I respect the road even more now that I’m not driving on it every day, but walking beside it instead. When I was commuting many miles daily, with two small children in the back of the car, I was so grateful every time that we made it OK. The one day I didn’t make it OK thankfully the children weren’t with me – they were safely in bed at home the day I wrote off my fiesta by running it into the back of a mercedes by being just that little bit too close on a road icier than I realised.
My fault that day, and I have learned from it. Thankfully no one was hurt. I should have known better – and I do now. I’m glad that I got to have that lesson with no greater casualty than a very old and tired fiesta.
AXA Respect On The Road is about more of us doing that learning and improving our driving, hopefully without the getting hurt bit. I wish we didn’t need a campaign, especially a campaign run by a commercial company, AXA Car Insurance. Having said that, it is a campaign I am happy to support, as it’s such an important part of the every day world.
Living where we do, we don’t have to drive every day and we’ve even reduced our car ownership down from two to one, and I like our life that way. But when we do leave town, we drive along an incredibly busy road, and so very often we pass the ambulances, the police cars and the clear up crew. I hate it and I worry every time dp is out without me on that road, and I’m happy to do my little bit to change it. Will you do the same?
If you want to get involved further in the campaign, you can take a look at the videos below, follow the links, and sign up to the facebook page. You can also view the AXA youtube channel, Respect on the Road.
You should also check out Merry’s post on this campaign
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