While the rest of America was voting I was in “school”.  Yesterday I was hit by another car as I was making a left hand turn into a left turn lane.  I was adjudged guilty of the collision and decided that ending the event quickly was the best approach.

Carol called the police and she noticed there was a driver’s school at the corner where we usually made our turn out of the North Miami Post Office.  She convinced me to drive to the school to find out about the option of taking a 4 hour course to avoid paying a penalty or going to court.  The course was next night from 4 to 6 p.m., cost $38.00 and I would avoid 4 points.  Carol also called GEICO and by the time we reached home we had been sent paper work on how to get the damage checked and start the process of repairing the car.  I began to think, although I was in the right, that maybe I was getting too old to drive.

So, the next evening, last night while America was voting I was seated in a classroom with about 30 other miscreants who chose to take the DOTS Traffic School to take the Basic Driver Improvement Course.  The teacher, Janet, is from Panama and spoke quickly and with a strong but understandable accent.  The group of students was about evenly divided in thirds, White, Black and Hispanic. A large number were young. They were divided up into new drivers, drunk drivers, and those taking 4 hr, 8 hr and 12 hr courses for different offenses.

We were addressed as old friends and returnees. A few were new, first time students. Janet had a few basic rules: no cellular phones, no sleeping and expect respect returned if you give it.  I was appalled by the poor speech and lack of interest by a good number of people who wanted to get back on the road even after Janet explained the reasons most people were given citations. Boredom was evident.

She asked for individual stories and opinions about why they were attending this course.  As I said, I was the only 80 year old and she pointed out that most of the speeders and other violators were young. She said I didn’t look it and told of 90 year olds who refused to give up their licenses although they had numerous problems in driving.  I had recently had my eyes checked and passed and was told I had pretty good reflexes. We were shown films (old and poorly designed with sound problems) with a couple in the back talking loud enough to make this worse while the teacher was out of the room.  This last film showed a young woman who was burned, disfigured and maimed by an unrepentant young man who is now in jail for killing two others. I think this had the greatest impact on this class which is frequently held and which a few disregard and come back again and again.