We Drivers (1965)

ourselves make all the operating decisions to keep it running smoothly and with Tim taes or dispatchers we ourselves decide where and when and how we want to travel in this amazing system we make as individuals must fit with the decisions of many other drivers of all ages and descriptions driving all types of cars and trucks to all kinds of destinations and we drivers have all kinds of viewpoints [Music] most of us agree that to be safe we need to consider every driving maneuver in terms of what it might do to the other fellow as well as what the other fellow might do to us we need to understand the changing relationships between the car we are driving and the cars ahead behind and to the sides this is not always easy even in cars that are built to be safe and even when we have the best intentions to drive safely we sometimes have trouble getting the right viewpoints for safety for example The View we see through the windshield of our car doesn't always give the true picture we may become so interested in what's going on up ahead that we forget to look out behind [Music] we may be in a hurry and be satisfied with a Viewpoint like this driving too close to the car ahead with no margin for safety we may have trouble remembering the other fellow's Viewpoint if so we'll soon find out what he thinks of us [Music] [Applause] [Music] our viewpoints don't necessarily match is the man ahead an inconsiderate roadhog or to his way of looking at it is he just playing it safe in the middle of the road it all depends on the Viewpoint what a difference it might make in our Drive if we could have a bird's eye Viewpoint or a whirly bird's eye Viewpoint we'd get a new and different look at things to see how our driving affects everyone else on the road from this new Viewpoint High overhead we could see the results of bad driving manners improper and dangerous maneuvers [Applause] the helicopter view would also help us to see how advanced planning and curtesy make all the difference how getting into the correct Lane for turning or stopping let's the other fellow know what we're going to do and what about tail gate with this Sky View even the habitual tailgator would drop back to give himself more room he'll be glad to have that margin of safety if the man ahead suddenly changes speed or Direction some of us have not yet discovered how to use our modern freeways and expressways with confidence and safety for example there's the problem of entering a fast moving stream of traffic from the air we see that it's a mistake to try to force our way into the flow especially if we aren't moving fast enough to keep out of the way of oncoming [Music] cars from the whirly bird we see that the right way to enter the moving stream of traffic is to stay in the acceleration Lane until our speed matches that of the other car and we can merge smoothly into line in other words don't squeeze in ease in our aerial look at things again shows us how to get off the freeway we watch the signs make our plans in advance to be in the right lane at the right time then we maintain speed until we're completely clear of through traffic [Music] here we can see how the Slowpoke who lags behind the general flow of traffic causes confusion he delays and irritates other drivers if he could see himself as others see him the slow driver would move over where he belongs in the lane reserved for slower traffic sometimes our fine roads high performance cars give us the impression that we're really flying low this is likely to happen on Long stretches of freeway where we tend to lose our sense of speed during sustained fast driving speed may be quite all right for a helicopter but in an automobile excessive speed can quickly get us into situations that are hard to [Music] handle that's one way to get out of a tight spot while we're Airborne let's go around again for another look at the trucks what we didn't see at first was the hidden danger the other car pulling suddenly into the passing Lane when our speed is too high we may not have time to react safely when hidden danger is revealed reasonable speeds will let us keep control in any emergency and and on super highways it pays to be super safety-minded we drivers often need to make quick decisions when we see the light ahead flash to Yellow before we decide whether to stop suppose we could hold the caution light while we study the situation it doesn't seem likely that we'll have trouble with that truck but then we realize the danger of there being another car partially hidden with its driver all set to LEAP ahead the instant the light changes in his favor the more clearly we can visualize the possibilities the easier it is for us to make the safe decisions at a stop Street for example a clear road ahead might tempt some of us to Coast on through what if we had an overhead view like this with the right Viewpoint we remember that there is always a chance that someone hidden from view may be approaching from an unexpected direction we drivers always expect the unexpected and wherever children might be near we base our speed on being able to stop almost instantly if need be [Music] when children are concerned we look high and low and sometimes beneath parked cars we'll catch a warning glimpse of feet attached to a busy [Music] child of course a sky Viewpoint might be a great help to [Music] anyone but we drivers certainly don't need to wait for our cars to fly before we can all be safer and more skillful at the wheel all we need to do is to learn The Knack of visualizing what's going on around us with such a Viewpoint we'd find it easy to be more considerate of other drivers with the Viewpoint of being more courteous toward pedestrians we'd grant them their rights and remember how often we are pedestrians ourselves we'd be more understanding of the other drivers problems and if traffic sometimes doesn't move to suit us our overall Viewpoint will remind us that there's almost always a good reason for the delay wherever we drive experience and practice will help us in thinking and planning ahead with very little effort we can learn how to keep in our Mind's Eye a clear picture of just how the car we're driving fits into the scheme of things all of us can use our mind's ey picture to make us better and more skillful drivers with a better understanding of the rules of the road and a new way of looking at what it takes to be safe then on all our busy streets and highways across the length and breadth of America we drivers will have the right viewpoints to make the safest driving decisions every time [Music]