I was thinking today as I was driving home about the road rules. Most of the rules are about being predictable to other drivers. That is why we drive at the speed limit, indicate, stop at red lights, etc. It’s all about making us more boring and predictable drivers. A boring driver does what others think they’d do, making them easy to plan around. It seems like most accidents happen when people behave unpredictably. If someone doesn’t stop at a light and they hit another, its because they were being unpredictable. If someone drives off the road and into a tree, that’s something most wouldn’t do, being unpredictable.

Alcohol makes us behave erratically, unpredictably. This increases the chances of us doing something others wouldn’t expect, which makes us hard to plan around, and makes an accident likely. The same thing happens when we’re tired. These also decrease our reaction times and reduces the quality of out reactions. This makes it harder for us to track others if they do anything unpredictable and decreases the chance of us making a good response if someone else is unpredictable.

Although driving is boring, its safest that way. Being boring makes you predictable and in tern lets others plan around you to reduce the chance of an accident. Although it can be fun to be unpredictable, it can pay off to be boring.