Please let me get through ...

Again last night my daughter put a little scare into me as we were out driving.  She's learning and really isn't doing that badly, but... no matter how much you try to coach on avoiding potential issues on the roadway, there are times when you can't avoid situations and you've got to be able to safely work your way through.

As an example, I've tried to instill healthy respect for merge and yield situations into my daughter.  When she's coming up on someone that needs to merge into her lane (from an entry ramp on her right) I've tried to get her to plan in advance and observe the potential merge area well enough in advance to be able to cautiously navigate through the area while still leaving things comfortable and predictable for whomever is coming onto the roadway.  Predictable is the key.  Make things as obvious as possible so that the person merging onto the road can see you are leaving them room or that you'll be passing the merge area before they can get on the roadway so they should slow down and/or assume you will pass them.  Basically be clear, decisive, and predictable.

Unfortunately there are times when you can't get the same courtesy and can't have the same expectation of others.  For example, last night...

Daughter is driving, me in passenger seat, in the slow lane (of 2 on divided highway).  Merge area on the right for traffic entering the highway from a right turn area...  Relatively steady traffic in both lanes.  Someone that was unfortunately riding my daughter's bumper, which should have clued me in that the other lane (fast lane) was still occupied and busy...  Daughter driving a little slow, but not that far behind the next vehicle in front of her.  A red pick-up turns onto the roadway in the merge area (fairly short one) and the fun began as I happened to suggest at about that moment that she should signal and move over into the other lane when given the opportunity (as we had a left turn upcoming in a relatively short distance).  I thought that lane was clear, but apparently it wasn't as there was a red Prius in that lane that was paying *zero* attention to my daughter's turn signal/blinker/indicator and was completely oblivious to the fact that my daughter was moving into the lane as she was  (relatively) creeping by.  EEEEEEKKKK!!

Darned near traded paint, but thankfully no.  I saw the Prius before it was too late, but... the idjit that was tailgating my daughter apparently had already decided to move forward in the lane we'd be in so she really had no where to go but to complete the move into the other lane.

She safely did so, but not without putting a scare into both of us.  I really try not to freak out about her driving as I want her to be calm and confident.  She's lacking confidence already and worries about all of the other knuckleheads and idjits on the roadway around us.  We do have a lot of traffic in our area during the rush hours (when she was driving) and even during non-rush hours.  It's a fact of life for our area.  She's going to have to get more practice and get used to it all, but it's not easy and is terribly dangerous.

One of her biggest issues currently is not being good at glancing at mirrors and using them to monitor traffic around here.  We talked about that again in the later (evening) trip where she drove us home.  I'm trying to get her to use the mirrors but she rightfully worries that if she turns her head to look in the mirrors she'll also turn the wheel in that direction inadvertenly.  It's somewhat natural to do that, and takes practice to not do.  Again, requires time and practice (and patience).

I know she'll get there eventually, and I am really trying to keep her confidence up and not panic her or me, but I will say that she has checked my fear levels a few times along the way so far.