The Emporia Gazette

May 27, 2012

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A quick note to fellow Lyon County drivers — a Larson boy is joining our ranks.

Alex got his learner’s permit a week ago and has been making short drives ever since.

So far, Alex has driven home twice from Wal-Mart, at least five times to Americus, twice to Admire and a few times in Emporia. He’s declined, however, to drive to Wal-Mart or to a destination that required a left turn across Sixth Avenue.

This week has been an education for Greg and I, too. Under Kansas law, Alex is required to drive a minimum of 50 hours — 10 of those after dark — with a licensed driver over age 18. That usually means Mom and Dad.

One of the first things we noticed is that Alex was creeping to the right side of the road when he drove. Greg assured Alex this was normal for beginning drivers. But the next day as I was driving, I wondered why Alex was having problems.

That’s when I realized that those who have been driving for years no longer look at the yellow line in the middle of the road and the white line on the side. We look farther ahead and aim for the middle of the lane.

So, I started to pay attention to the yellow line when I drove. I realized that closer to the driver, it appears that the car is at least six inches over the line. I also realized that Alex doesn’t have the same cheats I had when I was 14. Back then, all vehicles had long front ends and every hood had a distinct center line, usually raised, or a hood ornament. I learned to line up the hood ornament with the white line. If they aligned, you were in the right spot.

But Alex is learning on my van. Like me, he can’t even see the end of the hood. So, it was time for a different visual explanation for Alex about depth and width perception.

Knowing I couldn’t make him stop dead in the middle of the highway, I used the driveway with a garden hose in place of the yellow line. I backed out the van and had Alex drive halfway back down, following the “yellow line.”

Then I made him stop and get out. We looked at where the van sat. It was a full foot to the right of the hose.

“Bet you thought you were closer, right?” I asked Alex.

The next lesson came as we drove to Admire. I’d point out to Alex oncoming traffic and cars he was following, noting just how much space there really was in the lane.

Since then, he’s done a much better job of staying in the center of his lane rather than to the right.

We’re still working on speed, though.

No, Alex isn’t driving too fast. He still tends to drive too slowly for my taste. I apologize to the driver on north Highway 99 last Wednesday night who ended up behind Alex. In my son’s defense, he had a full quarter mile when he pulled onto the highway.

But Alex doesn’t understand the concept of 0 to 55 in a matter of seconds. Instead, it took full minutes. By then, the car driving north at 55 mph had slowed to 30 to wait for Alex to adjust his speed.

As with his depth perception, I helped Alex learn about speed with a direct application. He was on a short half-block in Americus with no traffic behind and a stop sign ahead when I told him to push the gas pedal hard — my pedal is slow to get started sometimes.

He did and realized that the van wasn’t going to immediately hit 60. He also realized he wasn’t going to go through the windshield. He’s better now about speeding up quicker when necessary.

Still, I know the time will come when it will be harder for him to slow down than speed up. That’s when the neighbors will call.