Missing My Mind, and Everything Else

Friday, August 6, 2010

Page 11

AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)

Missing My Mind, and Everything Else

By J’AMY PACHECO

One of my favorite sayings is this: “Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most.” This has been among my favorite sayings for quite some time, for several reasons. Unfortunately, I don’t remember what any of them are.

The older I get, the more I forget. I keep my telephone number and address on a sticky note affixed to my computer monitor for those mid-life moments when someone asks for that information and I’m suddenly stumped.

Hardly a morning goes by that I don’t wake to find some kind of note taped to my alarm clock reminding me what I have to do that day—some task that would likely otherwise go uncompleted.

I set my cell phone alarm to remind myself to pick my daughter up from school. If the dog didn’t bark when she needed to be fed, she’d probably waste away within a week.

A high-functioning brain isn’t the only thing I miss. I miss my favorite television shows all the time, because half the time, I can’t remember what day it is. Kudos to the person who invented TiVo, that wonderful service that always knows what day it is and records my television programs. (Assuming, of course, I’ve remembered to ask it to do so.)

Apparently, I missed something really important: a law that went into effect Jan. 1, 2007. This “new” law is called “The Move Over, Slow Down” law, and is intended to protect people who do business on the side of the state’s highways.

The law requires California’s drivers to either move away—if it’s safe—or slow down when they approach a stationary emergency vehicle with its emergency lights activated; a non-moving tow-truck, or a marked Caltrans vehicle with its amber warning lights activated on the side of the freeway.

Frankly, I’m surprised I missed hearing about the law when it took effect. When it became illegal to drive while talking into a hand-held cell phone, I heard. (I’m apparently the only one who did, since I can’t drive down the block without spotting someone holding a phone to their ear. But that’s a different story.) I even remember when it became illegal to drive without buckling one’s seat belt.

I receive many press releases. I read several daily and weekly newspapers. I look at online news all the time. (Sometimes, it even turns out to be accurate.) I consider myself to be reasonably well-informed, but I’d never heard about this law until a few days ago when The Governator released a public service announcement to remind everybody about it.

I think it’s a good law. Since three California Highway Patrol officers were hit by motorists and killed within days of one another in June alone, it appears to be a very necessary law.

But in order for this law to be effective, it’s also necessary for California drivers to realize that we’ve become idiots on the road.

It doesn’t surprise me that people are being killed on the side of our roadways. I’ve been driving for more than 30 years, and I’m sure roadside fatalities have been occurring even longer than that.

But in recent years, I’ve notice a trend for California motorists to do their high-speed driving and passing on the right side of the roadways—the side designated for low-speed vehicles—rather than in what’s always been called “the fast lane.” I’ve even seen people driving at high speeds in the uphill truck lane of a freeway I frequently drive.

I’m not a speeder. My lane of choice is the second-slowest lane of a freeway. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had some bozo come rocketing up on my tail as I’m tooling along at the speed limit. Worse is when the speeder barrels up to the rear bumper of a slower-moving big rig in the slowest lane, then suddenly veers in front of my car one lane over, taking a layer of wax off my car in the process.

These people scare the daylights out of me. I’ve always wanted to see one of these nut cases get pulled over and given a very expensive ticket. Of course, now that I know how dangerous it is for an officer to give a ticket on the freeway, I’m rethinking that wish.

I may forget a lot of things, but I do remember to follow the hands-free cell phone law. (In fact, I’ve stopped answering my telephone at all while I’m driving.)

You can bet that since I’m now aware of it, I won’t forget this law, either.

For the sake of the people who keep our freeways safe, I hope I’m not alone.