Column: Recreation

Aside from an occasional drive to take in the scenery or head out for a hike, car trips may not be considered lake-area recreation. But consider this: Many people spend time behind the wheel getting to Smith Mountain Lake so they can spend time savoring its many recreational pleasures.

Even those fortunate enough to live on SML's shores take regular trips around the lake for groceries, fishing supplies or dinner out. Then there are those necessary trips to Rocky Mount or Roanoke for medical appointments or periodic stock-up at Home Depot or Walmart.

All that driving leads to the possibility of a traffic citation that could earn a subsequent visit to remedial driving training as part of the education and penance for disobeying the thousands of traffic laws and regulations. (Yes, Virginia, there are thousands.)

My driver-improvement opportunity came after I rear-ended a plumbing truck that had stopped while waiting for a UPS truck to make a left turn off the curvy part of Virginia 116, also known as Windy Gap Road, on the outskirts of Roanoke.

I came around a blind curve too fast, saw the stopped truck too late and plowed into its industrial-strength rear bumper. I had slowed to about 20 mph before impact so no injuries resulted. But I mashed the truck's trailer hitch and bumper and totaled my '97 Explorer.

The responding officers cited me for "following too close -- causing an accident," and I was ordered to appear in court two months later. My plea of "guilty, but with extenuating circumstances" was enough to get the judge to offer me a chance to avoid the fine and license points by successfully completing a driver improvement program (DIP).

What I learned was that this is fairly standard court procedure; the judge offered many of my fellow offenders that option. Most all chose the opportunity to minimize the impact their ticket or collision would have on their driving records and insurance rates.

We were, however, obligated to pay court costs of $64 and the DIP course registration fee of $75. But it beat the alternative: points, fine and insurance premium adjustment.

Successfully completing the course also avoided another morning in court, because the DIP provider sends the judge a list of who shows up for class as ordered and gets at least 80 percent correct on the 50-question test at the end of the day. With terms of the sentence thus met, it is an automatic "case dismissed."

This particular eight-hour DIP class is only offered on Saturdays. My scheduled session also fell on a day that was forecast to be one of the two reasonably hospitable weather days in all of February. The prospect of spending a sunny Saturday cooped up in a dingy classroom with a bunch of fellow offenders was a bummer. When the alarm went off at 6 a.m., I was not a happy camper.

Nevertheless, I managed to grumble something about "making the most of it" as I set out for Roanoke. Determined not to get a ticket or have another accident, I negotiated Windy Gap Mountain more slowly than usual, arriving at the Roanoke Police Academy in the bowels of Jefferson Center just before the 8 a.m. start time -- a time that had been emphasized and reemphasized on my "invitation."

Deputy Chief Chris Perkins, a 17-year Roanoke Police Department veteran who has been a DIP course instructor for three years, began by acknowledging that none of the 25 students in the room wanted to be there. He promised, however, that we would all learn something from the program. As far as I was concerned, he delivered on that promise several times in the seven hours we spent together that sunny Saturday.

In case you have not been "invited" to attend DIP class, following are some of the things I found somewhat surprising and especially enlightening:

• Traffic safety experts don't call accidents "accidents." They consider them "caused incidents," more than 90 percent of which have human error -- principally inattentive, careless or impaired drivers -- as primary factors. The other causes are "mechanical failure" and "environment," but even then drivers often contribute by not dealing properly with the circumstances or conditions.
• Safety experts are concerned about drivers who are distracted by cellphones, PDAs, GPS and other electronic devices while operating "3,000-pound killing machines," a reference to automobiles that Perkins used frequently. He said it is proving difficult to write enforceable legislation to address the issue. The concern is increasing as more texting-addicted teens reach driving age and more adults acquire TomToms, iPods and PDAs.
• A driver is required by law to allow another driver who comes up behind and flashes his or her lights to pass. This is because of the possibility of a medical emergency.
• Virginia (and many other states) requires that headlights be on when it is raining enough to require the use of windshield wipers. Not doing so is a citable traffic violation. Parking lights, by the way, don't meet this requirement.
• The "10 o'clock, 2 o'clock" position for hands on the steering wheel previously taught in Driver's Ed has been replaced by a recommendation of gripping the wheel at "9 and 3" or "8 and 4." The recommendation takes into account that should a crash occur, rapidly inflating middle-of-the-steering wheel air bags are less likely to injure thumbs placed lower on the wheel.
• Student drivers are being taught to "shuffle steer" -- pass the wheel through low-held hands when making a turn -- for more control. Significance here: Don't be surprised when your children or grandchildren handle the wheel differently than you do.
• Auto crashes are the leading cause of death to teenage drivers. Over-correcting and veering into oncoming traffic after a tire drops onto an unpaved shoulder is the most common mistake made by inexperienced motorists.

We have lots of curvy, two-lane roads with unimproved shoulders in the SML area, so it makes sense to review the proper reactions with young drivers. Recommended procedure when right wheels go off pavement is: Resist the temptation to jerk the car back toward the center line; brake gradually while still running with two wheels on the shoulder and lower speed to 30 mph or so. Then, and only then, steer carefully back onto the roadway when no traffic is approaching, keeping a firm grip on the wheel.

There you have my list. As for being "on topic" for a recreation column, consider this: If anything you've read here saves you from a traffic incident or from having to spend a day in traffic court -- it will be saving you from missing recreation time at beautiful Smith Mountain Lake.

And none of us wants that.