RANT: Driving skills (or lack thereof) of the population at large

This is a common topic for me to rant about, since I hate stupid drivers. Unfortunately, I drive one of the worst commutes in Victoria: the Mackenzie corridor to UVic. As a result, I see more than my share of stupid drivers. There are the standard, annoying piss-offs that drive 40km/h IN THE LEFT LANE, with NO intentions of turning left (except maybe at an intersection 5km away!). There are also the other annoying piss-offs that literally (no exaggerating, sadly) take 1.5 blocks to hit 40km/h... and never actually hit 50km/h.

Today, I saw too many of the "either I'm oblivious or just stupid" drivers. It's raining today. It's raining hard enough that having the windshield wipers on intermittent doesn't quite cut it; you need fast intermittent or slow constant setting. As usual with rain like this, the sky was dark and grey. Dark sky = low visibility. Rain = low visibility. Road spray behind a car = low visibility. It doesn't matter what colour your car is, road spray will hide your car. TURN ON YOUR LIGHTS PEOPLE!! Lights are the only thing that will make you visible to OTHER drivers. I saw maybe 10% of cars with their lights on. All cars made after January 1, 1990, were required to have Daytime Running Lights (DRLs) in Canada. This helps with your visibility with people in front of you, but it doesn't do any good with people BEHIND, where all the road spray masks your car. Everybody needs to turn on their lights, because at even a medium distance, your car becomes mostly hidden thanks to the grey spray on grey background. Total dumbassery.

North America seriously needs better driver training. I would like to see advanced driver training courses become MANDATORY. The stricter graduated licensing is better than the old system (minimum 30 hours driving experience to get full license), but it still doesn't have any requirements for advanced skills. It just requires more time behind the wheel before you get fully licensed. One of the main causes of accidents and deaths in new drivers (young or old) is the lack of experience and skill. Lack of experience can't be avoided, but lack of skill can be.

I've never had the chance to take an advanced driving course, but I would love to. One day, I want to take either an advanced course, a racing course, or a stunt driving course... or all three. Not only would it be educational (and possibly save my life one day), it'd be FUN! It's never a bad thing knowing how to control a car properly and safely in emergency situations (which can put your car to, and past, its limits). Sadly, far too many people lack that knowledge. Truth be told, I'm one of them for most situations. The difference? I want to do something about it.

That is all.