So last Tuesday, I almost kissed some kid’s bicycle with my bumper. Holy crap. Heart pounding like crazy. Made me realize I needed to figure out where exactly to cover that brake pedal without riding it like a paranoid grandma.
Started simple. Printed a map of my usual routes – work, grocery store, kid’s school. Stuck it on the fridge. Grabbed a red marker. Every time my foot hovered over the brake, I jotted a big red X right on the spot. Did this for two whole weeks, rain or shine.
The Usual Suspects Popped Up Fast
First week felt obvious:
- That sketchy intersection near Elm Street always gets red lights run. X. X. X.
- Parking lots? Forget it. Especially the big box store one – cars backing out blind, carts rolling free. Marked X’s everywhere.
- School zones after 2:45 PM? Pure chaos. Kids darting, parents double-parked. Solid red line down those blocks.
But week two? That’s where it got real. Patterns I totally ignored before:
- Residential streets with parked cars lining both sides? Yeah. Every single gap between cars is a potential kid/dog/cat missile launchpad. My foot was permanently hovering.
- Left turns across busy roads when the light’s yellow? Oh hell no. Covered the brake before even starting the turn. Learned that after a pickup blew through the red.
- Even driveways, man. Especially ones with tall hedges. Can’t see squat pulling out. Foot ready every single time.
Rainy Day Surprise
Got caught in a downpour last Thursday. My trusty map got soaked, turned into papier-mâché. But the lesson stuck. Places where I barely touched the brake before became death traps with slick roads. That curve near the old mill? Totally underestimated it. Fishtailed a bit covering the brake too late. Never again. Added a whole new rain route category in my head.
After a month? My ankle got sore less often. Stopped slamming the brakes last-second like a maniac. Mostly. Still working on that one idiot who cut me off yesterday… but that’s another story.
Biggest takeaway? Covering the brake ain’t about fear. It’s about buying time. That extra half-second near schools? Could save a life. Near driveways? Might save your bumper. Sucks admitting I drove like a numbskull before this, but man… knowing the hotspots makes you breathe easier out there.