Driving Blind

Apparently my car battery has been on it's last legs for a few months. My car took too long to start and half the time it wouldn't accelerate properly. Since I started my job I would also go out to my car and listen to the stereo for my breaks. I have also recently set my dome light to turn on when I open my door. I like doing all of that so the next part kinda sucked.

All of this combined pretty much drained the rest of my battery to the point where my car wouldn't start at all. I wouldn't be able to get a new one until I was paid next so my Dad charged it up a little so I could keep driving with it. Naturally everything would take a while to come back and eventually my stereo, lights and dash lights did.

Except for my tachometer, speedometer and fuel gauge. Not exactly things that should be missing when you're driving. Now I had to work pretty much every day for the next week so I'd just have to hope they came back soon. They didn't.

It didn't seem to matter though. And I found out something weird about myself. I'll start with why it didn't matter.

I've got the way my car works practically memorized. Depending on how I accelerate, my engine opens up into a higher gear and levels out when I hit 30, 35 and 40 MPH. So that takes care of my speed, negating my tachometer and speedometer. And if I really need to check it, there's usually a car in front of or behind me so I'd just match their pace for a few seconds to adjust.

The only thing that didn't change for me was stopping. I brake according to distance more than speed and since I already have a clear idea of how fast I'm going, nothing changed there. Besides, when I'm driving I don't just pay attention to the driver in front of me. I also look at what the drivers in front of them are doing. So because of this I usually have a better idea of what the person in front of me is likely to do.

So while it was fun using my driving skills in lieu of various meters, I got a new battery and everything works again. Now to the something weird about myself.

Talk to anybody close to me and they'll tell you that I don't drive so much as I attempt to commit vehicular homicide. What's funny is the people that would say that are just as bad as I am when it comes to driving. Anyway... what I noticed is when I got my dashboard back, is I felt that going five over was way too fast. I felt like I was out of control.

I decided to pretend like my dash wasn't working and started going as fast as I was when they weren't. After a few seconds of driving at what I felt to be the correct speed (and what I always drive at), I was going UNDER the speed limit! Definitely not something I would ever expect to find out about myself.

So while I was technically driving blind (in a way) I think I really did see it in a different way. I haven't changed though. Those of you who feel this is a wasted opportunity, try driving without looking at your gauges and see what that says about you.