Welcome to the New Driving in the Real World!

Something bright and shiny is on an Internet near you—and you’re on it! Welcome to my new Driving in the Real World^® website (www.drivingintherealworld.com).

I originally started DITRW^® on Christmas Day in 2010 as a blog, a way to organize my thoughts for a book I wanted to write on street driving technique. I’d already been mulling over life behind the wheel for nearly 20 years, but I needed to start turning that thinking into actual research for the book. A very long road of adventures stretched before me, but the blog was a terrific platform to expound on everything from winter driving tips to how I got seven DUIs in two nights.

How things have changed in the seven years since—a seeming lifetime of driver training, researching, brainstorming, interviewing, attending meetings and conferences both interminable and sublime, and above all, networking with incredible traffic safety professionals and fellow citizen advocates here and abroad. I decided not to write that original book after all, since way too many driving books lie in the literary Potter’s field, but instead to become a change agent for promoting better driving and traffic safety.

“Change agent” is paradoxically nebulous but accurate. I’m interested not in preaching from mountaintops but in effecting actual change within the safety industry and among the public in practical, compelling ways, wherever and however that needs to be. After all, the best enterprises and social movements nimbly evolve with shifting times, mores, and media.

My new Driving in the Real World^® site still retains all my original blog entries but features so much more. Ironically, I’ve been so busy doing behind-the-scenes work (writing articles and working with Washington State agencies to improve driver training and testing standards, for starters) that I have not written much on my own blog in the past few years, but that’s about to change.

Mediocre, superficial, and outright inaccurate information about driving and traffic safety is rampant these days (oh say it isn’t so). With this new site, I finally get to share online links to my favorite resources, which include videos, PSAs, and books on street-driving technique and social sciences; first-rate US driving schools; sources of best practices for older drivers and parents of novice teen drivers; and solid guides to vehicle maintenance, roadside emergencies, and even the mind-boggling array of modern driver-assistance technology. I carefully curate my sources. Very few make the cut.

Driving in the Real World^® is also a place where you can ask questions! Check out my FAQ page to find out answers to life’s burning mysteries, like whether it’s really okay to go above posted speed limits to match the flow of traffic or how to safely report a texting or erratic driver to the police. I’d love to hear your questions about driving and rules of the road, and I will do my best to answer them.

In January 2018, I’ll be coming out with an ebook called The Sound of No Car Crashing: A Guide to Protective Driving. This 16-pager contains practical driving tips for everyday road situations, including navigating parking lots, sharpening your vision, dealing with social pressure, breaking bad habits, single-handedly preventing a traffic jam, and mentally rehearsing what to do in the most sudden, dangerous what-if scenarios, to name a few. You can read it and start applying its advice the very next time you get behind the wheel. Best of all, it will be completely free for download off my website. Sign up today to be notified when it comes out, and tell others about it, too.

Needless to say, it takes tremendous time and money to research and create this content, which I squeeze in while running two other businesses. Eventually, I’d like to make this my only one. If you visit my site, like what you see, and want to support my efforts, please consider donating securely through my PayPal portal. Thank you!

I’m also open for doing business. If you’re in the traffic safety or automotive industry, I’m welcoming compensated opportunities to help you create top-quality content related to street driving and road safety issues, whether it’s social media messaging, articles, blog posts, book reviews, or presentations. Check out my portfolio for examples.

My gratitude goes out to all my readers, industry partners, followers, and colleagues—through your generosity and mentorship over the years, you’ve inspired and informed me to take DITRW^® to this next level. Your support means more than you can ever imagine, and I’m forever grateful. I look forward to so many more years of working together to make the roads safer.

In the coming months, I will be delving into some deep research and writing that combines the best of behavioral science with international-traffic-safety–best practice to form new thinking about why common safety solutions simply don’t work and what we can do about it from the deepest root levels. If you work in social science, psychology, and traffic safety and are interested in conversing, please send me a note.

I’d love to hear from you! Drop me a driving-related question, story, anecdote, or joke on my website. Please connect with me, comment on, and share with others this blog, DITRW’s Facebook page, Twitter feed @DrivingReal, and my LinkedIn articles.

Together, let’s commiserate, connect, and contemplate the sound of no cars crashing.