Today I was presented in the mail the coveted AAMI driver excellence award for being a Rating 1 for life customer. I recieved a letter, a CD compilation disc which is pretty cool actually - chillout style music by known artists and most importantly a sticker. I now have two of these stickers as supplied by AAMI indicating my Rating one for life status. One on the front left and one on the rear right.

Now let’s just talk about my life as a driver from the beginning. I was pretty lucky getting my license, back in the days when the exam could last only 15mins. I hear that its a bit different these days for new drivers. When I got my license, I used up my maximum amount of acceptable faults, one of which was for going too slow after a school zone and waving to a mate on his way to school. hehe. I felt pretty lucky that I passed in the end.

My driving instructor also thought i was lucky, it became most apparent when he gave me a religious card almost the same size as a business card which was a blessing of good luck. Was my driving that bad that I needed a blessing from God before i embarked on my journey home. Further to my instructors lack of confidence was him driving me back to school. Didn’t he trust me passing my license exam was good enough to drive 5mins from the service centre to school?

Anyways, I’ve been fairly lucky on the road not to have had an accident (touchwood). I do remember one moment of awakening however. It was a moment when i realised that i didn’t acutally know ALL of the road rules. I was driving some friends from school to the train station, turning right into road that leads to the station, I turned right and almost being wiped out by a car. I then proceeded to give them the finger, blow my horn and shout and curse inside the car. One the passengers, whom was 2 years younger than me and didn’t have their license told me that i was suppposed to give way. I honestly believed that because I had a green light I was allowed to turn whenever. I was supposed to give way. Sure it was absolutely dumb, but I was young, dumb and full of.. … but anyways that awakening led me to revisit what i though i knew and also did some defensive driving courses. My life depended on it!

Anyways back to this award, whilst I’m confident in my driving, I have to wonder about the implications of this “award”. Fair enough being recognised on not making a claim etc for a year would be good - just give us a discount, but to give “awards”, can that add to mix that causes accidents on the road.

At no time should a driver feel like that they don’t have to try. They should never be complacent nor should they beleive that they are invincible. The point is, whilst there excellent drivers, they should never know about it. I beleive that some of whom may have recieved this award may think they are the perfect driver.

I beleive that a perfect driver does not exist, this is because they cannot control environmental conditions. Sure a good driver can reduce the risk, but the fact that there is varying levels of skill on the road means that there will always be clashes. Some people like to drive the speed limit, some over and some under. Some people take care of their car, some dont and some people may not even be driving cars that are road worthy.

All of these factors in different combinations lead to quite and uncontrolled environment on the road. Even variations in tyre pressures cause a decline in driver control- do you check your tyre pressure every week? What i’m trying to say with all this is that the driver should always have to be trying on the road. An award for excellence to a driver can lead to complacency. I mean, does not making a claim mean you’re an excellent driver?

Now here is something to think about. These stickers will reward loyal customers, but will that in the long term lead to more complacent drivers or will it make loyal customers better drivers, because they want to protect their rating one and keep getting the stickers?

Ok, whilst I’m mocking this award in a way, I am proud to never have had an accident on the road nor have I needed to make a claim on my car insurance. I did run out to the car and put this sticker on. However it does make you wonder, that because i’ve not made a claim for a year whilst being rating one, should I be considered an “excellent driver”. What if i’ve caused a whole bunch of accidents, eg run a red light, made 3 cars swerve into each other and i drive away scott-free?

Oh, the CD is pretty good btw- well the first two tracks didn’t make me want to throw it in the bin. CD’s are a good idea- i can listen to it in the car, whilst I marvel at my driver excellence award sticker on the freeway.