Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov

I made an interesting observation - listening to podcasts makes me drive safer.

In fact, previously, I was driving safer whenever there was a good show on the radio. I was driving slower because I wanted to listen until the end of the show before I’d get to my destination. I’d pay more attention to the road because I were thinking that radio can disturb my focus. My braind would be more active processing the stuff I was hearing.

But since there just isn’t a great choice of radio stations in my area. And since my reciever can get only on decent station - catching a good show was a rare occasion for me. So rare, that I couldn’t notice the pattern in changes of my driving behaviour.

With podcasts though it became obvious. Podcasts are like a personal radio program. I choose exactly what I want to listen to, and thus every show is interesting for me.

I also noticed that I started to use more features of my mobile phone - my podcast listening device. I installed more new software, learned more ways of the old software, etc. But that’s a total other story, isn’t it…

The other time I was issued a fine that I didn’t consider fair. So I wasn’t going to pay it. The thing is, if you don’t pay your fine within the two weeks or so, it goes to court, and than you can either pay more in court or debate the fine. I wasn’t going to turn it into any serious case or anything like that, but I was hoping to debate it and get out of it.

Surprise, they say, can win you a lot of battles. When people are confronted with circumstances there weren’t prepared for, they are easy to manipulate. Especially, if they had a plan that couldn’t be applied anymore to the different circumstances.

That’s what happened to me. Since I was fined way too long ago, I was waiting for a notice from court. Instead I got a phone call. It was from Germasoia police station. The guy in the most polite and kind way reminded that I have a fine due. He said that it was only 15 CYP and that I should pass by and pay it.

I don’t know what got into me, but he was so nice that I didn’t even think twice before picking up my wallet and driving all the way to Germasoia. I paid it and actually felt good about. About two hours later I realized that it was the surprise that caught me offguard…

Shared bookmarks for del.icio.us user tvset on 2005-10-18

• The Definitive Guide To Speeding Tickets
  Tagged as: cars driving guide speeding stats tips

Today I almost got into a car accident. My car’s breaks use ABS. The other car was a bit older and didn’t have ABS. And it was exactly this combination that helped to avoid the accident.

[Read more →]

Next meeting of Road Safety and Advanced Driving Society (RoADS) has been scheduled for 19:00 on October 20th, 2005. The meeting will take place in The Haven Coffee Bar, Pafos. You can find the map and more information about the location here.

I am very interested in getting there, but with my schedule for October 20th I am not sure I will be able to. I’ll keep my fingers crossed though and maybe I will get lucky.