How’s My Driving?

In Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls there’s a scene where Ace is driving a Jeep through a land teeming with wildebeests. He’s being violently jostled as he negotiates the rugged terrain. But as the camera pulls out, we see that his passenger is comfortably stationary. As the camera pulls out further, we see that they’re on a smooth, paved road.

It was yet another of those sight gags that Jim Carrey manically pulls off to great comedic effect.

But is it really possible for two people in the same car to have different riding experiences?

Apparently it is.

The other day I was driving home when I took what I considered to be a leisurely left-hand turn. But to hear my passenger’s reaction, you would’ve thought that her face got plastered up against the side window from the G-forces.

Bat-turn much?

That’s what I imagined her saying, but she actually said it less politely and much more passionately.

So she had a different experience than me. And I have a different experience when I’m her passenger.

She can be driving along comfortably in highway traffic, without a care in the world. At the same time, I’m straining my quadriceps as I push myself as far back into my seat as possible. (I get a little nervous when I’m nearly in the back seat of the car in front of me.) In this case, tailgating is not cooking in the parking lot of a football stadium.

So we each have driving styles that may or may not discomfit our passengers. Got any examples of uncomfortable passengers when you’re driving?

The End

Click on the book cover below for Cord’s newest adventure.

I love reading about Cord Devlin, a freelance intelligence operative and Star Trek fanboy. He relies on his knowledge of the old show to help American Intelligence deal with paranormal threats. Coincidentally, those threats usually have some weird connection to the Trek universe. Damn, this is good fun!

–Dr. Garelick, Fermi Labs