"This is what intelligence is, paying attention
to the right thing." --Edward T. Hall, anthropologist

When you are driving a car the "right thing" to pay attention to is driving that car. The intelligent driver is attending to the exterior surroundings (road conditions and traffic flow), the interior situation (controls, instruments, passengers) and to her own mind set (irritated, alert, preoccupied etc.) That is the ideal.

The reality is that the mere physical and intellectual demands of just driving are limited. Monkeys and teenagers can do that part with ease, even brilliance. But driving - real driving - happens in the mind. To do it well requires more than physical skills. It requires the intelligence that pays attention to the right thing at the right time, that knows what to do in new and varied situations and how to do what is demanded.

The basics of driving - steering and pushing pedals - can soon be emptied of interest. Then the mind can wander. Why not? It is enticed by a myriad of things both inside the car and out that are more involving than simply driving.

Inside the car there are A/C or heat controls to fiddle with, music to be fed into a slot and listened to, radio talk to yell back at, cell phones to be answered, Big Gulps to be gulped, passenger chatter to exclaim over, maybe car-seated baby demands to be met.

Outside there's the fender-bender to be gawked at, the "1/3 off" sign in the shoe store window to be noted, the new building going up to be checked out, the parking place to be looked for.

Actual driving seems to demand attention only when something dreadful is pending or has already happened: a car jumps the center divide, an SUV runs a stop sign, a truck loses its load of pipe, a sports car scoots from nowhere across your bow for the exit ramp, a dog darts from between parked cars.

Such things all seem to happen with no warning, but truth be told even "suddenly" is part of an evolution. The intelligent driver knows where trouble is likely to lurk and what situations engender; the alert driver can spot problems developing and not be at the epicenter if they materialize.

(CONTINUE...)