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Driving Profile: Harmony & Maggie
(sneak peek)
HARMONY: The GPS tried to take me on this like weird not road. That suddenly like I slide a little bit and then my car is like half off the road and almost ready to topple into a ditch.
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BHAVNEET: Welcome back to Drive With Us, a podcast where we bring on a new guest each episode to talk about the crazy things they’ve experienced on the road, who they are as drivers, and how they became the driver that they are today. I’m Bhavneet.
TARANJIT: And I’m Taranjit. And today we are joined by not one, but two drivers. We have Harmony, a former journalist who lives in New York and Maggie, an independent museum consultant who lives in Washington. These two girls are best friends and they co-host the Rebel Girls Book Club Podcast.
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BHAVNEET: Welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us today.
MAGGIE: Thanks for having us.
HARMONY: Yeah, thank you.
BHAVNEET: Let’s get started with you guys introducing yourselves and giving our listeners a little bit about you.
HARMONY: Okay. Well, I am Harmony. I am on half of Rebel Girls Book Club, which is a podcast that talks about books from a feminist literary analysis lens and I used to be a journalist and I’m trying to become a librarian.
MAGGIE: I’m Maggie. I’m the other half of the aforementioned podcast. I am an independent Museum consultant, which is a fancy way of saying that I’m self-employed which is a little unfortunate during the pandemic but you know, it’s all right, we’ll all survive. And I live in Washington state
HARMONY: And I live in New York.
TARANJIT: So you guys have mentioned that I think Maggie taught Harmony to drive.
MAGGIE: I did. My husband and I taught Harmony how to drive.
TARANJIT: Were you guys living in the same place before or…
HARMONY: Yes. So Maggie and I met during our college years and I got my license I think I think I got my license at 22. My parents refuse to teach me to drive because they both had stick shifts. And so I was at that point in my life living kind of far away from my father who lived in the same state and Maggie was really like a a caretaker to me. But we we lived all throughout College together.
MAGGIE: Yeah, and she Harmony really needed to get her driver’s license because she was working like 45 minutes away from where we lived and I somehow got wrangled into being her chauffeur. So I was driving all over there all over the place to pick her up and take her to work. But I couldn’t teach you to drive myself because I wasn’t old enough at the time. You have to be like 21 or something to, you know, teach somebody to drive by yourself. So I had to Wrangle my husband Damien into doing it. So we used his car and he had to sit in the front seat and we both just kind of like tag teamed teaching Harmony to drive.
HARMONY: It was a group effort.
MAGGIE: Yeah. It takes a village, you know.
TARANJIT: How was the experience?
HARMONY: Maggie, do you want to answer that?
MAGGIE: She always made out to be like Oh, I’m such a terrible driver. It’s going to be awful and like blah blah blah and then she was totally fine behind the wheel.
HARMONY: Just with you guys though. Not with everyone else.
MAGGIE: Yeah, you were a little anxious but you were you were you were perfectly you were a perfectly adequate driver.
HARMONY: I think she’s being charitable. Yeah. I was very anxious and things like stop signs, other cars would freak me out Driving too fast.
MAGGIE: There was a real struggle to get you to drive the speed limit for a long time.
BHAVNEET: I think it’s like that with a lot of new drivers.
HARMONY: Yeah. Yeah. And I had I had tried to learn how to drive when I was like 15 16 because that’s when you get your learners permit in the state that I grew up in. But it was just such a bad experience because I was trying to do it on stick shift and my father was not the most patient with me that it gave me like a lot of anxiety moving forward. .
BHAVNEET: So did you have you learned how to drive a stick shift now or is just like, no. Automatic all the way.
HARMONY: Automatic all the way. I mean I only ever had one car. I live in New York City now. . So I haven’t driven in a year. So yeah, no, no, no stick shift for me. We’ll see. Maybe in the future. Maggie, do you know how to drive a stick?
MAGGIE: No. I am also automatic all the way. But if there was ever an occasion where like somebody was willing to teach me I’d be happy to learn. It’s just never come up.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. I feel that way, too. It’s like I would like to learn but I feel like It’s very complicated at the same time.
MAGGIE: I’m really scared I’m going to totally mess up somebody’s car.
BHAVNEET: Exactly.
MAGGIE: Because I know that you could just do awful awful things.
HARMONY: Yeah. I think that’s why my parents stop trying to teach me how to drive because I kept on using the brake too forcefully and like forgetting to do the gear shift, right. And I would stall out in front of red lights.
MAGGIE: Oh. That sounds concerning.
HARMONY: It is. It’s concerning. People were not happy. The other drivers were not.
BHAVNEET: I bet.
MAGGIE: Oh. Harmony.
TARANJIT: So one of the questions we love asking on our show is have you had any crazy or like entertaining or interesting driving experiences?
MAGGIE: Harmony’s answer to this question could probably go on for eons. I taught her to drive but I didn’t do a great job. I think for me probably the craziest thing that I’ve ever done driving as I drove from New York state to Washington state. So like a little under 3,000 miles in 8 days in the middle of winter. Which might not be crazy to some people but for me was a huge huge deal. I’ve never driven that far ever in my life. And we got when we hit Colorado. We got my GPS messed up. So we were supposed to when we hit Denver go north up to Fort Collins, but instead the GPS took us all the way through the Rocky Mountains in the middle of January and that’s when I discovered that I cannot drive in the mountains. I was bricking it. Just like absolutely White Knuckled the entire 7 hours and Damian had to drive the whole way because I just couldn’t keep it together. And it was icy. And there’s an RV in front of us that kept eating a patch of ice and it’s back would like swing out and we’re so high. I still have nightmares about that drive.
BHAVNEET: Oh my God. Wow.
HARMONY: Yeah, I have a lot of similar snow snow like stories because my car didn’t have all wheel drive and when I got it I was living in Vermont. And I was also an essential employee. So like when the when really bad snow storms happened I had to drive on the road and it was never a good scene. But one of my crazier stories is very similar to Maggie’s where I was driving with my my partner up to Montreal and they had it was during like the worst snow storm we had seen in like a decade. And from from Southern Vermont. I was driving with my 2 wheel drive and we finally got to Montreal at like 3 in the morning and I kept on trying to like park the car or drive through the state the the streets which were being plowed. So it wasn’t too bad. And I kept on getting stuck in snow banks and random people who were passing by would like push me out of the snowbanks. Or my boyfriend have to get out cuz he refused to drive the car and shovel me out. So like every few seconds, I would get stuck in a snowbank and then I would drive a little bit more and on the same block get stuck in another snowbank. And like a squad of people would just start following me around so that they can help me push my car out of the snowbank. And my boyfriend almost broke up with me from that experience. That was like the big the big big thing for him because I made him go to Montreal in this really not snow equipped car during such a bad snow storm. But we survived so.
TARANJIT: That’s good to know.
HARMONY: Yeah.
BHAVNEET: And you had your own personal like group of people to help you out the whole way.
HARMONY: Yeah Canadians are really really nice. They were very patient with me. I also had there was a time in which my car it was kind of falling apart because I was there was my first car and I was not delicate with it. And I was driving to visit the same boyfriend in New York, cuz that’s where he lived. It was about a two-and-a-half-hour drive. And halfway through from Vermont to New York, I got a flat tire. And I didn’t know that’s what it was but my car like started shaking and rambling and I had to like slide off the road. And I get out and I’m like really cutely dressed. I just gotten out of work and I had this like cute little halter dress on and some makeup because these were the really early days of dating. And I sit there and I look at the the flat tire and I’m like, I don’t know what to do. And I called some people. And I don’t have AAA. So I’m Im sitting there just like on the side of the road looking at this flat tire and then I eventually start balling. And it’s like 10 seconds after I start bawling this truck pulls up with like 20 men inside and they stop. And they see me and they’re like, are you okay? And I’m like no. I have a flat tire and I have no idea what to do. And I didnt have service so I couldn’t google it And they came to my rescue. And 20 minutes later. I had a my replacement tire which I didn’t know existed cuz I couldnt find it. On to the car. They found it like underneath something fancy some little hatch and they put it on for me. And I was on my way back to New York.
TARANJIT: It sounds like you attract groups of people to help you.
HARMONY: Yeah. I do actually.
MAGGIE: That’s how we got…
HARMONY: That is. That’s the story of our friendship.
TARANJIT: Are you still comfortable driving in the snow or would you rather just not drive when its snowing?
HARMONY: I got a lot better at it because I had to drive a lot for my job as I was working as a local reporter. I think it was it was a year that I had my car and I was working as a local reporter. And I had to drive up to like an hour or so like on the daily just on the job to go to different places. And it was Vermont so it was snowy. So I think I got a lot lot better at it eventually. Practice makes perfect.
MAGGIE: See I feel the opposite now. Because I used to feel totally confident driving in snow cuz you know, it snows all the time in the northeastern portion of the United States. But now I live in Washington state and it never snows here. So while I’m comfortable and confident driving in the snow, no one else is. And everyone else makes the danger level so high that it’s not even worth it. Tha and there’s like one plow for my whole county and there’s no salt. So whenever it snows, I just refuse to leave the house.
TARANJIT: So do they I guess shut down more easily in Washington as they do compared to like in the East?
MAGGIE: Oh yeah. In Seattle, it snows like 2 inches, it’s all over. Everything’s canceled. Everythings closed. They’re babies about it. They have no idea what to do.
BHAVNEET: I didn’t realize that Washington, It didn’t snow that much. I would think that since it’s more North.
MAGGIE: It does in the eastern part of the state, but once you cross over the Cascade Mountains we it’s like much more temperate climate. We essentially just like live in a rainforest. So it stays wet and rainy all year.
TARANJIT: Do you prefer getting snow or do you like it raining more?
MAGGIE: I lived for too many years in the snow. So the rain is cool. That’s fine.
BHAVNEET: That’s how I feel.
MAGGIE: The snow is just too much but then I end up being a party pooper because when it does snow here everyone is all excited and they’re like, oh my God. It is so beautiful and so fantastic. And I’m like, I’ve seen enough snow to last my entire lifetime. This can go away.
BHAVNEET: That is exactly how I feel. Everyone is always like, oh my God. Snow. And I’m like, ut that means shoveling.
MAGGIE: Yeah, there’s just too much work involved with snow
HARMONY: It’s true.
BHAVNEET: They’re typically stereotypes that are associated with drivers of different areas. In your state, are there any stereotypes associated with your drivers?
MAGGIE: I grew up in Connecticut and that’s where I learned to drive. And I feel like the stereotype there is essentially just like drive very fast, but you’re not as bad as New York and Massachusetts. And then Washington, I don’t really think that there’s many stereotypes. Although I do I will say my style of driving is still very reminiscent of how I learned to drive. So I drive a lot faster than the average Joe around here.
BHAVNEET: So you’re the quote unquote crazy driver over there?
MAGGIE: Yeah. I think some people will probably say that. But honestly, I’m a pretty cautious driver in general. The only like sort of risk I take so to speak is when I’m a relatively fast driver. But I’m scared to do things that everyone else thinks are like super normal. l like, you know on the road where it’ll go to instead of the double yellow line, there’ll be the single like dash line. The broken line.
BHAVNEET: The dotted line. Yeah
MAGGIE: I lost the word for a second and then you can like pass if somebodys going to slow. I have never once in my life done that. I’m terrified that I’m going to try and then out of nowhere somebodys going to come and then like hit me and then chaos will ensue. So yeah. Maybe not a crazy driver..
HARMONY: I think I’m definitely a little bit more crazy than you Maggie because I’ve done that a ton of times. The passing on the double line or the the broken line.
MAGGIE: I mean, you’re a bolder person than I am in general though. What about you, Harmony? What are your what do you want to dive into the New York State stereotypes?
HARMONY: I don’t even know the New York State stereotypes.
I just know that I hate New York drivers and I grew I mean, yeah, I learned how to drive in Massachusetts. And Massachusetts is supposed to be the worst at driving. They call us massholes for a reason. I think that they’re fine and you just kind of have to be aggressive and I think it gets a bad rep because our roads are so crazy. Like they’re they are usually not in a grid pattern and we do have a lot of crazy. I don’t know. New York New England is built funny. And therefore Massachusetts roads are wild. And winter really takes a toll on them. But I think
MAGGIE: Boston is no joke.
HARMONY: I dont think it’s that bad. I had no problem driving in Boston except for all the potholes. Yeah, I did. I did mess up my bumper on one really big pothole in Cambridge. But like driving wise with the other drivers people in Boston. I think you’re pretty understanding. Like they can tell that you’re out of town and they get that their roads are crazy. So they’ll just back off and let you like do whatever it is you’re going to do. But in New York and it’s not just New York City, it’s New York State, too. They love honking and they’ll they’re just they’re awful. They’re awful and inconsiderate. New Yorkers are inconsiderate people you guys. I don’t know if anyone knows this, but they are super inconsiderate. They’ll like stop in the middle of a road and just like take their stuff out. Ad this happens in Albany, New York, too. So it’s not just the city. They stop in the middle of super narrow roads and they’ll know like pop their trunk And they’ll be there for like a half hour and you can’t get past them. And they honk all the time for no reason. Like if you’re driving around looking for a parking spot, you’re probably driving a little slower than normal. They hate it and will honk at you. And they’re just crazy. No one uses their turn signals. Yeah. New Yorkers are bad drivers. Much worse than Massachusetts.
TARANJIT: I feel like your New York is not the only state that doesn’t use signals Like down here in Maryland, no one uses their signals either. It’s just kind of just keep merging and youre like, oh. Okay. I guess you want to get in front of me.
HARMONY: Oh. That makes me so mad.
MAGGIE: The signal thing. Oh my gosh. I thought it was bad when I lived in Massachusetts, and then I came to Washington and I realized how much worse it can be. I’ve it no one here uses their signals. It’s so infuriating.
HARMONY: But they all drive so slow there. So maybe it’s a little bit easier.
MAGGIE: Yeah, but still it’s it’s one of those things though where it’s like suddenly you’re stopping and you don’t know why and then somebody’s turning and it’s like wow. If only there was some way you could have told me that you were going to do that instead of just stopping for no reason.
TARANJIT: I could not agree with you more. So now that we’ve heard some of your crazy stories. We have some questions to get to know I guess get to know what kind of driver you are even more even though we’ve heard some stories along those lines. Are you the type of person who would rather drive or be a passenger in a car?
HARMONY: I would rather drive.
MAGGIE: I would typically rather be a passenger. I think it depends who’s driving if it’s not me. But I actually am blessed because I don’t get motion sickness. So I get a lot of really good reading done in the car. So if it’s somebody I trust, I’d rather let them drive and I’ll just read the whole time.
HARMONY: I trust no one.
TARANJIT: Have you ever been in a car where your passenger and you were like, I shouldn’t have gotten this car
MAGGIE: Yeah. Everytime Harmony drives.
HARMONY: That’s fair. You haven’t seen me towards my well maybe you did. Have you ever been a passenger like after after I got some actual driving under my belt?
MAGGIE: I have indeed. I was just joking, but you’re really not that bad. Yeah, there’s definitely been times. My friend Sean. I refuse to get in the car driven by him anymore. He drives I said I drive fast. He drives fast and scary and his merging is just so zoop zoop zoop. And it gives me a lot of anxiety.
HARMONY: I don’t like drivers that aren’t good at merging or turn signals. So like my father is kind of like that and he’s very jerky and he uses his phone a lot while he drives and he refuses to relinquish the control for navigation over to a passenger. So I hate driving with him. And I also hate driving with my partner because I think he’s a really horrible drive. And he thinks I’m worse than he is and I don’t understand it. And he also constantly forgets to use turn signals.
MAGGIE: I don’t think he gets to talk after he made you drive all the way up to Montreal. I mean.
HARMONY: I think that was because it was a snowstorm. I think if it yeah. I think if it wasn’t a snowstorm and I wasn’t forcing him to go, he would have volunteered to drive.
MAGGIE: If you weren’t kidnapping him
HARMONY: Yeah. It was it was very much. I I coerced that. Iit was my bad. I was yeah. It was not completely consensual. I kind of yeah.
TARANJIT: Okay. Just leave it at that I guess.
BHAVNEET: So you kind of touched on this a little bit, but how would you describe the kind of driver you are and would your family and friends describe your driving the same way?
HARMONY: No, they would not. I think I’m an okay driver. I tend to go pretty fast, but only on country roads. And I’m actually really confident because I lived in Vermont on country roll roads and like with some trickier driving scenarios. And I’m not too too bad in cities either if I have a destination and I have my navigation setup. All of my all of my friends except for Maggie think I’m a horrible driver because they watched me learning how to drive and it was a nightmare learning how to drive. And I think my family also thinks I’m a really horrible driver because they tried to teach me how to drive and then gave up.
MAGGIE: I would probably be described as an overly anxious and cautious driver. I really if I don’t know where I’m going or I’m going somewhere for the first time, I get really like jumpy and nervous to the point where I don’t think it’s fun to be a passenger in a car I’m driving. If I know where I’m going, I’m really confident easy-going sort of driver. But I think that most of my family and friends only get in the car with me when I’m going somewhere new because I live so far away from pretty much everyone that I know. So we’re like out doing adventurous things. So that they would probably agree with agree with that. It took me four years after getting my drivers license to drive on the highway it scared me so bad.
BHAVNEET: Wow.
HARMONY: As one of Maggie’s friends, I think she’s a terrific driver.
MAGGIE: Thanks, but you’re obligated to say that.
HARMONY: No, I’m not, I’m really not. I think you’re one of the better people I’ve driven with.
MAGGIE: I did drive you a lot and
HARMONY: Yeah.
MAGGIE: I drove you so many places.
TARANJIT: So how did you get the confidence, I guess for lack of better words, to get onto the highway?
MAGGIE: Oh, I just literally couldn’t avoid it anymore. I had to get on the highway to drive for my parents house up to school and I had like officially moved out of my parents’ house. So I was with them for a couple of weeks and then I had to go back up to where we went to undergrad for the summer cuz I was working and I had to move in. And because I was working, I needed a car. So I just I had to do it And it wasn’t that bad. And now I’m a pretty confident highway driver. Certain things do make me nervous. I really hate driving next to 18-wheelers. They drive me insane. Just their mere existence in the world. But it was one of those things where I think I just put it off for so long that I just built it up so much in my head. And then I just couldn’t get myself to do it until it was absolutely necessary.
TARANJIT: Yeah, I agree with you on the 18 wheelers. I hate driving next to them or anywhere near them. I always try to get past them really fast or stay back.
MAGGIE: Yeah. Me, too.
I had an experience when I was younger. I was in a car with a friend and her mom was driving and we were driving to New York City. And an 18-wheeler almost merged into us just because we were in their blind spot and they didn’t see us. And that was a real formative experience for me. I’ve never let that one go.
BHAVNEET: Yeah, that is always my fear. So I’m always like I will go an extra lane over. I’m not driving next to you.
MAGGIE: Oh yeah.
HARMONY: I always just pass them. The 18-wheelers.
MAGGIE: Harmony’s just fearless.
HARMONY: I’m fearless. Yes.
TARANJIT: So this next question comes from our personal experience. We’ve been in a lot of situations where we should have honked in warning for some reason but we just didn’t do it. Have you are you the type of person who honks at people or do you not?
HARMONY: I never honk. Ever.
MAGGIE: Yeah. I’m not a honker either. Even in situations where like for safety sake I probably should. I freeze up whenever something bad happening. My fight or flight Instinct kicks in and imma im a freeze or fight sort of person. And it gets to the point where sometimes something bad is happening and I’m like locked into the steering wheel and my husband will reach over and honk for me because I just can’t move.
BHAVNEET: I definitely am not someone who honks either. It’s my reaction is always to like get out of the way rather than like honk at them. It’s like save myself
MAGGIE: Yeah.
HARMONY: Yeah. I agree. I think there’s maybe a few instances when I lived in New York City where somebody maybe was going to merge into me and I finally learned how to use my horn. But for the most part, I’m pretty quiet.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. At one point, I’m like it’s it’s on my bucket list. I I want to honk at someone who deserves it. And I actually I actually did.
MAGGIE: Oh you did it?
BHAVNEET: Yup.
MAGGIE: What happened?
BHAVNEET: Like I was coming home from work and someone was about to just like turn straight into me. Like I was in the lane next to them and it wasn’t like a full-on like hold it and let it go on forever kind of thing. But then he like had the audacity this turn at me and glare at me. And I like you’re the one who almost ran into me.
MAGGIE: Oh. Other people are the worst
BHAVNEET: Exactly. So speaking of honking and annoying drivers, what would you say is your biggest driving pet peeve?
MAGGIE: I cannot stand it when people don’t go the speed limit, at least. I understand if you don’t want to go above the speed limit, but like if we’re in a 40 and you’re going 35, I’m pissed off about it.
HARMONY: That’s fair. Yes that annoys me, too. I think a lot of things annoy me. I think I’m an angry driver.. For me it’s probably turn signals or like unnecessary honking. Like when people honk but there’s a pedestrian crossing the street and you don’t want to hit them. Those people are bad people.
MAGGIE: Blanket statement.
TARANJIT: I feel like we are such similar drivers. Like I agree with your points. Like that’s how I feel when I’m driving.
HARMONY: Yeah,. Yeah, I feel that way about turn signal people too though. Cuz it’s like why are you not trying to warn the rest of us about your decisions? It’s so easy. It’s not that hard to use a turn signal. I don’t understand why people forgo it.
BHAVNEET: It’s like, you know, it’s there you you had to use it on your test. You know, it’s there. They exist.
HARMONY: Some people just like to live on the edge.
TARANJIT: Yeah. And make others live on the edge with them.
HARMONY: Yeah. Yeah, you’re putting everybody’s life at risk dude. Just use your turn signal.
TARANJIT: So have any of you ever experienced road rage whether it was towards you or it was you yourself that was experiencing it?
MAGGIE: Yeah, I’m a yeller. I have really bad road rage actually. I never like acted on it. It’s never the sort of thing where I’m like honking or they’re trying to make myself known. But I will sit in my car knowing full well that you can’t hear me and just really let you have it.
HARMONY: Yeah, it’s actually kind of scary because Maggie for the most part presents herself as being kind of mild-mannered and she can be pretty quiet. So when you’re in the car with her and she starts like swearing up a storm. Its its a little frightening.
MAGGIE: I feel like it’s just one of those things too where I somebody else is in the car with me. I like to talk for the most part. So Ill be like having a conversation, you know just totally normal and then in the middle of it will just completely switch so that I can cuss out whoever is pissing me off at that moment and then and just sort of switch back to whatever sentence I was saying before it happened. It’s a bad habit.
HARMONY: It’s true. It’s true. I think yeah, I think I’m usually the one with the road rage. I’m sure I’ve experienced other people being mad at me because I’ve for someone who doesn’t have a long driving record, I’ve driven a lot of places and have had to put a lot of driving hours under my belt and I’ve been an inexperienced driver for most of that. So I know I’ve made a lot of other people angry. And I but it hasn’t like no ones ever got out of their car to yell at me or anything. Usually it’s just me like glaring at somebody or flipping them off. I’ve done a lot of flipping people off.
TARANJIT: Has anyone that you were I guess mad at saw you getting mad at them?
HARMONY: Yeah. Yeah. And usually they’ll shrug or something. I’m not a particularly scary looking person. So I don’t know. Sometimes they’ll shrug or they’ll flip me off back, but that’s the extent of it.
MAGGIE: I dont think anyones ever noticed me get mad at them Cuz like I said for the most part, it’s really probably still just looks like I’m talking. Maybe slightly angrier, but. .
BHAVNEET: So there has been a lot of like changes in even when they teach students how to drive in the way to properly like hold a steering wheel and to properly like drive. So when you drive, how do you typically hold the steering wheel and what would you consider is the correct way?
MAGGIE: I definitely do it the incorrect way. I drive with exactly three fingers on my left hand on the bottom of the steering wheel and that’s it. I mean unless I’m like hurting or something. I’m not one of those people who’s ever figured out how to turn one handed. That’s a two handed operation for me. But if Im just like driving on a straightaway, it’s my thumb pointer finger and middle finger on my left hand on the bottom left corner of the steering wheel and that’s it.
TARANJIT: Are you going fast or is it just like reasonable speeds?
MAGGIE: All of the above.
HARMONY: I think I usually drive the correct way. There is occasionally like one-handed stuff that happens if I’m eating or something or need to like change the music or podcast up. But for the most part, I think I’m pretty standard with that. And I do this hand over hand turn. As well. Which I think is what they taught me.
TARANJIT: Yeah. I think when we were in driver’s ed, it was 10 and 2. But I think now they’re teaching them 9 and 3
BHAVNEET: Or they’re like, even at the bottom. Like whatever feels good.
HARMONY: Really?
BHAVNEET: Yeah.
HARMONY: Just 10 and 2. I think mine is just like it was like just across like a straight horizontal line, but maybe I’m wrong. I don’t know. It’s been a little while
MAGGIE: I guess in the UK most people drive at the bottom of the steering wheel, so it really is I think just like a personal cultural preference for the most part. But that’s actually part of the reason why I started driving at the bottom of the wheel was because I was really uncomfortable holding my arms up all the time. In that like 10 and 2. It just like didn’t work for me. So my driver my driving teacher was like just hold the bottom of the wheel then. It doesn’t matter.
BHAVNEET: My driving instructor was was the opposite in that he’s like, why would you hold it at the bottom? You have no control as compared to at the top. And I’m like, okay. I’m holding it at the top.
TARANJIT: Do you tend to drive differently when youre with someone as opposed to if you’re by yourself?
HARMONY: I think I’m a worst driver when I’m with someone cuz they’re distracting. I’m usually I don’t know where I’m going when I’m with someone. So I feel like most of the mistakes I make happen when somebody else is in the car. What about you Maggie?
MAGGIE: Oh. A likely story. Yeah, I think I am probably a pretty similar driver with other people in the car. I think it’s just for me like the atmosphere changes and we’ll I talk or something instead of listening to music or whatever I usually do. To be honestI got used to driving all the time. Just absolutely constantly. And now I live in an area where I don’t drive very often. There’s really good public transit here. And I work really far away so taking the car is annoying. So it’s almost hard to say. I think in that way I changed now. Where where is that I used to be a wicked confident driver. Now, I think I get nervous and more jumpy when I feel like someones looking at me like somebody’s watching in the car.
HARMONY: Oh, yeah, maybe that’s what it is for me because I feel like everyones always judging me and most of the people that have had to drive with me already think I’m a bad driver. So then I get all psyched out
MAGGIE: It’s a lot of pressure and Damian is a backseat driver.
HARMONY: That’s really interesting. He was so good with me. He was a great teacher. So that is very very interesting
MAGGIE: Yeah. He is nicer to a lot of people than he is to me. It seems messed up. You know.
HARMONY: Aw.
MAGGIE: I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding.
BHAVNEET: So when you typically drive, do you like listening to music or podcasts or do you need it to be like absolutely quiet?
HARMONY: I spent a lot of time during my driving days doing longer drives. And I have a tendency to like become a narcoleptic a narcoleptic if I get bored easily. So I always have liked music or a podcast going and it really just kind of depends on my mood. I think usually my preference is podcasts. But if it’s like a sunny day and I just want to relax I’ll put on a playlist.
MAGGIE: I usually drive in silence actually. I just really I don’t know why I think from you being behind the wheel is zen enough place for like I can just sit there and start to sit with my thoughts for a while. And I’m also the kind of person especially again if I’m going somewhere new and I’m in and I feel like nervous and stuff where I really have to concentrate on what I’m doing. So even if I’m listening to music and suddenly, I don’t know where I am or what I’m doing anymore or something unexpected happens. I turn it off immediately.
TARANJIT: I feel the same way. I actually am really bad with directions. So when I’m going somewhere new, I always have to either have my sister…
BHAVNEET: Oh. She’s terrible.
TARANJIT: Yeah. I’m terrible with directions. She has to tell me exactly where to go or we’ll end up somewhere that we have no idea.
HARMONY: Thats fair. Thats fair. It’s hard. I’m very dependent on my GPS and I got really good at just like listening to it. So if you hook up the Bluetooth and the GPS is going then it will interrupt the music and tell me what I need to know.
MAGGIE: The Bluetooth. What a fancy lady you are.
HARMONY: I know.
MAGGIE: I drive a 1997. So I’m salty about all all nice car things.
TARANJIT: I guess. If you could get your dream car, what would it be?
MAGGIE: Something that has power locks and power windows. I miss them desperately.
TARANJIT: So any car that has it?
MAGGIE: Yeah. Any anyone. Anything is an upgrade.
HARMONY: I don’t even know what power locks are. What are they Maggie?
MAGGIE: Oh. You know how you went when you like lock your car, you just press a button on the key fob and it does it for you.
HARMONY: Your card doesn’t. Okay. I see.
MAGGIE: Yeah, I just got to like stick the key in and then wiggle it around and then Analog, you know,
HARMONY: I can see that. I can see that. I think for me, it’s completely aesthetic. I would like a VW bug or I would want one of those like itty bitty little electric cars cuz they’re so cute. And I want to save the planet
MAGGIE: Harmony. If you ever drove a VW bug, you would just become a walking cliché.
HARMONY: That’s so rude. I always wanted one. They’re so cute.
MAGGIE: I think actually I would probably want some sort of convertible. My dad works on cars in his spare time. He has a 73 Ford Mustang convertible that is bright yellow and it was always such a treat in the summer when he’d like to take us out with the with the top down and stuff. And I have a lot of really good memories in the convertible. So I think that if I maybe if I lived in a place where it didn’t rain 9 months out of the year, that would probably be like my dream situation.
TARANJIT: Yeah. There’s probably no point of a convertible if you have to keep the roof up all the time.
MAGGIE: Yeah, not not not here. Not right now. But one day maybe.
TARANJIT: Switching gears a little bit. Now that we know the type of driver you are, let’s go back to how it started. I know you guys talked on and a little bit but if you could describe your first time driving experience and what kind of If you experience any fails or was it easy for you.
HARMONY: I failed three times, but to be fair because Maggie and her now husband were the ones teaching me and they had very busy schedules and he didn’t live with us at the time. He lives far away. I really only got like 14 hours of driving experience before I took my test and I was trying to do it like within the course of a week because I really needed to get my license right then and there. I failed two times and it took me until my third time because I couldn’t get parallel parking down.
MAGGIE: My first time driving I was 15 about to turn 16 and so my dad was like Ill just take you for a spin around the neighborhood so that we can start getting you practicing. And then it went really badly. I was driving too far to the right for his liking and it really made him panic and my dad is usually hard to ruffle. Like he’s very calm and confident. And he was like yelling at me and he grabbed the steering wheel. We were gone for like 7 minutes. I think before we made it back up my driveway. And I in the most dramatic just like teenage girl away. I walked in the house and I went, I’m never driving with him ever again. And then my mom had to teach me to drive. He still doesn’t like it when I drive. He’s like definitely the kind of person that just needs to be in control all the time. He hates it when I drive. He won’t it be driving the Mustang but my brother can which just seems like such mm. Iit makes me mad.
TARANJIT: That’s not fair.
MAGGIE: No. It’s really not.
HARMONY: Is your brother a better driver than you, Maggie?
MAGGIE: Probably. Although he’s really fast and really furious. Like he’ll go 90 the whole way if he thinks he can get away from it with it.
HARMONY: That’s fair. That tracks with what I know about your brother.
MAGGIE: Yeah.
TARANJIT: So could you pass your driver’s test if you had take it today and would you say where you got your license, the test is easy or do you think is kind of difficult?
HARMONY: Massachusetts is actually apparently one of the harder places to get your license. It’s like in New York, you don’t even know what have to know how to parallel park I think. And I think that’s true for Connecticut, too. Because I think I remember trying to get someone to teach me and nobody I knew could. I had people from New York and New Hampshire and Connecticut and no one could teach me how to parallel park.
BHAVNEET: That’s really surprising for New York that you don’t have to parallel park.
HARMONY: Yeah. Yeah. It is very surprising. You would think that that would be a requirement. But Massachusetts, apparently, I think I’ve read that it’s one of the hardest places in terms of driving tests.
MAGGIE: Massachusetts just likes to make life difficult in every way. I definitely could not pass the drivers exam today because you have to in Connecticut you don’t have to parallel park. Harmony was right about that or at least I think you do in some parts of Connecticut, but just not where I took my test. You had to back in park and I cannot back in park to save my life. In fact, the first time I took the test, I almost failed it. hey had to give me a second chance to back in park because like I just can’t do it. Spatially my brain just does not work that way.
BHAVNEET: That’s really weird because I don’t know I that’s the only way I will park.
MAGGIE: Oh yeah?
BHAVNEET: Yeah.
MAGGIE: Teach me your ways.
BHAVNEET: I hate forward parking because then I’m like it’s so much more of a hassle getting. Just back in.
MAGGIE: It is a hassle to get out. Absolutely.
HARMONY: I don’t think I’ve ever backed in parked in my life. So thats that’s terrifying Maggie.
BHAVNEET: Wow.
TARANJIT: Yeah. Our dad I think the first thing he taught us was to reverse park. He didn’t teach us forward parking, he just taught us reverse parking. Because he likes doing it. So I guess that’s how we…
MAGGIE: Back in parking is such a dad thing. My dad that was the only thing my dad taught me how to do was how to back in park. And it was like towards the end of my driving experience. So I was a much better driver at that point. And so he just took me to a parking lot and he made me back in park like 100 times and I got it maybe 1 out of every 5 times.
BHAVNEET: So are you able to parallel park now? And do you think that it should be a requirement on all driving tests?
HARMONY: Me? I don’t know because it has been a year since I’ve drave drive driven. Driven. So to answer your previous question. I think I ignored it before I don’t think I would pass the driver’s test now. And yeah, I don’t know if I could parallel park now. I think I probably could if I was given some practice but it might take me a hot sec. I do think it should be a requirement though because as someone that’s had to drive a lot of places it really it’s really really very useful whenever you’re in a city.
MAGGIE: Yeah, I can parallel park. Sometimes it is sometimes I can’t always do it in one go. But Harmony and I had an apartment our senior year of college where the majority of the parking situation was just like parallel parking on the street. So I had to get good at it really fast. Although it is rusty now. So it would definitely probably would take more than one shot to do it. And I do think that it should be a requirement because I never really I mean I was taught how to do it in driving school, but because I never had to really care about it for for long after that when I was in a situation where I did have to parallel park all the time. I essentially had to teach myself from scratch which was unfortunate. And I think that if it was on the drivers test, I would have cared more about getting good at it before I actually needed it
HARMONY: Here. Here. .
TARANJIT: Yeah. I agree. I feel like parallel parking should be a requirement. But I think here in Maryland they just recently took it off. So when our brother went to go take the test, he just had to reverse park and then drive on the road.
HARMONY: Wow. Lucky kid.
TARANJIT: Yeah.
BHAVNEET: Which I don’t know because now I’m just like scared whoever gets their license. It’s like watch out. They don’t really like they don’t they have it easy to like to get their license. So how much how much do they really know?
MAGGIE: I know right? It’s like how it how much could you possibly could you possibly know if they just keep making the test easier and easier?
HARMONY: Yeah. Thats fair. I’m even when I feel like yeah, I don’t know. I feel like it’s good to make driving and in and of itself more accessible because our society relies on it so much. But I do agree that it’s scary to know that there are people out there that haven’t learned how to do basic road things.
MAGGIE: Yeah, I agree. But I feel like most of the barriers around driving aren’t necessarily like the difficulty of the exam for the most part. It’s the fact that it’s so expensive to learn how drive no matter what. Like you have to pay for drivers ed. And Drivers ed is like such a long experience anyways.
HARMONY: And the test is expensive.
MAGGIE: Yeah, and then cars are expensive even if you know how to drive.
TARANJIT: Yes.
HARMONY: Getting a loan is almost impossible, if you don’t have like some sort of financial backer.
TARANJIT: Yeah, there’s a lot of things that go into driving, but young kids don’t consider those things. They just think like, oh, yeah. I can just get my license and it’s good.
MAGGIE: Oh. Yeah.
HARMONY: Yeah
TARANJIT: So going back to a question we asked earlier, I’m just curious because you guys have lived in different states. Do you have to retake the test when you go to the other state or can you just transfer your license?
HARMONY: You can just transfer I think. You might have to take a, well for me at least, when I went and got my new license in Vermont. You take like the the written portion of the test. I think. Maybe.
MAGGIE: Oh really?
HARMONY: No I don’t think no, I don’t think I did that. Nevermind. I lied. I think I just had to transfer it.
MAGGIE: Yeah, I just had to transfer mine, too. They didn’t make me do anything special or fancy except for wait at the DMV for 10 hours. You know, the casual DMV things in it of itself.
BHAVNEET: That’s a process in and of itself.
HARMONY: Yeah. I wonder if different states have different rules though.
MAGGIE: Yeah. I don’t know. That would be interesting. But I feel like they might not just because you know, you can drive through any state with a as long as you’ve been licensed in one state. So I feel like it would be kind of hard to like catch people out in that, you know.
HARMONY: That’s true. But different places have different road rules. Like in Massachusetts, we can turn right on red and that’s not true for every state.
MAGGIE: Yeah. That’s true. I don’t know. I don’t know. I know that in certain countries if you like Rent-A-Car they make you not take a test or anything, but you have to sit through it like an educational video essentially that talks about you know the specific extraciticies I guess of driving in that specific place. Like New Zealand does that. Not that I’ve ever been to New Zealand. I don’t know why I know that but that’s a fact that is in my head apparently.
TARANJIT: Yeah. I think one of my past co-workers, they went to Australia and I think he was telling me when they rented the car they had them practice out back before they could drive off of a car.
HARMONY: Oh. That’s smart.
MAGGIE: : Yeah. I feel like that makes a lot of sense cuz especially once you start, you know driving in different countries, it is like really different
TARANJIT: Especially when it’s on the other side of the road.
MAGGIE: That’s my greatest fear in life is I never want to drive on the other side of the road. I feel like I’m I feel like I would something terrible would happen.
HARMONY: Is that how it is in Australia, too? I know it’s like that for most of Europe. But Australia does not as well?
TARANJIT: Yes.
BHAVNEET: Yes they do and it is so confusing.
TARANJIT: Yeah. We went there, I think last April. When we were on the other side of the road, it just felt weird sitting on the other side.
HARMONY: Yeah, that is terrifying.
MAGGIE: I feel like that’s one of those reality things where it’s like everything is perfectly normal, but something doesn’t feel quite right and it just builds that sense of unease in you.
TARANJIT: So going into I guess getting into a little more crazy stories again with driving there comes a lot of risk and I know Harmony you mentioned that you crashed into an illegally parked car.
HARMONY: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was three days after I gotten my car. We we were living off College. Like it was our senior year of College. Although I think I was technically graduated and we lived off campus at kind of like the party part of our school and parking there was really really hard to come by. And so people would park on the wrong side of the street and no one would really do anything about them about it because the cops knew that and the ticket people knew they know that parking was hard to come by and it just wasn’t really an issue. And I think there was maybe a big party there the night before so parking was extra hard to come by. And I had broken my French press and had no way to get coffee. So I took my car out and went to Walmart and was super exhausted cuz I had worked super late. And I’m coming back with my brand new French press in my brand new car, and as I’m driving, I hear this like crash. And it was my passenger side mirror colliding with the passenger side mirror of the vehicle that was illegally parked on the other side of the road. And I didnt know it was illegally parked at the time. So I freaked out. And I was just like I still have. I still haven’t driven that much at this point because I only had 14 hours of driving experience before I got my license. So it was really just me going to and from work and kind of still becoming comfortable behind the wheel. So I’m stopped in the middle of the road. And I knew I had to get my car like out of the middle of the road, but there was really no good place for me to put it. So I drove across the street kind of the wrong way into a campus parking lot. Stopped there. Called the campus police and was like, I just hit a car and I’m not at the scene anymore. But I did that because I felt like it was unsafe to remain at the scene. But there is a car that was hit and I don’t know who it belongs to, and can someone come over here and like tell me what to do. And the woman that came by was a campus police officer. She was like somebody in the upper part of campus police. And at this point I was technically graduated, but she didn’t know that and we had interacted before. And our interactions before were not pleasant because I worked at the student newspaper and she was a part of the campus police, and they were trying to withhold information that they legally were not allowed to withhold with us. And we had gotten into a screaming match the semester before because she was trying to withhold information. And so she came and she knew me at this point and I think that she thought that I was a force to be reckoned with maybe I don’t know because she was very polite to me. I think she’s a little scared because I have called out her department for withholding information illegally from the student newspaper. So she she was very kind to me and like talked me through as I’m crying and and talking about the scene. And she was like, oh nothing bad is going to happen to you. Do not tell your insurance company. And just so you know, this car is illegally parked. So you are in the right here. And the kid whose car I hit. I had totaled his mirror as well. There is significant damage and he eventually came out and saw that I hit his car and was really really angry with me. And I was like, I’m so sorry. I talked to the campus police officer and she said not to tell our insurance company because you’re illegally parked. And we’re finally like a police report and I don’t know what to do in this situation. Is there like money I can pay you even though I don’t have any money cuz I was very very broke at the time. And he yeah, he like was going to call his uncle and he was very angry at me. And like consult with his uncle to see whether or not we need to file an insurance claim. And then he instead talked to the campus police officer and I don’t know what she said to him, but he came back and was like, I’m so sorry that I parked illegally. And we’re not going to report it to the insurance company. Yeah. Yeah, so I really lucked out
MAGGIE: Yeah. You really took one for the team that day, too. Because Harmony and I were the only people in that house who drank coffee. It was like our little ritual every morning that we had coffee together.. Yeah.
HARMONY: Yeah. We can’t go without a coffee maker.
MAGGIE: It would have been bad.
HARMONY: It’s dangerous to drive without coffee though. That’s what I learned that day.
TARANJIT: At least, you didn’t have to pay for that because it was his fault.
HARMONY: It wasn’t really his fault though. It was completely my fault. Like I hit his car. His car was not moving. And I that police officer I think like did some stuff to make it his fault. I don’t know.
TARANJIT: Well if he was not parked correctly, then I guess he should have figured something was going to happen if his car wasn’t properly parked.
HARMONY: Yeah.
MAGGIE: I think that he would have gotten in a lot of trouble with his insurance company because being illegally parked is like kind of a little it would like really mess up your insurance rates and stuff.
HARMONY: Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know. That was that was a moment of luck. I feel like most of my driving stories have just been like me being lucky. Yet not not being roadworthy.
TARANJIT: What about you Maggie? Have you had anything not like that but something?
MAGGIE: I have never been in an accident and I’ve never gotten a ticket. I am very lucky.
TARANJIT: Thats awesome.
MAGGIE: Yeah. I think that the only thing that happened I wasn’t driving I was just a passenger in the car. But Damien, we were at school again and we were on the hunt for street parking and we found a spot. And he really wanted to get it cuz we’ve been looking for a while. So he decided that he was just going to try and turn in to the like parallel park cuz we were on the wrong side of the street. And he did it way too fast and he crashed into the oh my gosh the curb and he popped his front tire. And that was really the only the only accident experience I’ve ever had. I think my mom got in a car accident when I was a kid, but I have not.
TARANJIT: That’s a good thing.
MAGGIE: Oh yeah.
TARANJIT: So I know Harmony, you also mentioned that you got in a fight with a cop.
HARMONY: Oh, yeah kind of. I like pulled a Karen. That’s my white girl privilege coming out. Yeah. There was a time when I was driving I was we were all out of college at this point. I was driving to meet our College friends cuz they had all gathered near where we used to live. And I was driving from Vermont and I had to work so I was coming super late at night. And I haven’t been to this particular place where they were yet. And so I was using the GPS and the GPS tried to take me on this like weird, not road. Like it was a really narrow road. But I’m used to driving in country places. So like I’m used to going on dirt roads and I was like, oh this must just be some sort of shortcut. But it was really muddy and really dark. And the GPS is trying to get me to go on this like narrow little road that had tire marks on it. And so I went through, but it was icy here for some reason even though it was spring. Like there was still ice on the ground in this route road and very very muddy. And so I’m driving and then suddenly like my car is kind of like not doing too hot because I only have two wheel drive. It can’t really handle all of this ice and road stuff. But suddenly like I slide a little bit and then my car is like half off the road and almost like ready to topple into a ditch with a river. Like a little stream across it. So I got out of my car and freaked out. And I think I called my dad and he didn’t answer. And then I think I called my boyfriend and he didn’t answer. And then I eventually tried to call the local police officers, and they were like, oh you got the wrong district. You need to call these people. So I finally found the right people to call and I called them and I was like, hey, my car is hanging off of a cliff. Is there a like something we can do? Like I’m I’m worried it’s going to topple into the river. I’m inside of it Should I get outside? It’s really cold outside. And they yelled at me. I can’t believe they yelled at me. They were like, I can’t believe you drove on that road. That’s not a road. I was like but there were no signs and there were tire marks. And yeah, the officer was really really rude to me and he kept on yelling. And I think I got like really snippy with him back. I was like, why are you yelling at me? Like this is your fault. Iif you know that people have cuz I guess this is not the first time people had driven on this road. I was like if you know people if you know, the GPSs are going along this road, why have you not locked it off? Like this is your property. So he came eventually and he like apologized to me for yelling at me for being on this road. And I was crying and like not very happy with him. And they hired a tow truck and it cost like $500 which at the time was way too much money. I think I had to borrow the money from my boyfriend and pay him back because I didn’t have $500 in any of my accounts. And they looked up my car and discovered that apparently it was unregistered because I still had it registered in Massachusetts and had not registered it in Vermont. And I didnt know this because my mail was going to my excommunicated stepmother’s house. And so the police officer like almost arrested me because I was driving a it was unregistered by month I think. It was a month late registration on this vehicle. Yeah. But it turned out okay, and I eventually made it. I eventually made it to my friends house a little shaken up.
MAGGIE: That’s rough man. I was not there at the time. I will say they’re going off of that Harmony. That like kind of road was really common where we lived like. When we wanted to go to Northampton, Massachusetts, which was where all the fun things were and was an hour and a half away from where we lived, we had to drive down a dirt road that somebody carved in the middle of their farm.
HARMONY: Yeah.
MAGGIE: So like I probably would have done the same exact thing and turned on it. Because that stuff was just common there.
HARMONY: Yeah. Lots of dark dark roads where you can’t see above like 3 ft in front of you in the woods. It was a scary experience actually. Not so funny. Mostly scary.
TARANJIT: Well it’s funny. I guess now that when you think back about it, but not in the moment.
HARMONY: Yeah. Yeah. The cop let me off, too. So like he didn’t end up arresting me and that was also good because I don’t think I could have afforded bail.
MAGGIE: I’m just trying to picture what would have happened if you’d called Emily and been like, look. I’m in jail, and I need you to come get me.
HARMONY: I did call her and she like wasn’t able to come get me from the place. So I was terrified. I was like, I’m going to be stranded in this nowhere town, on this crazy road, and my car is going to fall into a river and I’ll never be able to work again.
MAGGIE: Did they have you get out of the car? Did you stay or did you stay in it?
HARMONY: No, they had me get out. They were very angry. The tow truck guy was angry. Yeah.
BHAVNEET: Wow. Everyone was angry.
HARMONY: Everyone was angry. I was angry at the cop for being so rude and then I was very apologetic once I found out that my car was unregistered.
TARANJIT: It seems like you get yourself in quite a lot of situations.
HARMONY: Yeah. I we joke that I am the orphaned child. So people are constantly like having to adopt me because I’m constantly running around places where I know no one with no money. Just kind of trying to like force force adulting to happen and forcing things to work out
MAGGIE: By people you mean me.
HARMONY: No you but also actually so Maggie taught me how to drive. But before I was able to like scrounge up like $70 before each of my driving tests to get someone to be in the car with me and like go over the driving test with me before I went. And I’ve met a really cute couple that kept on giving me cookies and I think they gave me a few free extra driving license as well. Actually, I always have people that adopt me. My car used to constantly fall apart and like my co-workers, my older Boomer coworkers, would come in and like help me tape it back together.. Yeah. It’s not just you, Maggie. Everyone adopts me.
TARANJIT: It seems like you have like a magnet to just to attract people.
HARMONY: It’s called helplessness. The damsel-in-distress thing.
MAGGIE: Harmony’s got those doe eyes. you know.
HARMONY: I’m just kind of I am the orphan child. I’m like, I have no one here in the world. Please take pity.
TARANJIT: And then everyone comes.
HARMONY: Yeah. And then they come. They come and take pity. And somehow I scrape by okay. Except for that cop, he was not taking pity that day.
BHAVNEET: Hey. He didn’t arrest you.
MAGGIE: I mean he didn’t arrest you.
BHAVNEET: Yeah.
HARMONY: That’s true. Yeah. So that’s a blessing.
BHAVNEET: We have one final question for you guys. If you could make one new driving law, what would it be?
HARMONY: I would make U-turns illegal. U-turns really freak me out. So I would love if I never had to do a U-turn again.
MAGGIE: I would probably say that you have to take your liek take a re-up on your driving test like to keep your drivers license every couple of years.
HARMONY: Oh gosh. No Maggie. Why would you do that?
TARANJIT: Yeah.
MAGGIE: Well because I feel like people would be better drivers if they were constantly forced to, you know. play by the rules.
HARMONY: It’s so expensive though.
MAGGIE: It would they would be free. For sure. But I also just think about it sometimes with older drivers like when my grandma was getting really old and she was still driving like that was that was a no-go. That was that was bad. She would just go through red lights and stuff and I’d be like, Grandma. Please don’t kill me.
HARMONY: Yeah. That’s fair.
TARANJIT: Do you think there’s an age that people should just stop driving?
HARMONY: No. I think that is different for different people. Different people age differently.
MAGGIE: Yeah. For sure. For my grandma, it was just one of those things where she like, she hit a certain point and she just clearly like wasn’t seeing the lights the way she should have, you know. And I feel like once that happened we tried to get her to stop driving but she lived just far enough away from all the rest of her family and like she really needed to be able to drive and it was like a tense situation. But that’’s kind of part of the reason why I think that you should have to re-up on your driver’s test because then everyone is getting checked up on throughout their lives and you can tell you know. There’s there’s there’s a system in place.
HARMONY: My grandma did a very similar thing. And I remember my senior year of high school, like right after we graduated high school, going down with her to the place where she lived in Virginia, and having to accompany her to a court case because she had so many driving violations. And I remember like going up there with her and she immediately like handed up and became the little old lady figure. And she started like hobbling to talk to the judge and like looking as though she was going to fall down. And I was really scared being there cuz I was 18 and had never been in a courtroom before. So she did like the same thing that I do with the pity thing and the judge took pity on her and somehow she scraped by without any without having to pay anything or without losing her license.
MAGGIE: Wild.
TARANJIT: Seems like guys just have luck.
HARMONY: Yeah. Lots of luck.
TARANJIT: Do you guys have any final thoughts or any tips for other drivers?
HARMONY: Use your turn signals and stop honking like unnecessarily. There’s no reason to honk unless you know that somebody is going to hurt you. Like if somebody is is drifting into your lane, then it’s okay to honk but they use the horn sparingly. It freaks me out and it makes me worst driver.
MAGGIE: I think for me you should be not like me and you should really try and keep your Zen while driving because road rage just stresses you out and it doesn’t accomplish anything. So do as I say not as I do.
TARANJIT: Great tips. Before we let you guys go, where can our listeners find you if they want to check you guys out or listen to your show?
HARMONY: They can find us wherever I think I think we’re on all the podcast apps. So if you look up Rebel Girls Book Club, you can find our show. You can also find us on Instagram @rgbcpod and on Facebook at Rebel Girls Book Club. And onTwitter @Rebelgirlsbook1.
MAGGIE: What Harmony said. All of those things are correct. Or if you really want to talk to us, you can email us at rebelgirlsbookclub@gmail.com.
HARMONY: That is true. We don’t get enough emails. So email us.
MAGGIE: Yeah.. No one wants to talk to us. It’s very sad.
BHAVNEET: Now that you asked, you will get all of them.
HARMONY: Yes, please.
BHAVNEET: Thank you guys so much for coming on. We had a blast listening to all your crazy driving experiences.
MAGGIE: Thank you for having us. We really had a good time or at least I did. I guess I am going to lump Harmony in on this. I guess we are one conglomerate human.
HARMONY: We are the same. Yes.Thank you so much. I really really appreciate it. It was very fun.
(transition music)
TARANJIT: Wow. Harmony has I feel like been through way more than I would expect. Like she has…
BHAVNEET: Her short she her short timespan that she has been driving but she’s driven a lot during that time. And I feel like she’s been through the amount of things that people go through in their entire lifetime career of driving.
TARANJIT: Or some people may not even experience some things that she has experienced. She like attracts not only attracts getting stuck in these sticky situations, but she at the same time attracts…
BHAVNEET: All the help.
TARANJIT: All the help at the same time. So she is not stuck in those situations for a long.
BHAVNEET: Which I mean I guess is good. You have these crazy stories that you’re like, wow. I survived this because and then magically all these people were there to help me.
TARANJIT: I know I wish they’d like she was in my car when I was in these situations because then maybe people would have come and helped.
BHAVNEET: And also, I think that is its really great that Maggie and Damian taught Harmony how to drive even when her own parents gave up on teaching her how to drive. Even though it was stick shift, but still.
TARANJIT: Yeah you would think like in those situations your parents would continuously try to push you. But her parents were like, yeah. There’s no hope.
BHAVNEET: Yeah and Maggie’s story of having to drive cross-country and then the GPS like rerouting them through the Rocky Mountains instead of around.
TARANJIT: Oh my gosh. When she shared the story of a GPS rerouting her to a different direction, I immediately thought of how we’ve heard GPSs bringing people to like the edge of where a road ends. Like you shouldn’t blindly trust a GPS. I always worry that the GPS is going to bring me to a location where it’s just like well now where do I go? There’s nowhere to go from here.
BHAVNEET: Exactly. I mean that kind of happened to Harmony where it turned her down some random road that you would legit think it is a road because there are roads that are like no- roads, but people drive them and then it took her to a clif. Like, oh. Hello.
TARANJIT: I mean you should be paying attention to your surroundings. But at the same time if you’re like, oh yeah. The GPS says this way is fine.
BHAVNEET: And it’s a new place.
TARANJIT: And then cliff.
BHAVNEET: Yeah. Well everything ended okay. So happy endings. Well, that’s all for this week’s episode. If you have any interesting driving stories and would like to be a guest on the show. Fill out the interest form on our website at drivewithuspodcast.com.
TARANJIT: And stay tuned until the end for a sneak peek of next week’s episode where we are joined by Felix from Where’s this going podcast. Where we talk about what it’s like being a new driver and what it was like taking the drivers test right before the pandemic started. Thanks for driving with us.
(outro music)
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(next week’s sneak peek)
FELIX: The first time that I took my drivers test I actually hadn’t practiced driving in a month. I get in the car with my driving instructor and she’s like, are you gonna hurry up? But I had no idea what that sign meant. So I just cut straight through the left. So she starts yelling at me.