Over the past couple of months my wife and I have been teaching our fifteen-year-old son to drive. Needless to say, learning to drive in Southern California is quite a bit different than rural Wisconsin where I learned. Sure, we dealt with ice and snow, but didn’t have to navigate six-lane freeways and cell phone distracted drivers.

Last month we decided to push it a little bit and moved on to night driving. While returning home after picking up some takeout in the adjoining town, my son changed lanes and didn’t see the truck in his blind spot. Thankfully an accident was avoided, but not without the requisite horn honking and gesturing from the other driver.

As I was looking back on the near accident it made me think more of the idea of a blind spot. As experienced drivers we reflexively check our blind spots every time we navigate busy freeways. It’s not something we consciously do, just part of the regular routine of driving that’s hardwired into our brain with practice. We all know that not checking our blind spot can lead to a potential disaster.