The importance of a good driver

I don't know if it's true but I once heard that, for all his brilliance, Albert Einstein never learned to drive. He supposedly said it was too complicated and dangerous.

True or not, some people can be so good at something that their abilities elsewhere suffer.

That must be the case with Tiger Woods.

News today says that Woods got into his 2009 Cadillac SUV, backed out of his driveway, drove forward and hit a fire hydrant and a tree, suffering "acerations to his upper and lower lips, and blood in his mouth."

When police officers arrived in the gated community of Isleworth, near Orlando, "his wife, Elin, [was] hovering over him.

She told officers she was in the house when she heard the accident and "came out and broke the back window with a golf club," he said. "She supposedly got him out and laid him on the ground. He was in and out of consciousness when my guys got there."

Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Kim Montes said the patrol reports injuries as serious if they require more than minor medical attention.

Air bags in the SUV did not deploy [because his speed was under 33 MPH.]

Investigators still have not had a chance to speak to Woods, but when they do, "we will ask him everything," Montes said. "We just haven't had a chance to do so because he was being medically treated."

Montes said charges could be filed if there was a clear traffic violation, although troopers still do not know what caused Woods' SUV to hit the hydrant and the tree.

Woods rarely faces such private scrutiny, even as perhaps the most famous active athlete in the world.
He usually made news only because of what he can do with a golf club.

AP News 27 November 2009

Authorities hastened to add that alcohol was apparently not a factor.

As someone who could hardly care less about golf, why am I writing about this?

Because of the driver.

Whether breaking out windows or not driving into a neighbor's tree, file this whole story under the heading of "It pays to have a good driver around."

.