Remember those yellow bumper stickers that were omnipresent last September--"School's In. Drive Safely." Well, we could use an update. "School's Out. Drive More Safely." Driving down Plandome Road earlier this week, we were struck by the dangerous walking and driving patterns we saw. Granted, we're New Yorkers who consider jay walking one of our civil rights and also granted that it's a long way between corners when you're trying to cross Plandome Road, but near misses are becoming a way of life here. The absurd part is that this is a small suburban street where speeding should be out of the question and usually is, due to the traffic. But even without speeders, when people double park and others have to pull out behind them in order to get out of a legitimate parking space, there is an increased chance of hitting a pedestrian. Several times in the past few weeks we have seen drivers stopped at a red light prior to making a left turn when the driver of the car behind (sometimes several cars behind) pulled out into incoming traffic so that he could make a right turn in front of the stopped traffic. We have seen drivers speed up so that they won't be delayed the few seconds it takes someone to back out of a driveway. Over the past several months we have received letters warning about traffic on Bayview Avenue where a major tragedy was miraculously averted this week.

Often it's simple carelessness and almost always it results from lack of courtesy for a fellow driver or a pedestrian. The results can be disastrous.

Ralph Waldo Emerson never drove a car in Manhasset but he left a message for all of us. "Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy."

And a final thought from Hilaire Belloc:

"Of courtesy it is much less

Than courage of heart of holiness

Yet in my walks it seems to me

That the Grace of God is in courtesy."

E.F.B.