Stu's email address is stumail@earthlink.net.

Only on Mackinac Island could there be a fire at the water plant.

Only on Mackinac Island could their be signs at the cemetery that read "alcoholic beverages prohibited."

And only on Mackinac Island could you have to leave the Island to legally learn to drive a car.

Since there are no privately owned cars on the Island, how does one learn to drive anyway? I think the best answer I've heard was from a Mackinac student currently learning to drive, who was asked by someone from the mainland: "So, do they bring a car over to the Island so you can take your driver's test?" The Mackinac student driver replied casually "Oh no, we just take turns driving the ambulance." Which, of course, is not true; they drive the fire truck. No, they don't drive the fire truck either--as far as I know.

Mackinac student drivers learn by taking classes held at the school on Sundays. They receive 24 hours of in-class instruction, have lots of reading, then begin their driving portion of the class on the mainland. The class is taught by an instructor from Cedarville, who also teaches drivers training at many of the neighboring area schools. Students learn to drive in a van owned by the Cedarville school district.

Their first five hours of driving instruction typically takes place in St. Ignace, the Soo, the Cedarville area and points in between. After they log an additional 30 hours of driving time with their parents, they receive 12 more hours of in-class instruction. Students must be at least 16 to get their license. In addition to passing a written, vision and road skills (That's road skills, not road kills) test, Michigan state law requires students under age 17 to accumulate at least 50 driving hours before getting their license. For some students, this can take a long time, unless you have relatives in Cleveland whom you visit on a regular basis.

I've been on the Island for more than four months this summer and suspect I have driven less than 10 hours the entire time, most of that being back and forth to Walmart in Cheboygen (20 miles).

While not all eligible students choose to take driver's training, most students do participate in the program as it is the best way to learn the rules of the road and how to play well with other cars.

I had an interesting conversation with a good friend of mine who has been a life-long resident of the Island. He pointed out something to me that I had not realized. For him, since he drives so little, compared to most people who live on the mainland, driving is something that requires much focus and attention. He said that most stuff that I, as a mainlander, take in almost subconsciously: road signs, road lines, cross walks, other cars, etc., he has to really concentrate on. Because of this, while he is a safe and good driver, driving is not second nature for him. This, while I'd never thought about it, makes sense. Most people from the mainland, hop in their cars, start them and the next thing they know, they are at their destinations almost automatically. They may not even remember much about the trip because they sort of go on autopilot. Not so for my friend. He said that driving a car is the easy part, it's the rules of the road and being around other cars that's the hard part. It's the accumulated experience you get from driving and growing up riding in a car everyday that is hard to replace.

Think about it, if you grow up on the mainland, when you are a young person riding with your parents to the store, to a friends house, to school, etc., you are on a daily basis observing different traffic situations involving cars. You learn to predict what other cars may do in different situations, you understand traffic patterns and what most people do when faced with different driving variables. For instance, if you are on I-75 passing through Detroit, there are four lanes of speeding cars and semi-trucks continually exiting, merging, changing lanes, passing and you are trying to navigate your car from the left lane to the right lane to exit within 1/4 mile, suddenly driving becomes more difficult. If you grew up around this type of driving, what to do may seem obvious, but if you grew up on the Island and your biggest traffic jam was the intersection of Astor St. and Main St., the answer may not be so obvious.

On the flip side are people from the mainland trying to ride bikes on Mackinac. While some are good at it, others have to try harder than someone who has spent much time living on the Island and riding a bike. Now the tables are turned and great concentration is required to ride a bike and not accidentally maim or kill anyone, including yourself. Make it a tandem and the ability level goes down exponentially.

It all comes down to your point of view and the age-old question: Is it heredity or environment? Well in this case, probably both.

Drive on.