Lori Borgman: Confession of an ambidextrous driver

Lori Borgman, Tribune News Service on Oct 20, 2026

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Could someone please explain how a person sitting in the front seat of a vehicle can be labeled a backseat driver? A backseat driver would be someone in the back seat.

Fortunately, a specific label is of little concern to me as I am ambidextrous and can direct from either the front or the back.

My husband is a lucky guy. I remind him all the time.

That said, my driving and directing tips are often seen as unnecessary, as in gasping. Yes, I sometimes inhale sharply, but usually only when it appears we may miss our exit.

Hitting my imaginary brake is also unwelcome. Guilty as charged, but sometimes my right leg spasms and smacks the floorboard in front of me. This most often happens when vehicles in front of us slam on their brakes in rapid succession.

Holding out my arms as if bracing for impact is also frowned upon. I prefer to call that move “front seat tai chi.” I’m just exercising. There’s no need to take it personally.

I work hard at not being a backseat driver. I know what it’s like to be the driver and have someone (male voice) in the passenger seat (co-owner of the vehicle) telling me where to turn, or which lane to be in, so I try not to do that to others.

Case in point — I keep a stress ball in the glove box. I picked up this tip from one of our daughters who has inherited my front-seat-back-seat ambidextrous gift for directing. It’s a genetic condition most often passed from mothers to daughters.

There have been times I have squeezed the stress ball so tightly that my fingernails have cut through the stress ball and into the palm of my hand. At least it feels that way.

Backseat drivers are nothing new. When you look at illustrations of wagon trains heading West, what do you notice? That’s right, there are two people on the spring seat on the front of the wagon. A man is holding the reins, and a woman is beside him giving directions.

And why is it that Lewis and Clark are never referred to as Clark and Lewis? Because Lewis was in the front seat of the canoe and Clark was in the back seat giving directions.

The husband asks how it is that he has driven many times without me in the car and never had an accident.

“Funny you should ask that,” I said. “I’ve asked myself the same thing.”