An episode of "Mad Men" opens with Gene Hofstadt, Betty Draper's father, riding through his daughter's suburban Ossining, N.Y., neighborhood in a gleaming 1961 Lincoln Continental. Behind the wheel is Sally Draper, Betty and Don's 8-year-old daughter. Her younger brother Bobby is in the back seat.

Under any other circumstances, watching an elementary-school child drive a luxury sedan would be enough to send viewers reaching for the edge of the couch. Instead, Sally proves to be a careful, attentive driver, while her grandfather calmly offers encouragement and the occasional bit of advice despite his own failing memory. The three of them make it home without incident, and everyone is in good spirits.

I wish everybody on the road today could drive as well as Sally Draper.

My husband and I recently made the trip to Shreveport to visit his family. It's a little more than three hours from our home via Interstate 30 and Interstate 49, which doesn't sound particularly daunting. The drive reminded me, though, that traveling by car........

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