I’ll start. Stopping distance.
My commute is 95 miles one way to work, so I see a lot of the highway, in the rural part of the US. This means traveling at 70+ mph (112km/h) for almost the entirety of the drive. The amount of other drivers on the road who follow behind someone else with less than a car’s length in front of them because they want to go 20+ over the speed limit is ridiculous. The only time you ever follow someone that close is if you have complete and absolute trust in them, and also understand that it may not even be enough.
For a daily drive, you likely need 2-3 car lengths between you at minimum depending on your speed to accurately avoid hitting the brakes. This doesn’t even take into account the lack of understanding of engine braking…
What concepts do you all think of when it comes to driving that you feel are not well understood by the public at large?
Don’t be polite, be predictable.
This one. I live in the Netherlands and I walk our little kids to school. So I try to teach them the rules of the road. But then every motherfucker stops all the time to let us through because little kids. I know you’re all thinking “that’s considerate and safe” but really it’s infuriating. Be careful around children? Of course! Stop all traffic and insist on waving us through whether we want to or not? NO
Same thing happens to me when I ride a bike, especially with kids on the back. I’ve resorted to aggressively shaking my head “no” and gesturing that they have the right of way and need to fucking take it already.
It’s especially infuriating when the car could’ve gone before I even reached the stop sign but didn’t, so it forces me to come to a complete stop and put my foot down. It would’ve been faster for both of us if they’d just take their turn!
I’d suggest stopping at stop signs regardless of whether a car driver is trying to wave you through.
What I meant is that I have to put my foot down and wait instead of doing a quick track stand while looking both ways.
Fair enough. I was getting “run through the stop sign if you think you can get away with it” vibes, but it sounds like that’s not what you actually do.
As a rider, my nightmare is cars running me over just to be ornery.
As a driver, my nightmare is hitting cyclists who aren’t following traffic rules.
In both cases, I’m always disappointed at how many people – in both roles! – ignore traffic rules.
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Eh, I’d rather drivers be extra careful rather than run the risk of a car accident. Good on you for teaching your kids, but not every kid is taught to be predictable too.
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Or another way to say that is:
Being predictable is being polite
For a daily drive, you likely need 2-3 car lengths between you at minimum depending on your speed
It’s not car lengths, it’s seconds. You need roughly 2 seconds between you and the person in front of you. That gives you time to react and emergency brake if needed. At 70mph, 2 seconds is a little over 200 feet, not 3 car lengths. Average reaction time is about .75 seconds; you see something, and you start reacting to that thing–not you finish reacting–in .75 seconds. At 70mph, you will travel 75 feet before you can even realize that you need to get your foot off the gas and hit the brakes.
2 sec is not practical in daily driving in busy city. It is correct if there is some car stopped there then you need completely stop. People take the risk and follow closer because usually everyone brake so give you more time/distance.
But if there’s a road hazard hidden by the vehicle in front of you, or a person/animal steps out onto the road, if something falls off the vehicle ahead of you (note that I have had an entire wheel go through my windshield when it fell off the car ahead of me; good times), then you just aren’t going to have enough tie to do anything.
This is true. When I say “minimum” I should have been more clear, I usually leave a pretty sizable amount of room in front of me. It’s also nice to not have to worry about people merging right in front of me at the last second due to them not being prepared
I mean duh. People use car lengths because it’s easier to visualise than seconds.
The trick I learned was to watch their shadow pass a stationary object, then count how long until you pass it. Way easier than trying to visualize two car lengths
Say in your head “Only a fool, breaks the two second rule”. Takes about two seconds to say
People don’t realise how little time they save by speeding and weaving in and out of traffic.
Just chill. You can spend 20 minutes relaxed and comfy, or 19 minutes gripping your wheel with white knuckles, screaming at grandmas and jacking off at red lights.
Choose wisely.
It is quite satisfying to amble up next to them at the next light… And the one after that… And the one after that.
Edit: I don’t recommend rolling down the window and shouting “IT’S NOT WORKING! WEAVE HARDER! WEAVE HARDER!” at them. I think about it, but I don’t recommend it.
I’ll admit it took me way too long to learn this one, but man, commuting is so much less stressful when you can take a zen approach and accept that 95% of your travel time is out of your control. Focus on some music or a podcast you enjoy and you probably won’t even care if it takes you an extra minute or two to get there.
I agree.
But some people are really irritating to drive behind. So sometimes overtaking them is the only way to have a zen commute.
That’s a different thing. Normally people who are annoying are not safe.
100%. If I see a driver sifting back and forth over the edges of both sides of their lanes, I’m 100% going to stay backed rn further than I usually do. Until I have a clear shot to pass them, and them I’m going to slip by as quickly as possible and get some distance, because there is no way I’m sitting behind a wreck waiting to happen for a whole drive.
You’re supposed to accelerate as you merge onto the highway. Not stop and wait for an opening
And if you are already on the highway, don’t try to match the speed of the person merging. Ffs, speed up so they can get behind you. They may not be able to overtake you even if you slow down, and that’s not how it’s supposed to work anyway.
Move the fuck to the right. Always drive in the right lane unless overtaking. If overtaking, do it then get the fuck back to the right. It’s not the “slow lane” and “fast lane”, it’s the driving lane and overtaking lane.
Sure just don’t be the guy riding my ass when I AM passing everyone in the right lane but aparently not fast enough for you.
This is generally the situation that prompted my post. When I pass on the left, I will speed up compared to the rest of the traffic flow before moving back to the right, but I still leave plenty of room just in case I need to stop or slow down. People behind me or in front of me don’t usually tend to do that.
I hate seeing a clump of like 3-4 cars in front of me all bunched together hitting their brakes in series because they didn’t leave room between them while the guy in front is already doing 80mph or something.
This. So much this.
There are so many signs on U.S. highways and interstates that say, “keep right except to pass”. It’s literally the law in most states.
Signal BEFORE you switch lanes. Like enough time for other drivers to see it before you make your move. Also, turn off your signal if it doesn’t automatically. I don’t understand how people don’t notice the continuous ticking and flashing light and just keep going as usual.
To add on to that, signal BEFORE turning! I see so many drivers signal just when the lights go green and they are about to turn.
The point of signalling is to notify other drivers and pedestrians, not for yourself!
You signal before BREAKING
I know you meant “braking,” but I’m imagining someone in an absolute shitbox going “ah, there’s my axle about to fall off again” and hitting their hazards or something lmao
And give those assholes in the other lane a chance to block my lane change? I don’t think so.
/s
Man even when I accidentally do that when I last minute realize I need to turn or switch lanes even i cringe and do everything I can to make sure I don’t do that again
Signal the intent not the event!
At higher speeds, when you swerve you can’t just swerve back to where you were. You need to get the car stabilized after sudden turns.
This is a good one! No one has mentioned this before yet here
ZIPPER! ZIPPER MERGE YOU STUPID FUCKING COCKS!
You expect too much from people who can’t even signal before turning.
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While that guy’s response to you was completely unacceptable, you should know that there are several reasons not to use the wiper fluid while moving: it obstructs your view of the road for a period of time, in most cases you can and should use the wiper fluid before you start driving (I realize this is not possible if the windshield gets dirty in transit), and it’s inconsiderate to other drivers - you don’t have to be tailgating someone to be hit with their dirty soap spray and in general it’s best not to piss people off on the road if you can avoid it.
It may be unreasonable to ask someone to pull off a highway to use their wiper fluid every time they hit a bug, but it isn’t unreasonable to ask someone to consider waiting until there is some free space behind them and it isn’t unreasonable to ask them to wait until they are at a stop sign or stop light (if one is coming up).
Bro if my ass can’t see I’m not waiting until there’s space behind me to use my wiper fluid. I don’t have a waterfall coming down in the front you can usually see through it. What kinda car you got that pours a bucket of water down the front of your window
As I already mentioned, I’m not talking about situations where your windshield is suddenly obstructed since that situation is especially rare, so if you can see clearly enough to drive safely in the first place, then you can see clearly enough to evaluate your surroundings.
It seems obvious to me that spraying your windshield with soap obstructs your view for a moment, but I’ll admit that the occlusion is likely variable depending on the make and model.
I stand by the claim that it is safer to not use your wiper fluid while moving when possible. If you disagree, that’s okay. It’s a pretty minor point - there are many other driving habits that are far worse in my opinion.
am i stupid or how would the person behind you see your windscreen being wiped, or at least notice it?
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i see
At high speeds, spraying your windshield will result in some overspray from the wind, meaning the person behind you gets their windshield sprinkled with drops of washer fluid
ohh ok thanks
Drive slower when it’s snowing… Also, put your lights on near dusk. It’s more for other drivers to see you better.
“Slower traffic keep right.”
I don’t care if you’re going the speed limit or even 20mph over it; if somebody passes you on the right, it’s because you were in the wrong lane.
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I’m a european who happened to be driving from New Orleans to Houston today, and while there are a few minor things that annoy me about american traffic, seeing miserable attempts at zipper merge on Sam Houston today was what caused me to swear out loud, something I don’t do very often.
EDIT: One thing I do like about driving here, though, is the right-on-red rules.
Beat me to it. People try to jam themselves into traffic right at the bottom of the ramp causing a snarl as opposed to using the acceleration lane. It’s fucking maddening
That’s not zipper merging. That’s just poor merging. I guess technically you can zipper merge on a ramp if there is traffic, and like you said you’d want to use the whole acceleration lane even though you won’t be accelerating in traffic.
Zipper merging is when 2 lanes goes down to 1 lane
It is better for all cars to use both lanes completely until it gets down to 1 lane.
People don’t understand it in the US.
If a mile down the road you see it going to 1 lane. You shouldn’t try to merge over soon. You should drive all the way down in your lane and merge at the last moment.
But you’ll get a mile long single file line of cars and the few cars that pass are considered assholes trying to cut to the front.
If you broke up that mile long single file line and had two 1/2 mile lines in 2 lanes that zipper merged. Everyone would get through the bottleneck faster.
Come to Pennsylvania, we don’t have acceleration lanes on most of our on ramps. It’s nuts!
I lived in Philly for years. Traffic was gnarly.
My absolute favorite were the ramps in downtown Chicago that just yeeted you right into highway traffic
Letting someone in won’t make a difference in the time it takes you to get somewhere.
I drive a pickup w/ trailer all day, people will see me signal and then speed up to not let me in.
Mind you, I work in the “rudest city in Canada”.
As a truck driver, I must say that when someone goes out of their way to prevent me from changing lanes in traffic, I will often make sure to merge in front of them instead of other vehicles.
You may get shot doing that one day. I’ve had dumbass truckers run me off the road like you’re describing because they just merge on top of the occupied lane while we’re going down the fucking highway side by side, and it definitely made me want revenge on them.
America moment
Oh you probably mean they merge at the merge point? As they should? Maybe find other reasons to murder people, idk.
For clarification I’m talking low speed congestion here. I don’t run people off the road at speed.
Also I’m glad not to live in the US where merging can be met with murder apparently
No I’m talking about dumbass truckers literally running me off the road at highway speed, 70+ mph. By simply coming over into the lane where my car is already occupying the space.
Right that’s dumb for sure
…why aren’t you leaving enough room for the truckers to merge if needed?
I always stay back enough to have a full semi between me and the guy in front of me, and then when I do pass, I speed the hell up to get out of the “beside” part of the truck so I’m not sitting next to one. If they happen to move over right as you’re speeding up, well, you may just be really unlucky, because truckers generally don’t move unless they have a reason.
When I’m already in the lane, and the trucker just comes over on top of me forcing me to have to emergency brake and run off the road onto the dirt is what I’m talking about. It has happened 3 times at least, due to negligent truck drivers trying to murder me.
When I am already occupying the lane, they have no legal right to simply force me out of the way by signaling a turn and coming over into the space that my car already occupies.
Oh absolutely, and that’s happened to me before as well. Not saying it doesn’t happen, but that’s why I generally stay back, accelerate fast, and skip the whole issue most of the time
If a trucker is merging into your lane like that, they probably have good reason.
Example:
Two lane interstate/highway, approaching an on ramp with vehicles attempting to merge in.
Trucker moves over into your lane to let them in.
And then there’s you, side-by-side with a multi-ton cargo machine because…why?
Lack of situational awareness? Did the off ramp not clue you in to the fact that an on ramp is approaching and that there may be other vehicles looking to merge in and that the trucker may need to move over to let them in?
Maybe you (and probably the 3+ cars ahead of you) thought they could all over take the semi and merging traffic all at once?TL;DR you’re probably the dumb ass.
I’m talking about when I’m ALREADY OCCUPYING the lane, and the trucker comes over into my lane, literally forcing me off of the road via emergency braking and swerving. Like I’ve had to dodge the trucks trying to kill me at highway speed several times.
These motherfuckers are out there on shit-tons of meth driving 48+ hours and have lost their minds, in some cases. If you haven’t encountered them you’re lucky. They will try to kill you with negligence.
Your literacy skills are on show here.
Probably best to leave the Glock at home, friend.
I don’t give a fuck what you think, and nobody else does either. For the record though, I have probably read quite a lot more books than you have (or most people on Lemmy and Reddit and Twitter and Mastodon have even) in my decades on planet earth. I was reading adult fiction novels while I was still in elementary school in the 80s, for fun because we didn’t have Playstations and Youtube to hypnotize the brains of children back then. I’ve probably read in the ballpark of a thousand novels total but I haven’t been keeping an exact count.
I have even worked as a professional writer (journalist) but the simple reality is that literary excellence is not something you can really judge based on shitposting comments on a pseudo-anonymous website. This is all shit that we’re flinging against a public wall here.
rudest city in Canada
Do they tell an apology as they drive past?
The two main ones I think about are zipper merges and space in traffic. The most efficient way to handle a lane merger is to do a perfect zipper merge right at the point of merging. But everyone in the lane that’s ending always tries to merge early, and too many people in the other lane don’t want to let anyone in when they get to the merge point.
As far as space in traffic, traffic jams are actually waves that propagate back though the stream of cars. The only way to end them is to have enough space between vehicles to allow the traffic stream to compress without losing speed. The spaces in traffic also make room for people to change lanes without causing anyone to brake for them. Those braking events are often the triggers for traffic waves.
The zipper merge only works best when there’s traffic. If there’s no hold up in either lane, merging when there’s an opening is best, otherwise you increase the risk of slowdown at the end of the merge.
Also, technically it isn’t faster. It’s just more space efficient. I do think everyone should do it in traffic though as it is a single easy to follow rule.
I think people generally understand stopping distance. They’re deliberately creating an unsafe situation in order to intimate the driver in front of them.
Intimate? Are you a dragon by any chance?
I imagine they meant intimidate, but I understand the amusement.
You know, like when you see your lady standing at the counter and then get up real close behind her for a warm embrace.
