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?
I absolutely hate when cars turn left into the right lane.
Weirdly, I feel like people leave way too much space. I’m at a stop light and somebody has several car lengths and I’m like, move up asshole.
I don’t understand your perspective. Please elaborate, what did they do that made them an asshole?
Unless you’re in a monster truck you don’t need to leave so much room. You can get out of the space in the event of an emergency without leaving 15 feet space.
But why do you need to be close? I find I can accelerate more smoothly when traffic is starting if I have a nice bit of room. I can start moving at the same time as the car in front (most of the time). Nobody’s going to get anywhere faster if I were a few feet further ahead when stopped. Only caveat to that is someone trying to squeeze around for a right turn. Then I try to accommodate as much as possible.
The major determining factor in the time it takes you to get through the light is the number of cars ahead of you, not the amount of room you have for a run-up. What you’re talking about might save you a quarter second at the end of the day, but it more likely to not save any time at all and it unnecessarily contributes to traffic by reducing the effective carrying capacity of the road. There are also situations where hanging back can block a turn onto a minor road or into a parking lot and moving forward may let a person behind you turn off the road thus alleviating traffic. Ultimately, there is nothing you can do to make the person in front of you go faster, so just pull up as far as you safely can to make room for other people to join the queue or get around you.
You’re supposed to be far back enough to see the bottom of the tires of the vehicle in front of you, but I wouldn’t be so much further back than that
Sometimes, by failing to pull up to the stop bar, they don’t trigger the loop detector and the traffic light skips us.
Another reason is that they could be blocking somebody from pulling into a turn bay, completing their turn, and continuing on their way.
It’s inconsiderate to take up space in a queue by not moving forward. People behind you would stop sooner, and if taking up extra space is exacerbated across more people, people who arrive at the end of the line continuously must stop sooner. Unless people are moving forward, this unnecessarily slows and lengthens the queue.
Granted, for cars, a car space or so between bumpers shouldn’t be that bad. It accounts for the chance an idiot at the back doesn’t brake in time and tries to start car-dominoes. I was taught to match the top of my hood with the bottom of the car’s wheels in front.
Also just slooooooowly crawl up. I have a start-stop engine, I want to full stop as soon as I can.
I have replaced a car lengths or seconds guidance with looking as far as I can ahead to predict what the cars near me will be doing on the next 30 seconds or so. If I see brake lights half a mile ahead, that means the car inb front of me will probably be slowing down in about 30 seconds. So I take my foot off the accelerator and cover (but don’t press) my brake pedal.
Traffic on the interstate it really pretty predictable IF you spend a significant amount of time looking far ahead instead of only at the far in front of you. Obviously keep watching the car on front of you, but not ONLY that.
This is a good practice in addition to not tailgating, but it falls apart in cases where you’re behind an ugly SUV that blocks your view of what’s ahead :(
IMO that just means you aren’t following back enough. In my daily commute, my only braking is before the highway, after the highway, or when somebody in front absolutely slams it or a wreck happens. Otherwise, I never have to brake even when someone in front of me does and I have no time to anticipate that brake. I just let off the accelerator and slowly roll up closer to them and then let them speed up ahead of me
I think you misunderstand me. I’m not talking about tailgating. I’m following at a reasonable distance given the traffic. I just can’t see past the giant SUV because it’s too tall. If I’m behind a sedan in the same areas, it’s no problem at all.
If you’re suggesting that I’m following too close until I can see the sedan in front of the giant SUV…I think I’d be maintaining a 1/4 mile following distance.
In general, I do agree with the principle of looking far ahead so you’re ready to react.
I will say, I am speaking from experience of driving in very, very hilly, curvy hills of Tennessee. Sometimes I forget not everywhere is like that, and there will often be very little elevation changes. I guess I’m not used to that, I suppose, my bad
Fair enough! In turn, I’m speaking from experience of driving mostly in the Minneapolis area. The highways are probably a bit more constricted than what you’re used to.
I have an easier time picturing what you’re saying when I think about driving 50-200 miles away from the city. More hills, more curves, better visibility.
Oh yeah, Minneapolis is much more “on rails” than the roads here. Even our interstate highways sometimes are pretty old and dry on the asphalt side. I’ve had plenty of times where I’ve seen a lane closed with police around it to fill in a pothole or other road damage out in a very rural area
Yeah, they teach you this when you take CDL training since you take so long to stop in a semi. That and checking your damn mirrors all the time.
Know what lies ahead, know what’s coming up behind/alongside. Great habits to keep even driving a normal car.
Following distance should be 1 car length for every 10mph you are travelling. 70 mph would mean 7 car lengths.
Too complicated.
Should just be 2 seconds, which doesn’t matter what speed you are driving at.
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I absolutely hate when cars turn left into the right lane.
I had to fight off a Honda fit who didn’t fit with me in the way the other day because of this. Scary stuff
Drive slower when it’s snowing… Also, put your lights on near dusk. It’s more for other drivers to see you better.
Tailgating me wont make the car right in front of me go any faster. Aggressively cutting in front of the next car in line doesn’t get you to your destination any faster.
Egh it does quite often.
I definitely have been in lines of assholes just blocking the posting lane. I’ll then cut around all of them to get to second in line andaggressively honk and ride their ass and they’ll move breaking the traffic.
Plenty of assholes are happy to sit behind another asshole and won’t get their attention. But I will.
So yes, in many cases it 100% will get me there faster.
Assuming they’ll listen. I’ve seen pretty annoying groups of people clumped together with a slow mofo just cruising and 3-4 cars behind him. If you can’t get through to the guy in front, it does no good
Most folks will get out the way if you are willing to just lay on the horn. Do it long enough and the guy on the right will slow down for the asshole in front of you. I’ve been in maybe 2 situations where both lanes held positions in spite of me mechanically screaming get the fuck out of my way for 60 seconds.
FUCKING TURN SIGNALS.
Christ, the number of times I’ve almost hit someone who swerved into a turn at the last second without a signal…
Not using your phone while driving
“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.
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.
And give those assholes in the other lane a chance to block my lane change? I don’t think so.
/s
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
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
Taking your foot off the gas and slowing down gradually when you see a red light ahead. People seem to floor it up to the light then stop as quickly as possible.
But please also don’t crawl to the line like a snail. I have a start-stop engine, I want to full stop as soon as I can.
This is mostly due to the fact that yellow lights have an inconsistent amount of on time.
EDIT: My mistake, the comment I replied to was not talking about when a red just turns. My bad.
In the US, the Federal Highway Administration has standards for yellow lights, speaking on this topic though. Many places don’t bother to follow these, however.
There’s a light where I’m at that is always red unless the sensors detect vehicles, then the light turns green just long enough for 1 maybe 2 vehicles to pass the street, then goes to yellow for less than a full second and then is red. Drives me nuts.
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Coasting is one thing.
But slowly coming to a standstill, literal a few seconds per meter, just to conserve that 1% momentum is dumb as well.
Especially when the cars behind you are trying to move to a different lane so they can turn and you are blocking them because you think you are “saving energy”.
But think of the 1 extra second they gained so they can sit at the light!
People can’t downshift anymore
I love having an automatic that still allows me to manually change gears. Engine braking is highly misunderstood and under-utilized as a driving mechanic now, and that’s a little sad, in my opinion.
Nobody knows how to coast. I still drive like I have a manual.
My father used to do that at red lights and stop signs. There was a street we’d go down to get out of our neighborhood that had two stop signs, one at the end of each intersection and the second intersection ended in a T. He’d turn at the first stop sign, then floor it to the second and slam on the breaks at the last second. It was a long block, but it was still just a block. Always scared the shit out of me. He’d do it other places too, and that was also scary, but this was really terrifying, especially in the winter.
You need to speed up when changing lanes.
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.
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.
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.
The left lane is a passing lane, not a I’m going to go 5 over speed limit and coast lane. Learn to move over to the right. Please and thank you.
I don’t know why this concept is so foreign to the people in my area. My favorite are the drivers I see enter the highway then immediately cross two lanes to get to the leftmost lane only to get passed on the right by the cars coming up behind them.
This is my second biggest driving pet peeve. My biggest is people who pull out from a side street right in front of me (often without stopping) when there is no one behind me and then proceed to go under the speed limit. Road rage ensues
I believe it used to be different, at least here in Belgium.
Driving below the maximum speed was right lane, driving the maximum speed is middle, and driving over the maximum speed was left lane.
Some people still believe it to be like that.
Exactly. Keep right except to pass. Unless you’re actively passing people, you should be in a right or center lane moving at your speed.
