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?
The problem with following distance is that it becomes room for other cars to insert themselves into your buffer zone with the car that was in front of you.
You’re kinda restating what OP was pointing out. People don’t understand following distance, so they will merge in anyplace there is physically room to do so, regardless of whether they are leaving adequate following distance.
I agree, it’s infuriating when you’re just trying to maintain a safe distance in a line of cars passing in the left lane, and some dipshit comes flying up in the right lane and squeezes into the buffer of you. But that’s on them for being an entitled prick who doesn’t get (or doesn’t care) how safe driving works.
Sometimes they merge in place where they don’t even have physically room to do so. Just because I’m small doesn’t give Mr lifted giant truck the right to push me out of the way -or play monster truck car crush- because I’m not riding the ass of the car in front. I actually want stopping distance.
So? Is this your commute or a race?
Well, then you need to give even more buffer. Also, some cars treat my buffer zone as their chance to pass on the right and then slip into a spot in the left lane.
Yes, you will need to give additional buffer. That’s not going to noticeably affect your commute time.
I think the person you’re replying to is suggesting you have a competitive mind set about it - still evident here.
Someone you dont know getting to somewhere 17 seconds earlier than they would - at a destination you won’t ever know about - shouldn’t be something to feel anything about.
Speed limits. If it says 50 and I’m going at 50 honking is useless.
Just do it in the right lane and you’re fine.
I have a high score to beat like the good lord intended
Also it is a maximum limit.
Know what other speeds you may drive there? 40, 30, 25, 15, 10, even 5.
Know what speeds you are not allowed to drive there? 51
Here in Italy there’s not a minimum limit but you cannot cause problems to the other drivers by driving too slow.
Same for most US states. You can’t slow down to the point of causing traffic to be slow or causing brake-slamming
And while I understand it’s annoying, if someone is going at 48 in front of you, the time you will save by overtaking them isn’t even enough for a whole ad. But if the circumstances don’t allow for a safe overtake and you still risk it, you may lose more than an ad.
I think most people in that scenario are moreso annoyed that they can’t go the full speed than caring about how long it actually takes to go there. People just like driving fast, so arguments like this will never get through to those types of people
I don’t know why they downvoted you; I’m also sure many people (if not all) think like that, but especially the way you worded it, it sounds even more ridiculous to me now:
68 mph: - “What is this idiot doing? This is hella slow, Imma overtake them.”
71 mph: - “I’m fast as fucc boiiii”
Your car 100% definitely has automatic headlights, so why the fuck are your headlights off in the middle of the night??
This annoys me too, but I find that lots of shops turn off the headlight’s automatic mode when brought in for service. This leaves hapless drivers unaware of the fact that they are driving around with just their DRLs on until they either get a ticket, complain about it to the dealer, or figure it out on their own.
No? There are still plenty of vehicles without automatic lights. I own 4 cars and none of them have auto lights.
Is 95 miles (~150km) one way considered normal in the US? I live in Bangalore, India and my commute is barely 20km (takes me 45mins - 1hour) which is too much for me.
Me and most people I know would rather shift than travel 150kms a day. Can’t imagine the toll it would take on me, my fuel budget and my car
This is definitely not normal. It only takes 1 hour and 20-30 minutes usually though, so the time isn’t the worst. Still not great, though.
If I could I would live closer to work, but it’s what I can afford
It’s certainly uncommon, but not unheard of.
I live 70 miles away from work. It takes me 70-120 minutes depending on traffic. This is considered abnormal. Most of my coworkers and family live with 30 miles of their work.
ZIPPER! ZIPPER MERGE YOU STUPID FUCKING COCKS!
You expect too much from people who can’t even signal before turning.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
…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 instead of leaving room for the trucker to move over if needed?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.
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
rudest city in Canada
Do they tell an apology as they drive past?
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?
You know, like when you see your lady standing at the counter and then get up real close behind her for a warm embrace.
I imagine they meant intimidate, but I understand the amusement.
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.
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 was a bus driver for 7 years. It’s hilarious when I’m driving this gigantic goliath and some speed demon winds up at the same light at the same time multiple times trying to be in the Fast and the Furious. Traffic don’t work like that. Chill out and you help everyone. Including yourself.
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 look at it this way: I speed and weave on the highway, and save 5 minutes on my 35 minute commute. That’s one way. So 10 minutes per day, five days a week. That’s 50 minutes I save per week. 50 weeks per year, so I save 2,500 minutes or almost 42 hours a year. That’s basically a weeks worth of work I’m not in traffic.
Worth it.
I should mention that I ride a motorcycle half the year, but don’t weave in my cage, because I’m not a complete asshole. I still speed no matter what I’m driving, but not excessively
the average is 2 minutes a week I’m afraid
what people forget is you can make up a couple of minutes on the highway at best, but most destinations will be on residential streets, which are controlled with traffic lights, and then you have to find a parking spot, lock the car, walk to the destination…
I’m totally on board with you but how long does it take you to lock your car lol
I drive a Marley n Marley
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.
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.
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.
Double lane roundabouts.
You only use the fucking outer ring right before you want to exit. If you want to exit on the 3rd, you go inside, so others can come in in the first and the second. Otherwise it just becomes a very expensive single lane roundabout.
Double lane? Try quad-lane turbo-roundabouts. They’re something no theory ever prepares you for, but the dumber you go in, the better yo come out.
Still nothing compared to the magic roundabout in Swindon.
That is 6 roundabouts in one.
Roundabouts in the US are a nightmare. Not sure how it is in the rest of the world, but it is complete ass over here. Nobody uses them correctly, I swear
im pretty sure at least single lane roundabouts are good in australia
I swear where I am nobody understands how little time you spend going around the loop once, instead of stopping dead and plugging up the roundabout while some pedestrians go by.
For car distance I’ve seen 2-3 seconds start to be recommended, since people are not good at judging distance. So counting how long it takes to reach the same fixed point as the car ahead.
Car length per 10mph is much easier in my opinion. 2-3 seconds isn’t based on any speed so by itself is quite useless. Your car’s stopping distance changes with speed. It won’t always be 2-3 seconds. Let alone counting reaction time at higher speeds.
Seconds is based on speed though. It’s literally how speed is defined. Distance over time. At 60mph you travel 88 feet per second. So if you count out the seconds between when the car ahead passes say a road sign and you pass the same road sign and it’s two seconds, there’s roughly 176ft between your two vehicles. If you’re going 25 mph, then two seconds equates to 73ft of space.
Which really gives you more space than car lengths per 10mph, so it’s safer. 10mph=~14fps. The average length of a car is 14ft. So you end up giving double the space if you count out 2 seconds.
I cannot not think 14 frames per second when I see that.
The driver can only perceive 14fps
It is in fact, seconds. Not only is your own reaction time fixed, distance is speed × time so the distance you follow is farther, the faster your speed if you count out the same amount of time.
It works for all speeds, plus how do you know how far ahead 6 cars bumper to bumper is when you when going at highway speeds? The lines aren’t always a good tell.
It’s better to pick a bridge, a sign, an intersection or anything else interesting that the car in front passes, count 0-[x], 1-[x], 2-[x], 3… and so on where [x] is your favourite 4-syllable state or word. Count to 5 in a transport truck or in bad weather, count to 8 if driving a transport truck in bad weather.
When merging onto a highway you have to press the gas pedal.
This one annoys me soo much. I drive a slow vehicle. Probably 20 seconds 0-60. I can get it up to highway merging speed by the end of the on ramp 100% of the time. Why the fuck can’t Mr. Twin Turbo Ecoboost manage that?
Mine’s quite a bit worse, when it’s cold it takes me about a minute to get up to speed (won’t shift into 4th cause of a sticky solenoid), but unfortunately the turn onto our highway is just a stop sign and not a ramp. So i have to wait for a big opening to go onto it safely
I have no idea. Maybe acceleration offends their delicate sensibilities? Maybe they like to disrupt the flow of vehicles?
