I’ve been meaning to write this thead for quite a while; just a collection of “things you shoudl not do while driving, or at least be damn careful, you absolute coke bottle.” Sort of a Venting for my Mental Health. PLease feel free to add your own choice items!
Number #1: The Generous Driver!
We’ve all met the guy who slows down so somebody else can turn into the lane or cut across. Y’now what? I won’t normally complain about this. Fine, fine, if it slows me down it’s ok. No big deal.
However, here is a small tip. Do not, ever, under any circumstances, do this near an intersection. I constantly see people be “nice” by going through an intersection and then STOPPING so they can let people go ahead of them - and holding up a line of people who need to go through a light, and/or getting stuck in the imddle of the intersection unexpectedly.
Number #2: The Last Minute Lane Change!
For the love of all that’s holy, plan ahead. Shoving your way into a crowded lane at the last minute just slows things down for everyone. And it’s pretty jerkish to zoom past people and then shove in ahead of them anyway.
Number #3: The Car-Sitter.
Don’t just sit in your car in a crowded partking lot, taking up a spot while doing nothing. It’s just… irritating.
I sit in a parked car frequently. Sometimes I am waiting for the person I am with to finish what they are doing and then we are on to the next thing. Sometimes I am reading, or listening to the radio to kill time. Sorry (not) if you’re irritated. I’m not obliged to move or to get out of the car just to ease your blood pressure.
I’ll tell you one thing not to do in a parking lot, and that’s to sit blocking the aisle and wait for a car to back out of their spot, starting from when you see them open their door, and not give a damn whose cars can’t drive past you. If there’s room for you to move to one side and turn on your blinker, fine; if not, then move on! You don’t even know if that person is actually leaving. In any case, you don’t own that spot just because you were the first one to see that it might become empty soon.
The correct argument against this behavior is that it’s dangerous. We have a set of driving rules that are codified by the local authority. If we all abide by these rules accidents decrease dramatically…
IT IS NOT OK to ignore the rules and attempt to wave someone through an intersection or something else idiotic. Accidents happen when the agreed upon rules are ignored - your attempt at being kind put other drivers at risk.
Want to be a courteous driver? Follow the fucking rules!
I’ll second this with: it’s not that far; walk from a further space; it won’t hurt you. Drives me nuts for people to wait 3 minutes for a space to open when they could have parked and walked an extra 15 feet and been inside already.
Here’s one from me: Don’t wait until right before the entrance ramp ends to match the highway traffic speed. You’re fucking us all up by doing 45 mph until 20 feet before we all have to merge with people doing 65. I know you want to see what’s coming, but it’s without a doubt going to be vehicles moving about 65 miles per hour; plan on that and act accordingly.
It’s also advisable to avoid letting someone in when they’re exiting a parking lot. Sometimes traffic not far in front of you is stopped though, usually because of a red light and it makes sense. And if stopped traffic is directly in front, it seems right not to block the driveway, because after all you shouldn’t pull into an intersection if you can’t clear it. But you don’t know if that person will (would be fault on their part) pull out across other lanes where drivers proceeding through aren’t prepared for that, so it can be very tricky. This can be a common reason for collisions when an entrance to a lot is near a busy intersection.
Don’t pull out of a driveway in front of me causing me to brake when the road behind me is empty as far as the eye can see.
Last week I had someone do the opposite - suddenly stop in front of me to let someone out of a car park when there were no cars in sight behind me. I presume he didn’t have a rearview mirror.
It’s astonishing to me how this one, basic, very important element of driving is ignored. Or even unknown - I’ve met a few people who had never heard of this. I wonder how much our driving environment would improve, and problems like tailgating start to go away, if we emphasized proper left lane usage.
Don’t neglect your turn signal. You can muster up the, what, 0.002 newtons of force to move the little lever a couple of centimeters without danger of fatigue.
Which left lane? On interstate between cities? On surface streets? On multi-lane interstates in cities? Can I cruise in the next-to-left-most lane? On multi-lane surface streets-when it’s rush hour, how soon is too soon to move over when I am turning left eventually?
If it’s raining, if it’s foggy, if it’s dark enough that streetlights have come on and everyone else has their headlights on, turn your lights on!
I can just imagine the thought process here: “I can see OK, I don’t need to turn my lights on yet.” Yes, you can see OK, * because everyone else has their lights on!* It’s not about how well you can see, it’s about whether other drivers can see you.
Even worse, when the idjit ahead of you in the left lane stops just before an intersection to let an oncoming car turn left, quite possibly into the path of oncoming traffic in the right lane which he can’t see because Mr. Generous is blocking his view.
The “irritating” person might be waiting for a companion who was delayed a couple minutes in the store, or doing some small task before heading out of the lot.
What I can’t stand are parking lot stalkers - drivers who follow behind me at 2 mph as I’m walking through the lot, in hopes of inheriting a parking place. If you want to waste your time, keep following on my heels; I might just remember that I need to buy something else and do an about-face.
Indeed it is, generally speaking. This does not mean the left lane is only for passing at 85 mph or whatever insane speed some drivers believe it is, or that said drivers are entitled to zoom up within inches of your rear bumper while you’re passing at a semi-legal speed, impatient to get on with their business of becoming a flaming wreck a few miles ahead.
Taking your question in good faith, I’d say that it’s a great rule of thumb that on most multi-lane roads, in normal traffic conditions, we should all make an effort to stay out of the left lane except when necessary for passing or making turns.
But before we get to codifying that suggestion for every conceivable driving scenario and exception, I think it would be great to enforce it on highways to start. I can’t begin to tell you how often I see cars loitering in the left lane for no reason. They accumulate tailgaters and force people to pass on the right, which is unsafe. I see it every day. Every. Damn. Day.
I suspect one reason for this is that we mostly enforce speed violations. Some states do make an effort to enforce staying out of the passing lane, but we should emphasize this much more.
Unless you’re merging onto Route 2 in Fitchburg, MA, in which case please do stop and wait for a break and don’t pull in front of me doing 12mph when I’m in traffic doing 60. tyvm.
Those of you who are a bit hesitant to drive the speed limit on a winding country road; perhaps you’re enjoying the lovely scenery, or maybe there’s a snowflake drifting gently down, please pull over when it’s safe to let the fifteen cars behind you get along with their lives. tyvm.