# Driving Don'ts **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 10, 2019, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269 "2019-02-10T03:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/81 "2019-02-12T07:52:50Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > If you’re going to turn left at the stoplight, put your turn signal on as you approach the light. That way, people will know to move to the right lane to go around you when the light changes. Waiting until the light turns green to signal is rude, passive aggressive, and really fucking annoying. And exactly what the morons do at an intersection near me. In this case it is not going around - they can go straight or turn left at this intersection. If I’m turning left, and they go straight, I have to wait until they clear the intersection to do it. If they are turning left we can turn left at the same time. Signalling after they start the turn is stupid. Which is what they do. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/82 "2019-02-12T07:58:07Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > Driving all the way down the “Left Lane Must Turn Left” lane and then cutting over into the real lane at the end, in front of the cars going straight is NOT a zipper merge. > > If the sign says “Right Lane for Exit Only,” then driving down that lane until the last moment and then forcing yourself into the through lane is NOT a zipper merge. > > If you are in the lane that says “Exit Only,” or “Must Turn” there is only one legal move. Here’s a hint: _it’s right there on the sign_. > > I’m all for a zipper merge, when two through lanes are becoming one through lane. I even understand that there is a grace period for getting over once the lane you are in suddenly becomes an exit only lane. That can catch anyone by surprise. Sure. But that does not give you the right to run all the way to the front and cut into the line of cars. Once you are committed to the “Exit Only” lane, you need to exit. And what happens near me is that a line of cars are in the exit only lane, wishing to exit (and with metering lights this backs up more than the through lane) when some clown drives to the start of the ramp and then tries to push in. And sits in the traffic lane putting everyone at risk. Especially when they can go a couple of hundred feet, make a U-turn, and get on the ramp across the street. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/83 "2019-02-12T07:59:52Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Dodge 1500 truck, so it’ll sit a bit higher than your Prius, and thus, more viewable in a rear-view mirror. If they could see the mirror, then they could see the light. And how much space do you leave at a light anyway? Honking one second after the light changes is obnoxious. Honking 15 seconds after is well deserved. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/84 "2019-02-12T11:40:17Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I browse road rage videos occasionally, and it’s absolutely nuts what people in cars do to one another. You would never ram someone in the grocery store with your cart, yet it happens on the road! I work in a grocery store. Yes, people DO ram each other with the carts. Every road-rage wrong move you see on the road you can see in the grocery store with carts/buggies if you wait long enough (which, on a busy Saturday afternoon, is about 10 minutes). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/85 "2019-02-12T11:55:35Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > I went through many of the links and found at least 10 states … 10 of 50 looks like a “minority of jurisdictions” to me. You want to quibble with that? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/86 "2019-02-12T12:34:32Z")
When traffic is stopped for a light, pay some damned attention and close the 2 car gap between you and the car ahead of you. This is especially irksome when I’m unable to get into the left turn lane because people refuse to pull forward. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/87 "2019-02-12T13:46:46Z")
**Bird Box** is just a movie (based on the novel). Do not drive blindfolded. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/88 "2019-02-12T13:52:57Z")
> [@SingleMalt](#): > > The “[Zipper Merge](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2014/07/the-beauty-of-zipper-merging-or-why-you-should-drive-ruder/)”. Learn it. Love it. Use it. No one knows how to do this so you get one long lane of cautious and yet responsible people and a fast lane for pricks who are more important than everyone else. Sitting in your parked car. Fine, just don’t wait for me to pull into the next spot to decide in that moment to open your door. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/89 "2019-02-12T14:03:59Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/90 "2019-02-12T14:08:30Z")
Maintaining a 50-foot gap from the car in front of you, fine. Maintaining a 500-foot gap from the car in front of you, you’re an idiot. What do you think is going to happen, a jumbo jet is going to land on the highway in front of you?! Move up or get out of the way, dumb fuck! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/91 "2019-02-12T14:15:51Z")
Anything less than 500 feet is annoying to me if you are following me at that distance on a 4 lane highway with no one else going our direction, and you keep following me for miles no matter how fast I speed up or slow down. If you’d just lag behind or pass me I could rest my right foot instead of hovering it over the brakes. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/92 "2019-02-12T14:31:09Z")
> [@Celidin](#): > > This is factually incorrect. > > As described in innumerable traffic studies, which were researched and collected for the book [Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What it Says About Us)](https://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Drive-What-Says-About/dp/0307277194/ref=sr_1_1), utilizing **all** lanes of traffic until the point of the merge is the most efficient use of that piece of roadway, and thus the _actual_ quickest way for everyone. And if everyone was properly using all lanes of the roadway prior to the merge, then no one would be “zoom[ing] past” so there won’t be any petty bad feelings. > > I read Traffic a few years ago and the logic and facts presented within that book turned me from an early merger into a late merger. I won’t be able to do justice to the argument here at work (without my copy to reference), so I’ll leave it at that. > > Or another way to put it: That’s if there is a zipper merge, where you have two lanes going to one. The most common problem I see on those is when people hug the car in front of them, preventing a car from zippering in between them and that car. That means that the car that was going to merge between those cars needs to fall back, slowing the entire lane and making the entire merge procedure slower and less efficient. All because someone could not stand the idea of someone getting in front of them. However, I think that what the poster is complaining about, and what I have seen quite often, is not when you have two lanes going to one, but two parallel planes, one going straight, and one turning, and they stay in the the straight lane until they get to the end, and then cut off the car in the turn lane. This does not increase traffic flow. It slows down everyone, well, except the asshole who cut in front of everyone. > [@Railer13](#): > > [You mean in all 50 states?](https://www.mwl-law.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/KEEP-RIGHT-TRAFFIC-LAWS-IN-ALL-50-STATES-CHART-00214409x9EBBF.pdf) Knowing that Ohio is not one of those 50 states, based on my knowledge of Ohio driving laws, I don’t think that is right. According to your cite: > [@](#): > > Drivers must drive in the right lane, except … when driving on a > roadway with three or more marked traffic lanes Not saying that it’s not a bad idea to stay right, but it’s not the law. > [@Ambivalid](#): > > Ha! Touche! Don’t touche it while driving either. > [@Railer13](#): > > Well, perhaps a link from [MIT](https://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html) is more reliable? > > I went through many of the links and found at least 10 states that have a law that states > > "(a) Upon all roadways of sufficient width a vehicle shall be driven upon the right half of the roadway, except as follows: > > (1) When overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction under the rules governing such movement; > > (2) When an obstruction exists making it necessary to drive to the left of the center of the highway; provided, any person so doing shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles traveling in the proper direction upon the unobstructed portion of the highway within such distance as to constitute an immediate hazard; > > (3) Upon a roadway divided into 3 marked lanes for traffic under the rules applicable thereon; or > > (4) Upon a roadway designated and signposted for one-way traffic." > > IOW, keep right except to pass. Those are exceptions, not times when you cannot. So, what your (3) says there, is that “Upon a roadway divided into 3 marked lanes for traffic under the rules applicable thereon” you do not need to keep right except to pass. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/93 "2019-02-12T14:54:31Z")
A message for CDOT. I drive Colorado mountain 2 lane highways a lot. Almost exclusively. Now CDOT will incorporate passing lanes into these. All well and good. And they do it so the natural flow of traffic goes into the farthest right lane. This opens up a new left lane for passing. Very well, makes sense. But then they fuck up. Often, when the passing lane goes away, instead of getting rid of the passing lane, they get rid of the right lane. Forcing people that are not passing to merge into the passers. What does this do? Well often, a person will not pass you but just hang next to you (idiots). Now you have to decide to slow down or speed up to merge. It should be the person passing to make sure they have enough room to do it, and then THEY should lose their lane and have to merge back into the normal traffic lane. This puts the responsibility of a safe pass into the hands of the people being passed. This also encourages people to camp in the left passing lane but not pass (since they know the right lane is going to end anyway). Drives me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/94 "2019-02-12T14:54:38Z")
Hope I didn’t read over this one, but it happened to me the other day. I was waiting to turn right, and the truck approaching from the left had a right turn signal and got into the turn lane - so I could pull out, correct? Wrong. Apparently said driver wanted the right turn about a block down the road and didn’t realize it till I’d started pulling out. Except the turn lane ended where I sat, so how could I have guessed that maybe the signal was on just a little too early? Fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic, so the truck was able to swerve around me and zip to the next corner, and I didn’t sustain vehicle damage. Moral of the story - don’t trust signals. And as a matter of courtesy, if you’re driving thru a parking lot and it’s raining, it’d be really decent of you to allow pedestrians to get to their cars or the store without making them wait in the rain for your lazy, dry ass to mosey by. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/95 "2019-02-12T15:02:14Z")
Don’t expect me to speed up just because you are honking or flashing your lights at me. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/96 "2019-02-12T15:33:04Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I’m not understanding this. Unless it’s a right turn only lane, I can either turn right or go forward. It doesn’t matter whether someone behind me wants to turn right or not. Are you talking about someone using a right turn only lane as an illegal passing lane? I’m talking mostly about commuting hours, if you are using the right lane to get in front of the rest of the cars that are going straight you are being totally inconsiderate of those behind you that should be able to turn during the red. No its not illegal, but its selfish. 1 o’clock in the afternoon when you’re not likely to be making anyone late for work,? Fine, but 8 am, you are probably fucking up somebody’s commute. Sure you’d be entitled to use that lane for that purpose, but I’m also entitled to think that you are being inconsiderate and selfish. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/97 "2019-02-12T15:35:06Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > The answer depends on your jurisdiction. Here in Maine, for example, we have a [state-wide law](http://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/29-A/title29-Asec2052.html) that mandates staying in the right-most lane except to overtake slower vehicles, and that law applies only on highways with a speed limit of 65 miles per hour or more, no matter how many lanes there are. They do, however, use the “keep right except to pass” regulatory sign on some highways where the speed limit is less than 65. > > Nearby Massachusetts, however, mandates keeping right on all roads ([cite](https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIV/Chapter89/Section4b)), not just highways of a certain speed, and as in Maine, the number of lanes is irrelevant, they want you all the way over to the right unless you have a valid reason not to be. > > That said, I’ve never heard of anyone being ticketed for violating this rule, either. The highway I drive to work everyday has at least 4 southbound lanes for the entire 10 miles I drive. I cannot imagine it making sense for us all to be in the right hand lane. If anything, it’s better to be at least one lane in so that the right-most lane is free for merging. Many–most?–surface streets in Dallas is three lanes each way. Again, I can’t imagine why if would be helpful to all hover in the right lane. If anyone in Dallas is seething at the fact that people don’t all crowd the right lane, I think that’s insane. I concur that other places have different set-ups. > [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > When traffic is stopped for a light, pay some damned attention and close the 2 car gap between you and the car ahead of you. This is especially irksome when I’m unable to get into the left turn lane because people refuse to pull forward. Worse, I’m in the left lane going forward, in preparation to turn left in right after the light, but the left-turn lane line has spilled out and blocked the lane. I think the thing that drives me the craziest is when I am stopped at a light, in the right turn lane, and a big truck or SUV in the middle lane pulls so far forward that I can’t see around them to turn right on red. Pulling forward isn’t helping them in any way, but it’s forcing me to wait for a whole light cycle. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/98 "2019-02-12T16:02:31Z")
Why did you pass me just to slow down? ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/99 "2019-02-12T16:16:26Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Why did you pass me just to slow down? Don’t think it’s personal. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269/100 "2019-02-12T16:16:39Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Why did you pass me just to slow down? How can I miss you when you won’t go away? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-donts/829269.md?page=6)