Caviat: They might actually teach this stuff now, but it’s been 23 years since my last driving class. Also, switch the right/left if you drive on the left in your country.
When you’re the first car at a stop light, don’t just go on green. Look left and right and then proceed, in case a late, crossing car is trying to beat the light. This has probably saved my life at least once.
When waiting to make a left turn, stay in your lane and keep your wheels straight. Don’t turn your wheels left and then wait. This way, if a car hits you from behind, you go straight and not into the oncoming traffic.
When waiting to turn right onto a highway or higher speed road, don’t trust the signal of a car that is approaching in the lane into which you want to enter. They make look like they’re turning before they get to you but oftentimes, the signal could be on mistakenly, or the driver may change his/her mind and keep going straight.
Keep at least a half car length behind the car in front of you at a traffic light. This avoids trapping yourself should you become the target of a car-jacking or other unfortunate scenario.
Actually, I think the answer is “it depends.” If local law is “stay in lane” (as I have been led to believe it is at least in some US jurisdictions) then there’s no issue with one being in the left-hand lane with the right-hand lane open. But then I don’t see what’s wrong with passing on the right, either.
If local law is “Keep Right” (all of Europe AFAIK and definitely Israel) then it’s a toss-up on who police will cite – and maybe both – in a case like this, and yes, if I can pass you on the right, you should have been in the right-hand lane to begin with.
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Perhaps not in the same words, 1,2, and 4 from the OP were taught to me, but I didn’t take standard drivers’ ed. 3 was part of the best driving advice I ever got, from my grandfather: Drive as if everyone else on the road are idiots, because they are. (I don’t trust anyone’s blinkers.)
I once was in traffic school (for my only ticket ever) and got into an “argument” with my group over whether it was legal to change lanes in an intersection. It is indeed legal in California, but everyone insisted it wasn’t. I guess it was taught in drivers’ ed that doing it was unsafe, which is different than illegal.
If people are passing you on the right, then you should be in the right lane. In fact, if the right lane is clear then you should be in the right lane - at least in my state, the left lane(s) are for passing. (*)
If the person passing you is exceeding the speed limit, then he is guilty of exceeding the speed limit. In fact, even if he’s not passing anybody he is guilty of exceeding the speed limit. (*)
You are not innocent just because the other fellow is guilty.
(*) And I’ll cheerfully admit to the possibility that I’ve done both of these things in the distant past. Say, maybe yesterday
Depends. If I’m going faster than the general/average flow of traffic in the right line (even if I’m just going 1mph faster), I’m just as entitled to be in the left lane as you do. I’m not going to be inconvenienced just to avoid inconveniencing you.
You’re not “entitled” to be in the leftmost lane*, you’re supposed to be there to pass. Going 1 mph faster than the car next to you will not allow you to overtake and pass it in a reasonable amount of time.
Worse to me is the endless stream of people in the leftmost lane all going the speed limit when there are no or few cars in the center and right lanes. We saw this a lot on our drive from Florida to DC and back during the last week of December.
*This assumes driving on a multi-lane highway, etc. In this case, it’s not an inconvenience it’s not following the rules. Unfortunately I’m not certain whether or not this is standard in all states/jurisdictions. The United States has some of the most screwy driving laws and awful drivers, IMHO.
I was told all those things in drivers ed. In particular they made a big deal out of stopping far enough behind the car in front of you that you can see where their tires touch the road.
“Don’t change lanes in an intersection” is one that nobody but me seems to remember. Also, in the town I currently live in, “don’t use the shoulder to pass” gets broken on a daily basis. I guess there aren’t enough bikers and pedestrians to make drivers feel that they really should stay out of the extra-wide shoulders on big roads.
I thought you were going to say, “when turning left at a traffic light, NEVER make your turn on the ‘orange’ until you’re sure the oncoming traffic has stopped, or is clearly stopping”. All too often, even when you know the oncoming traffic has more than enough time to stop on their orange, idiots will continue on (at high speed) through the intersection.
Adhering to this ‘rule’ has saved my life, more than once.
I got my DL 13 years ago and all of these things were taught. What wasn’t taught, that I feel should be is to be more aware of motorcycles. When I got my motorcycle license one thing that was drilled into us over and over and over and over is that cars don’t see you, they might look like they see you, but they’ll still change lanes into you, you might make eye contact with that driver, but he’ll still pull out in front of you, you can flash your brake light and turn on your blinker and you’ll still damn near get rear ended when you slow down to make a left turn. Like I said, they drill this into you in motorcycle class and it was the first thing I learned as soon as I got my motorcycle, bikers have a lot of close calls. Of course we learn quickly to just assume that no one can see you and anticipate it, but watching for bikes* should be taught.
*Oh, and drivers need to understand that a motorcycle should be treated as if it’s as wide as a car. Just because a bike at a red light is towards the left side of the lane, doesn’t mean you can sneak around his right side to turn, and just because he’s in the right part of a lane on the highway doesn’t mean you can go between him and the car to his left.
