I’ve observed all of these “unwritten” rules while living in NYC for the last 3 years:
When stopped at a yield or crosswalk sign, you are only obligated to wait for one person or group of people to pass. After that, you have the right of way.
When approaching a red light, if you are travelling too fast to stop in time, you don’t have to, as long as you make an obvious ATTEMPT to slow down.
You are allowed to pass through red lights at full speed, as long as you are honking your horn in an obnoxious manner.
If an intersection traffic jam causes you to wait for the same red light twice, you are allowed to pull around the cars in front of you and pass through. You waited your cycle, you don’t have to wait again!
If you are trying to make a left hand turn, but traffic doesn’t let up before the light turns red, you are allowed to pull in front of traffic to make that turn.
The same goes for the car behind the turner who wanted to go straight, but was left with a red light.
If you are following the car in front of you to a particular destination, the same traffic conditions for their car also apply to yours, even if they just coasted through a yellow light.
Railroad grade crossings go down accidentially all the time. 9 times out of 10, there’s no train coming and it’s perfectly okay to drive around the gates.
You are under no obligation to open a gap for a car trying to change into your lane. Infact, it’s safer to close the gap, to keep a safe distance between you and the cars in front of and behind you. And this includes emergency vehicles with their sirens on who are just trying to weave through traffic.
You are allowed to park you car in NO PARKING, NO STANDING, and fire lines for any period of time, as long as you have your hazard lights blinking. You are also allowed to park in NO STOPPING zones as long as somebody stays with the car.
Ever wanted to have your own parking space on the street near your house? Paint part of the curve yellow - statistics show that 95% of NYC drivers believe that a yellow curve = no parking, when legally, only a posted no parking sign makes it so. Yes, this one actually is true.
If there is no crosswalk, yield or stopsign at the upcoming intersection, predestrians are NOT allowed to cross there, and you have absolutely no obligation to slow down, honk your horn, or avoid hitting them.
NO TRUCKS signs are put up by NIMBYs who want to keep their street quiet. They never have anything to do with clearances. NEVER.
There is nothing geekier than somebody driving with their headlights on during the day. It doesn’t matter if it helps other drivers see you - being cool is more important than driving safely.
Any and all traffic rules become invalid if you are being honked at by the car behind you. When being honked, you are obligated to take any means to help the honkee overcome their inconvience, lest you be honked at again and create a public scene. “I was being honked at” has been a proven legal defense in court cases involving running over predestrians, causing multiple car accidents, and all kinds of traffic violations.
On the same hand, if the car in front of you is honking at the leading car, and you agree with their disgruntled attitude, you have every right to second that honk. Keep in mind that the car behind you is most likely going to third the honk, and remember that they aren’t honking at YOU.
and my favorite Fairfield County unwritten rule:
Cars backing out of a driveway always have the right of way. It is the driver’s responsibility to know where hidden driveways are and approach at a slow speed, just incase a mom in her van is quickly making a reverse left hand turn into the street.
Feel free to add your own “unwritten” rules which you’ve experienced as either a driver or predestrian in your local area.
LA
Two on a yellow!
When waiting to make a left at an intersection, heavy oncoming traffic will make it so you won’t be able to until the light turns yellow. Two cars are allowed to go through before cross traffic starts.
When two or more cars approach a 4-way stop at about the same time, the right-of-way is determined by the driver with the most expensive car. That driver will either continue driving first, or will magnanimously wave on the other driver before proceeding, depending on whim.
-“Merging” for traffic entering the highway means speeding all the way down the merge lane until you cause someone to veer into the adjacent lane because you’ve run out of room to merge. For traffic on the highway, it means not allowing vehicles entering the highway to do so. For traffic leaving the highway via an exit ramp, it means slowing down to half the speed limit because of the aforementioned dumbasses.
-It is apparently acceptable to tailgate someone even when they’re pushing 10 over the speed limit, because they’re not going fast enough goddamnit.
-Green means “go,” yellow means “go,” and red hopefully means “stop.”
-It is unacceptable to drive less than 65 MPH on the Beltway or 395 unless traffic does not allow this (usually OK by me).
-When stopped at a red light, drivers must be no further than 12 inches from the bumper of the car in front of them. The purpose of this is to cause traffic jams.
-You are no longer permitted to use the horn when the light says “go” and the car doesn’t (since no one else uses the horn in this situation, I do).
-High beams are a must for straight, lit highways in clear driving conditions.
Every car must honk the microsecond the light turns green, just in case the guy in front of the line fell asleep. This applies even if the road is blocked for a parade.
For Vancouver: Five cars can turn left on a red light.
U-turns are allowed anywhere. Even on highways.
If you’re at a light and decide you don’t want to be behind the guy in front of you, back up and switch lanes. You can push the cars behind you out of the way with your bumper.
For Montreal: You must drive 120 kph on all highways, even if the speed limit is 70.
Indicators are optional.
(New rule) if there isn’t much cross-traffic, you can go through a red light at full speed.
-“Stop” signs don’t really mean “stop”. They mean “slow down and kind of roll through”.
-Pedestrians always have the right of way. Always. Stop for them or the cops will eat your soul and/or wallet. The way you know if a pedestrian wants to cross the street is that he is crossing the street in front of you.
If you are stopped in the inside lane at a stoplight, and a vehicle on your right is inching forward to watch for a break in traffic in order to make a right turn, you are required to inch along at equal pace. They can only go once you’ve gone, regardless of the fact that you need to wait for the green and they don’t. This rule is especially useful when your straight-or-left-turn light is on a timer. Assmonkeys.
When you are driving on a two-lane road and someone you know is approaching you in his/her car (you recognize the car at a distance, of course), you acknowledge one another by lifting an index finger off the steering wheel in a one-fingered wave. Simultaneous head-nod is optional.
Because pedestrians have the right of way at all intersections, any pedestrian who looks like he or she might at some future time, eventually, someday cross the street must be stopped for until such time as the pedestrian actually steps into the street. Even if that takes a while.
All intersections have double left turn lanes. Even the ones that aren’t marked. Must have been a mistake when they painted the lines on the road.
The posted speed limit on the freeway is for daylight conditions on dry pavement in the middle of the summer. Under any other condition, drive slower than the posted limit. Especially in the freeway’s far left lane. You’re being a good citizen then, making sure other cars can’t speed.
Also for Calgary:
If you’re going to eventually left, even if it’s 5 miles up the road, there’s no need for you to change into the middle or right lane, especially if you’re going 5 km/hr under the speed limit.
-Yellow lines? Yah, so what?
-Ooo, dat guy’s got his turn signal on. Speed up in the othah lane buffaw he can make his move!
-Whaddya need street signs faw? If ya don’t know wheah you ah, whattaya doin’ heah?
If you don’t have a driver’s license, and you need to go into town, just take the tractor, backhoe, bulldozer, ATV or whatever farm equipment is lying around, because you don’t need a license to drive it.
Seriously. I know a local yokel who does this regularly since he lost his license thru drunk driving. He drives the cops mad, cause if they stop him, he pulls out the state law and they have to let him go. He drives a backhoe to his dentist appoinment and a skiploader to the grocery store, which is a pretty good idea, cause you can carry an entire side of beef on a skiploader. Never know when you might find one on sale.