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What driving concept you feel that most drivers don't understand? (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/cars@lemmy.world
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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?

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[–] -5 points 3 years ago* (1 child)

While that guy's response to you was completely unacceptable, you should know that there are several reasons not to use the wiper fluid while moving: it obstructs your view of the road for a period of time, in most cases you can and should use the wiper fluid before you start driving (I realize this is not possible if the windshield gets dirty in transit), and it's inconsiderate to other drivers - you don't have to be tailgating someone to be hit with their dirty soap spray and in general it's best not to piss people off on the road if you can avoid it.

It may be unreasonable to ask someone to pull off a highway to use their wiper fluid every time they hit a bug, but it isn't unreasonable to ask someone to consider waiting until there is some free space behind them and it isn't unreasonable to ask them to wait until they are at a stop sign or stop light (if one is coming up).

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago* (1 child)

    Bro if my ass can't see I'm not waiting until there's space behind me to use my wiper fluid. I don't have a waterfall coming down in the front you can usually see through it. What kinda car you got that pours a bucket of water down the front of your window

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago

    As I already mentioned, I'm not talking about situations where your windshield is suddenly obstructed since that situation is especially rare, so if you can see clearly enough to drive safely in the first place, then you can see clearly enough to evaluate your surroundings.

    It seems obvious to me that spraying your windshield with soap obstructs your view for a moment, but I'll admit that the occlusion is likely variable depending on the make and model.

    I stand by the claim that it is safer to not use your wiper fluid while moving when possible. If you disagree, that's okay. It's a pretty minor point - there are many other driving habits that are far worse in my opinion.

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