43
When driving, are you able to keep the car perfectly centered or slightly off to the side? (lemmy.world)
submitted 21 hours ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
43 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Assume left handed driving, right handed drivers please reverse the direction lol.

What i meant was that are you able to leave perfect spaces on the left and on the right? Or you tend to drift little more to one side e.g. 51/49 drift toward the left instead of 50/50 exactly?

I notice that experienced drivers drift to the side too. So i am curious and i have my theories for this:

  1. Drivers are more likely to drift just a bit toward their driver side. E.g. for left hander driving that means drifting toward the left. This is because the wing mirror is the closest to the driver, so it is easier for the eyes to follow and track.

  2. I've been to places where we have to share roads with bikes and motocycles. So a lane road is literally 2 lane: cars need to hug the left lane to create spaces on the right. So drivers from those countries are keen to drift to the left; even when they are on the highway without any motocycles.

  3. For left handed driving, you usually dont drift to to the right UNLESS you are on the phone or using the giant touchscreen while driving.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 34 points 21 hours ago

It’s not “drifting”, at least for me it’s not.

Yes, I can maintain spacing in the center of the lane, without drifting.

Thst doesn’t mean I always maintain position in the center of a lane, however.

In a road with one lane, and on coming traffic, generally stay “high”, that is closer to the on coming lane. Especially for narrow roads. This keeps your tires out of the gutter where debris accumulation can lead to picking up a flat- of an on comical car comes along I’ll fade “low” to give them as much space as possible.

On residential roads that have no markings at all, I’m in the center of the road- to give myself space to come away from any given hazard.

Similarly, if there’s a cyclist or pedestrian, I’ll fade as high as I can go to give them more space.

On highways and multi lane roads I’m centered in the lane- again to give myself spacing.

If you find yourself drifting, that is, moving away from where you intend your car to be, that’s a problem you should figure out. It’s not particularly safe (what happens if you drift into the shoulder? Another car?) and bluntly, cops might decide your driving drunk.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •