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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[–] 106 points 3 years ago (2 children)

Move the fuck to the right. Always drive in the right lane unless overtaking. If overtaking, do it then get the fuck back to the right. It's not the "slow lane" and "fast lane", it's the driving lane and overtaking lane.

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  • [–] 81 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Don't be polite, be predictable.

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  • [–] 15 points 3 years ago* (7 children)

    This one. I live in the Netherlands and I walk our little kids to school. So I try to teach them the rules of the road. But then every motherfucker stops all the time to let us through because little kids. I know you're all thinking "that's considerate and safe" but really it's infuriating. Be careful around children? Of course! Stop all traffic and insist on waving us through whether we want to or not? NO

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    [+] 58 points 3 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)
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    [–] 45 points 3 years ago (10 children)

    Taking your foot off the gas and slowing down gradually when you see a red light ahead. People seem to floor it up to the light then stop as quickly as possible.

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    [–] 41 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    You’re supposed to accelerate as you merge onto the highway. Not stop and wait for an opening

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  • [–] 17 points 3 years ago

    And if you are already on the highway, don't try to match the speed of the person merging. Ffs, speed up so they can get behind you. They may not be able to overtake you even if you slow down, and that's not how it's supposed to work anyway.

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  • [–] 39 points 3 years ago (6 children)

    For a daily drive, you likely need 2-3 car lengths between you at minimum depending on your speed

    It's not car lengths, it's seconds. You need roughly 2 seconds between you and the person in front of you. That gives you time to react and emergency brake if needed. At 70mph, 2 seconds is a little over 200 feet, not 3 car lengths. Average reaction time is about .75 seconds; you see something, and you start reacting to that thing--not you finish reacting--in .75 seconds. At 70mph, you will travel 75 feet before you can even realize that you need to get your foot off the gas and hit the brakes.

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    [–] 30 points 3 years ago (9 children)

    People don't realise how little time they save by speeding and weaving in and out of traffic.

    Just chill. You can spend 20 minutes relaxed and comfy, or 19 minutes gripping your wheel with white knuckles, screaming at grandmas and jacking off at red lights.

    Choose wisely.

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  • [–] 20 points 3 years ago*

    It is quite satisfying to amble up next to them at the next light... And the one after that... And the one after that.

    Edit: I don't recommend rolling down the window and shouting "IT'S NOT WORKING! WEAVE HARDER! WEAVE HARDER!" at them. I think about it, but I don't recommend it.

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

    I'll admit it took me way too long to learn this one, but man, commuting is so much less stressful when you can take a zen approach and accept that 95% of your travel time is out of your control. Focus on some music or a podcast you enjoy and you probably won't even care if it takes you an extra minute or two to get there.

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    [+] 30 points 3 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (8 children)
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    [–] 29 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    The passing lane is for passing.

    I know, I know.... tough to understand, what with the fact that the lane is named after what it is meant for and all.

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    [–] 26 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    In the US, when you come to a multi-way stop, the person that stopped first goes first. If people stop simultaneously, then the person farthest to the right goes first.

    Trying to wave someone through to be "polite" just snarls traffic patterns.

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  • [–] 26 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    I didn't invent the phrasing, but I think most of these things can be summed up as people not understanding that driving needs to be a cooperative team activity rather than a competition.

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    [–] 23 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    The left lane is a passing lane, not a I’m going to go 5 over speed limit and coast lane. Learn to move over to the right. Please and thank you.

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    [–] 21 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    When you turn onto a multi-lane road, you turn into the closest lane. THEN you signal and change lanes. This is a big cause of accidents.

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    [–] 21 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    It doesn't matter what the posted speed limit might be - in traffic, the correct speed to drive is the same speed as the majority of the cars around you.

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    [–] 20 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    Zip merges really show who the dumb drivers are.

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  • [–] 15 points 3 years ago*

    I'm a european who happened to be driving from New Orleans to Houston today, and while there are a few minor things that annoy me about american traffic, seeing miserable attempts at zipper merge on Sam Houston today was what caused me to swear out loud, something I don't do very often.

    EDIT: One thing I do like about driving here, though, is the right-on-red rules.

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    [–] 19 points 3 years ago

    FUCKING TURN SIGNALS.

    Christ, the number of times I've almost hit someone who swerved into a turn at the last second without a signal...

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  • [–] 17 points 3 years ago (14 children)

    Letting someone in won’t make a difference in the time it takes you to get somewhere.

    I drive a pickup w/ trailer all day, people will see me signal and then speed up to not let me in.

    Mind you, I work in the “rudest city in Canada”.

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    [–] 17 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    The problem with following distance is that it becomes room for other cars to insert themselves into your buffer zone with the car that was in front of you.

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

    You're kinda restating what OP was pointing out. People don't understand following distance, so they will merge in anyplace there is physically room to do so, regardless of whether they are leaving adequate following distance.

    I agree, it's infuriating when you're just trying to maintain a safe distance in a line of cars passing in the left lane, and some dipshit comes flying up in the right lane and squeezes into the buffer of you. But that's on them for being an entitled prick who doesn't get (or doesn't care) how safe driving works.

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    [–] 16 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Tailgating me wont make the car right in front of me go any faster. Aggressively cutting in front of the next car in line doesn’t get you to your destination any faster.

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    [–] 16 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    When merging onto a highway you have to press the gas pedal.

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  • [–] 15 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Double lane roundabouts.

    You only use the fucking outer ring right before you want to exit. If you want to exit on the 3rd, you go inside, so others can come in in the first and the second. Otherwise it just becomes a very expensive single lane roundabout.

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    [–] 14 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (5 children)

    due to cognitive bias, roughly 80% of drivers think that they are "above average" in their driving ability.

    AKA, you're probably overestimating your driving ability and are not as good of a driver as you think you are..

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    [–] 14 points 3 years ago

    That they are driving around a 1 tonne piece of metal.

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

    The two main ones I think about are zipper merges and space in traffic. The most efficient way to handle a lane merger is to do a perfect zipper merge right at the point of merging. But everyone in the lane that’s ending always tries to merge early, and too many people in the other lane don’t want to let anyone in when they get to the merge point.

    As far as space in traffic, traffic jams are actually waves that propagate back though the stream of cars. The only way to end them is to have enough space between vehicles to allow the traffic stream to compress without losing speed. The spaces in traffic also make room for people to change lanes without causing anyone to brake for them. Those braking events are often the triggers for traffic waves.

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    [–] 14 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    A solid green on a left turn is not the same as a green arrow. It's a yield sign.

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    [+] 14 points 3 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (9 children)
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    [–] 14 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    Tailgating doesn't get you there faster. Most highway accidents would be avoided if people would just leave some space, and then we wouldn't get stuck in accident traffic jams for hours.

    Somewhat counterintuitively, traffic will flow better and you'll get places faster if you just leave some space (and you'll be safer and use less fuel as you won't be always on the accelerator and brakes)

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    [–] 13 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (2 children)
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    [+] 13 points 3 years ago (5 children)
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    [–] 12 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Driving is an unnatural, fairly sophisticated activity that many people don't have an intuitive sense about. Especially when it comes to the proximity of danger to themselves or others.

    I live in a developing SE Asian country where the only rule is: there are no rules. You can assume that everyone will always maneuver for their own benefit, especially if their vehicle is larger. This includes turning right in front of you, driving the opposite way, and stopping in the middle of all the lanes.

    In a sense, this brings a certain type of order because it's predictably disordered. The key rule is that you will die if you trust anybody to look out for you except yourself.

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    [–] 11 points 3 years ago

    Not using your phone while driving

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  • [–] 11 points 3 years ago (7 children)

    Yield doesn't mean stop

    It means go unless not clear (ie stop when not clear)

    If there's no oncoming traffic, then you keep going. If there is then you have to stop to allow the traffic to pass before continuing (or enter safely before said traffic reaches you).

    This is fundamentally how roundabout entrances also work. You're supposed enter when you have enough time to accelerate into an open slot. You don't have to wait until it is completely clear, nor do you have to explicitly stop at an entrance.

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    [–] 11 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Is 95 miles (~150km) one way considered normal in the US? I live in Bangalore, India and my commute is barely 20km (takes me 45mins - 1hour) which is too much for me.

    Me and most people I know would rather shift than travel 150kms a day. Can’t imagine the toll it would take on me, my fuel budget and my car

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    [–] 11 points 3 years ago (7 children)

    Speed limits. If it says 50 and I'm going at 50 honking is useless.

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