Being a Good Driver

[Thorgalaeg]

Being a good driver is all about situational awareness and keep the proper speed according to situation.

And being an excellent driver is this:

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Don't drink and drive is as of recently my solemn rule. Not even "this one beer". Just better safe than sorry.

But who drives I don't know 30 milles/hour when it should be 40/hour... into all the seven hells with you I say!!!!

Kidding, naturally. Still... that really shows you how far your inner love goes, such moments...

 

[EgonSpengler]

If self driving cars become the norm, you will see a lot of cars with zero people inside them.

"Alexia, drive me to the office."

"Alexia, after I have left the vehicle, drive to a legal parking space."

.....

"Alexia, drive to the office and wait."

It's far in the future, I probably won't live to see it, but I think one thing self-driving cars will enable is a massive reduction in the space reserved for cars in our cities. I forget the exact number now, but a big percentage (50%?) of our land inside cities is dedicated purely to cars, in roads and parking and related infrastructure. Imagine every parking lot shrinking 20% because cars no longer need to be parked far enough apart to allow the driver and passengers to get in and out. Self driving cars could park 1" apart from one another, and the parking ltos wouldn't have to be right in front of homes, stores, and theaters anymore. Imagine public parks replacing the parking lots around your restaurants, movie theaters, and stores. You could have underground parking garages in the centers of cities, that people don't even have access to, where cars pack themselves in until needed.

 

[Quintillus]

A tip I learned from a friend who is an EMT - the worst thing for an ambulance to navigate around vehicles that are moving unpredictably. In a high-traffic situation where it's not possible for everyone to get over on the berm, it's better if everyone stops and the ambulance can navigate around the stopped vehicles than if everyone's trying to get out of the way and the ambulance doesn't know who's going to go which way. If the ambulance needs you in particular to move so they can get through, it can honk at you.

Invest in winter tires if you live in states/provinces where serious snowfall is a thing. At least don't drive bald tires in the winter like my colleague with a rear-wheel drive Mustang. He was fishtailing all over the place.

But most of all, don't text/use your phone and drive. I used to take the bus to work and some mornings I would watch the drivers driving by, and it was scary how many of them were on their phones. A few were doing other stupid things like reading a book, or smoking with one hand and eating a breakfast sandwich with the other with no hands on the wheel, but by far the most common risk factor was phone use.

I consider myself to be a driver with average skills, but who takes less risks than most people, in large part because I don't text and drive and apparently a lot of people do. My biggest weakness is arguably my car's A-pillar, which is somewhat thick and can make it challenging to see traffic coming from 45-60 degree angles. Most of the near-accidents I've almost caused have been due to not seeing a vehicle behind that pillar. So, know your vehicle's blind spots.

-----

Also, if you are a bicyclist and there is a bike trail going right beside the road, take the bike trail! I'm always dumbfounded by how many Lycra-wearing cyclists intentionally don't ride on bike trails that parallel 45 mph or 55 mph roads, or very busy 35 mph roads. Do they never drive and not realize that it can be difficult to navigate around them, especially in traffic? I both drive and cycle, and will always take a parallel bike trail if there's an option, it's less risky for me and less inconvenient for drivers.

 

[Hygro]

A tip I learned from a friend who is an EMT - the worst thing for an ambulance to navigate around vehicles that are moving unpredictably. In a high-traffic situation where it's not possible for everyone to get over on the berm, it's better if everyone stops and the ambulance can navigate around the stopped vehicles than if everyone's trying to get out of the way and the ambulance doesn't know who's going to go which way. If the ambulance needs you in particular to move so they can get through, it can honk at you.

Invest in winter tires if you live in states/provinces where serious snowfall is a thing. At least don't drive bald tires in the winter like my colleague with a rear-wheel drive Mustang. He was fishtailing all over the place.

But most of all, don't text/use your phone and drive. I used to take the bus to work and some mornings I would watch the drivers driving by, and it was scary how many of them were on their phones. A few were doing other stupid things like reading a book, or smoking with one hand and eating a breakfast sandwich with the other with no hands on the wheel, but by far the most common risk factor was phone use.

I consider myself to be a driver with average skills, but who takes less risks than most people, in large part because I don't text and drive and apparently a lot of people do. My biggest weakness is arguably my car's A-pillar, which is somewhat thick and can make it challenging to see traffic coming from 45-60 degree angles. Most of the near-accidents I've almost caused have been due to not seeing a vehicle behind that pillar. So, know your vehicle's blind spots.

-----

Also, if you are a bicyclist and there is a bike trail going right beside the road, take the bike trail! I'm always dumbfounded by how many Lycra-wearing cyclists intentionally don't ride on bike trails that parallel 45 mph or 55 mph roads, or very busy 35 mph roads. Do they never drive and not realize that it can be difficult to navigate around them, especially in traffic? I both drive and cycle, and will always take a parallel bike trail if there's an option, it's less risky for me and less inconvenient for drivers.

But is it paved or a trail? My cyclist buddy has a road only bike, he would never risk it without a new bike, on a dirt trail.

 

[Quintillus]

But is it paved or a trail? My cyclist buddy has a road only bike, he would never risk it without a new bike, on a dirt trail.

It's when it's a paved trail that it irks me, and in Ohio most cycling trails are paved. If it's a crushed limestone (or gravel or dirt) trail and it's a skinny-tire road bike, then riding on the road definitely makes sense, way too easy to get a flat if it's not paved on those bikes.

It is true that a lot of states have primarily non-paved trails; Ohio might be the unusual state in that even in rural, low-population areas, most trails are paved. I've ridden in several other Midwest/Mid-Atlantic states, and with the possible exception of Indiana, no other state seems to pave nearly as many of their trails. Quantitative statistics on that would be quite interesting.

For anyone considering picking up a bike for recreational purposes, my personal recommendation is a hybrid. It isn't as fast as a road bike on roads, but it lets you ride on pretty much any trail (with the exception of the really gnarly mountain bike trails, but even the less-gnarly ones of those are feasible). If it's primarily for commuting on shared roads with cars, on the other hand, you probably should go with a road bike.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Walking to work this morning, I saw two cars waiting to exit from a parking lot onto a busy street. There was a big break in the traffic, more than enough time for both cars to make their right-turn onto the road. The car in front didn't move. I glanced back, wondering why they weren't going. The woman behind the wheel was staring down at her phone.

I worry, of course, about how many accidents are caused by people on their phones while driving. Not just serious accidents, but minor fender-benders and paint-scrapers too. But this woman made me wonder how many little bonehead moves are caused by distracted driving. This woman didn't cause an accident. All she did was hold up the guy behind her for another 30 seconds, because she missed their break in the traffic and had to wait for the next one. Okay, no big deal. But multiply that by N, where N is the number of drivers with cell phones in a smallish metro area (~5,000,000 people) that already has bad traffic.

 

[Narz]

I have to be a good driver. I'm on a scooter, if I screw around, I die, if I'm not aware of idiots around me, I die.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Videos can nicely illustrate some situations that will cause accidents.

This 1st is what I call "Waving someone to their death".
To my constant irritation, my uncle would always wave someone to make a left in front of him after stopping, but he had no control of the lane next to him.
Don't fall for his peer pressure!

Another pretty common one is making a left turn on a solid green.
The people coming the other way will not stop, so you have to yield to them.
This can be a problem for people who like to tailgate large trucks through a left turn and can't see around them.
Boom! Accident.
Left turns are probably the most dangerous thing I do each day.


This one here I call "Instant death".
It is rare, but every once in a while someone will stop in the middle of the highway for some reason.
This sure-death scenario is when the person in front of you veers out of the way (at the last second with no blinker or anything) and you are suddenly 1 second away from rear-ending a stopped vehicle at 60mph.
There is someone on your left, and there is no where to go. Game over.

The only way to avoid this one is using the advanced technique of peering through the rear window of the person in front of you to see what is ahead of them.
Or have catlike reflexes and an empty lane to either side hopefully.
Definitely a good reason to follow at a safe distance and give yourself 2 seconds.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/ubwfns

Please don't stop in the middle of the highway!

Spoiler :

 

[IglooDame]

This one here I call "Instant death".
It is rare, but every once in a while someone will stop in the middle of the highway for some reason.
This sure-death scenario is when the person in front of you veers out of the way (at the last second with no blinker or anything) and you are suddenly 1 second away from rear-ending a stopped vehicle at 60mph.
There is someone on your left, and there is no where to go. Game over.

The only way to avoid this one is using the advanced technique of peering through the rear window of the person in front of you to see what is ahead of them.
Or have catlike reflexes and an empty lane to either side hopefully.
Definitely a good reason to follow at a safe distance and give yourself 2 seconds.

Aside from trying not to tailgate (and a half-second of additional reaction time hardly matters if you're going 60), this is why I very much appreciate sometimes driving an SUV where I can see over sedans to some degree, and why I try hard especially in my Mustang to not be behind an SUV or pickup truck (or other taller vehicle) in traffic so I at least might be able to peer through the windows of the car in front of me.

 

[Narz]

Aside from trying not to tailgate (and a half-second of additional reaction time hardly matters if you're going 60), this is why I very much appreciate sometimes driving an SUV where I can see over sedans to some degree, and why I try hard especially in my Mustang to not be behind an SUV or pickup truck (or other taller vehicle) in traffic so I at least might be able to peer through the windows of the car in front of me.

SUVs create an armsrace tho where people (I often think of a typical middle aged women) get larger and larger vehicles in order to "feel safe" and to see over the increasing large other vehicles.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

I don't think this has been mentioned in this thread but...

Remember, most drivers do not consider any of their own actions to be wrong. Doesn't matter what they do such as aggressively or illegally cutting you off. You are always to blame in their eyes. Best thing to do is just let them go and don't get worked up into a road rage state. It's just not worth it.

Sure, you might receive immense satisfaction pulling them out of their cars and beating them to a bloody pulp, but even with that extreme beating these people will never, ever, ever admit they did something wrong and will continue driving like jackasses as soon as they get back in their car.

Just let it go and breath deeply. Cleansing breaths.

 

[IglooDame]

SUVs create an armsrace tho where people (I often think of a typical middle aged women) get larger and larger vehicles in order to "feel safe" and to see often the increasing large other vehicles.

Sure, but some of us are actually using them to move lots of stuff around at least occasionally.

 

[Narz]

Sure, but some of us are actually using them to move lots of stuff around at least occasionally.

With all the money they spend on a larger car and all the gas for it they could probably rent a van every month or two.

That goes for all the pickup truck folks too (big here in Florida), 95% of em are empty when I see them on the road

 

[IglooDame]

With all the money they spend on a larger car and all the gas for it they could probably rent a van every month or two.

That goes for all the pickup truck folks too (big here in Florida), 95% of em are empty when I see them on the road

My SUV gets 24mpg and the purchase price was roughly comparable to a mid-grade sedan with AWD.

 

[Narz]

24mpg isn't very good

 

[IglooDame]

24mpg isn't very good

It beats my Mustang by a bit. LOL

 

[Samson]

Sure, but some of us are actually using them to move lots of stuff around at least occasionally.

But an SUV is mostly about being able to go off road. Many have no more space than a sensible estate car (station wagon in the US?). If you really need space a van is the way to go, they are usually much better fuel economy. From a quick google, the Mercedes Citan 109CDI 95hp manual gets 61.4 to 62.8 mpg.

 

[tjs282]

Curious about how the mpg values quoted above compared to the average fuel consumption in my 2017(ish)-model Ford Focus estate (~6 L / 100 km; virtually unchanged from when I bought it 2 years and ~30,000 km ago), I just used an online converter to tell me that's ~39 mpg (US) or 47 mpg (UK), i.e. that a UK gallon is ~120% of a US gallon.

I mean, I vaguely knew they were different, but I didn't realise it was that much. So TIL, I guess...

 

[Samson]

Curious about how the mpg values quoted above compared to the average fuel consumption in my 2017(ish)-model Ford Focus estate (~6 L / 100 km; virtually unchanged from when I bought it 2 years and ~30,000 km ago), I just used an online converter to tell me that's ~39 mpg (US) or 47 mpg (UK), i.e. that a UK gallon is ~120% of a US gallon.

I mean, I vaguely knew they were different, but I didn't realise it was that much. So TIL, I guess...

I guess you have not had a pint of beer in the US then, they are tiny.