Public Service: Driving tips

[Cleetus]

1) When preparing to make a left turn, kindly move your big, pretentious piece of shit SUV into the middle of the intersection

2) It's *not* OK to do 60 in the left hand lane when the speed limit is 75

3) Use of turn signals is not optional.

4) I'm alone on an isolated, deserted country road. Please don't pull out right in front of me, slowing me down from 90 so I can follow you at 50.

5) If your white knuckles are stuck to the wheel so tightly after a short ride around town that the use of a fucking crowbar is required to remove them from the wheel, next time take a freaking cab.

Tellya what, there's never a cop around when you need one.

[Kutjara]

1. Bravo. Can I add a few?

6) If you can't see over the dashboard, get a smaller car. Or wait till you're 16.

7) Driving a Volvo does not confer invincibility.

8) It doesn't take a Lincoln Navigator to transport a single toddler to preschool.

9) A large car or truck cannot increase the overall size of your genitalia.

10) Driving a Hummer does not make you a soldier. It can, however, make you an asshole.

[Rosemary2205]

2. One little nit pick

now that they are putting red light cameras all over urban areas if one pulls out into the intersection then has to turn left on red it's ticket city. Also, many places say it's illegal to block the intersection waiting for a chance to turn left.

I'm just sayin'

Oh yeah, and if I'm going 5 over the limit in the far right hand lane riding my ass with your big POS SUV will force me to go 5 UNDER the limit instead.

[RobbinsdaleDem]

6. Failed driver's test.

Many years ago I failed my first driver's test because I didn't pull into the intersection to wait to make a left turn.

[Rosemary2205]

12. Just last week I got a warning ticket

the pic they mailed me showed the light was yellow when I was almost through. When I called to squeal they said in the "city of X" it is illegal to pull out to the middle waiting to turn left, so even if the light was green I would have tripped the camera if I sat there for more than 4 seconds.

Ya just can't win can ya? :)

[LostinVA]

21. Word to your last sentence -- I'm in that club, too!

[BlueJazz]

3. Here's a few more.

When the left-turn arrow turns Green, start off as slow as a fucking snail so
the poor bastards in back of you can catch the red light and wait another 3 minutes to get home.

Make sure when stopping at a Red light to swerve over into the right hand lane, directly in front of the car in back of you that was gonna turn right.


When entering traffic from a crossroad, wait about 5-8 seconds until I'm almost at the crossing before turning in front of me. ..Grrrr!

During rush hour make DAMN sure you accelerate as fucking slow as you can when the light turns Green so all the people in back of your slow, sorry, poky ass can catch the light..again and again.

[Digit]

13. I could have sworn you were in NC with your complaints!

I would add:

Please consider the car behind you would like to get into the left turn lane enabling them to catch the left turn arrow, so coasting from a block before the red light is rather inconsiderate.

It is unnecessary to come to a complete stop before making a right hand turn into your destination driveway. Power steering truly is wonderful.

If I am in the left hand lane of a four way freeway and about to move into a left turn lane, it is unnecessary and rude to flip me off from your van while you have your kids in the back just because you thought YOU were more entitled to the left hand lane. (I am from DC, and have been flipped off by no less than TWO women since living in NC for this) ***note-there was nobody in the right hand lane at the time-go figure***

At a four way stop, please follow the rules of the road, and don't just opt out trying to be courteous. We all need to be on the same page as far as who goes when.
You can be courteous by allowing shoppers to cross in front of you at the grocery store while it is raining. You are in a vehicle...they may not have umbrellas...do the right thing.

If you are turning left and may be blocking the view of someone trying to turn at the same intersection making a right turn from the opposite direction...go ahead and wave them through if you can see from your rearview mirror that the coast is clear.

Really, it all comes down to treating others as you would wish to be treated. Have consideration for other drivers, but follow the rules of the road first.

[Warpy]

4. You forgot the worst

Keep yapping on that cell phone as you swerve from lane to lane and forcing people who have to swerve to avoid you into parked cars and you will have to extract that cell phone from high up in your rectum when we catch you and you will not enjoy the process that puts it up there followed by the front third of my right boot.

[Solo_in_MD]

7. Ive been known to yell "Hang up and Drive" in the window of

those driving and talking at the same time, I don't care which bumper sticker they have. On a MC its real easy to do. Pull up next to them at a stop, flip open the helmet, knock on the window, express ones self. I may have caused of a number of stained seats, but I don't really care.

[ContraBass Black]

9. Am I the only one who gets chills at the sight of a driver

Smoking with one hand and holding a phone with the other?

Or smoking or using a cell phone while driving a manual?


:scared:

[longship]

5. A couple more

a. I drive defensively. That means I like to see what is coming ahead of me. If you pull in directly in front of me and block my view of the road ahead with your piece of shit SUV I am not going to be happy about it.

b. Two ton SUVs are not safe. They are difficult to maneuver and wreak havoc on any other vehicle in a collision. They need to be stamped out of existence. However, peak oil will eventually take care of this problem.

c. Gobbling up all the oil for your own selfish ego is *NOT* patriotic or American.

[me b zola]

11. I'm with ya on vehicles that obstruct my view

I hate it when I'm behind a vehicle that obstructs my view. I too watch the road in front of me so that I don't have to slam on my brakes, but rather I can drive a more steady speed--as well as for all of the defensive driving reasons.

[ContraBass Black]

8. Only two from me:

Signal before turning, not during, not after.

Bike lanes are for bikes. You're not on a bike. Move.

[me b zola]

10. Merging

~Unless you are merging into slow traffic, accelerate to the speed limit as you are merging. Slow motion driving as you are merging into fast moving traffic is dangerous, and causes people to slam on their brakes.

~if you are merging into heavy, slow moving traffic, or are driving in heavy slow moving traffic where cars are merging understand the principles of zipper:
-->>leave enough space between the car in front of you for one car to get in. The next car trying to enter traffic should fall in behind you. Use this principle when entering traffic-->>as the car in front of you has just merged infront of a car, you fall in behind the car that just let the other driver in.



People not knowing how to zipper are a big reason for traffic jams.

[Digit]

14. I received a ticket at Dulles Airport for the most ridiculous reason

I was on the entry ramp towards a road which I already knew had a posted speed limit of 55.
As I left the ramp, I began to accelerate to the speed limit, but was stopped just short of the speed limit sign doing 50.

I could SEE the speed limit sign, but had not reached it yet. I was pulled over for speeding and received a ticket.
I went to court over this, and was told that I had to go the speed of the entry ramp UNTIL I reached the speed limit SIGN...then and only THEN could I speed up from 35 or whatever it was to 55.
I tried to politely explain to the judge that I believed the speed limit was for the whole road, and never thought of the sign as a starting point.
They nailed me anyway.

Yes, it went on my record.

[me b zola]

15. That is wrong on a couple of different levels

To give anyone a speeding ticket as they are accelerating to the speed limit is just petty. But on an entry ramp? How can anyone say that it would be safer to merge into traffic that is moving at 55 while you are doing 35? Piffle. It was a dumb-ass speed trap--emphisis on dumb. This must have been an officer that needed their "quota" for the month. Was it at the end of the month?




Sorry that happened to you :(

[Ms. Toad]

25. Actually, a bigger reason for traffic jams

is the insanely long distance ahead of restricted lanes at which most lane closing signs are posted.

I tend to merge when instructed to merge and am routinely forced to watch dozens of cars zip around and ahead of me in the lane which it has been announced is being closed - all of which attempt to zipper in ahead of me. Sorry. Not gonna zipper with someone who is big time line jumping. S/he can sit in the (now closed) lane a few hours, as long as I'm concerned. Perfectly willing to zipper (and regularly do) with folks merging near the point they are instructed to merge.

Now, we just gotta get the sign posters to stop posting lane closed signs so far in advance of the actual closing of the lane. In the few instances in which I have seen signs posted reasonably in advance of the merge point the traffic jams virtually disappear because it eliminates the temptation to keep running up the still open lane to line jump to the head of the traffic jam to without waiting in line. If I haven't been sitting patiently in line as others whiz by I'm much more willing to let make like a zipper and let others in.

[SensibleAmerican]

16. Because if there's was a cop, you would get a nice ticket for doing 90

:eyes:

[RummyTheDummy]

17. Here's one: You DO NOT have to come to a complete stop to turn right

Into a gas station, restaurant, grocery store etc. Just slow down and whip it in there.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. You were doing 90 and you're complaining about someone else's driving?

I've seen some of the end results of that kind of thing on those "isolated, deserted" (it may seem deserted to you, but usually someone lives there) country roads. Not something you forget.

You're right about one thing. Never a cop around when there ought to be.

[Hekate]

19. I got rear-ended by a bicycle last week, of all things

City street. I saw him when he was on my right -- and I always take extra care around bicyclists. I didn't see him swerve behind me, but I did see the traffic light turn yellow. I stopped. Heard/felt an awful thump, and saw him in my rear-view mirror. Just about gave me a heart attack.

He was fine, he said, and after a few more words like that he rode away. Later I checked the back end of my car and saw a neat little hole in the left rear light -- just the size of the end of a brake-handle.

Thank gods it wasn't in his head.

Oh, and as for car drivers who want to tailgate me on surface streets: that's just an invitation for me to set my cruise control to the exact speed limit, especially in residential neighborhoods.

Hekate

[LostinVA]

22. Your last sentence? I so do that

Put cruise on 35 mph for tailgating jerks in town... dude, it's not the highway! Being in the left lane doesn't mean I'm in the "fast lane" -- it means I'm in the left lane so I can turn into a store a mile up the road. Get it? Surface roads do not equal interstates.

[Habibi]

20. Here's mine:

That middle lane on city streets, the one between two yellow lines? That's for people turning left to get their butts OUT of traffic while waiting to turn, NOT for you to use to merge INTO traffic.

[LostinVA]

23. OMG -- I can't believe when people do that

Or, when they use the middle turn lane as ANOTHER lane, and drive down the road in it. I saw someone get hit last year because of some moran doing that.

[Ms. Toad]

26. Unfortunately, there's a couple of areas where I live

that using the middle lane to merge is the ONLY way to turn left onto the street. Traffic lights are timed so poorly, and traffic has increased so much since the last time anyone reviewed the area for needed additional lights that there is never a two directional break in traffic - the best one can hope for is to be able to get a break in traffic coming from the left, make it to the middle lane, pause and wait for a break in traffic coming from the right so you can make your left turn (merge into the traffic coming from the right).

[LostinVA]

24. You're supposed to stop for school buses and ambulances

That's not an "if you feel like it." You freaking STOP for kids. Don't like this? Wanna try to beat the bus stopping by passing it like an ass? Then go to work earlier or later. When I was in elementary school, I saw a little girl get hit and killed by an SOB doing the same thing. I still hear the noise in my head sometimes, and that was 35 years ago.

You PULL OVER for an ambulance. You don't slow down, you don't try to beat the light before you stop. You PULL OVER AND STOP. Can't do this? Then don't drive.

Driving is NOT a right... it is a privilege.

[warrior1]

27. here's one

I saw yesterday.

Stop signs aren't a suggestion.