Cars - For Car Enthusiasts

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.

Don't be polite, be predictable.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Zip merges really show who the dumb drivers are.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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

Making space for bicycles on the road.

I think people generally understand stopping distance. They're deliberately creating an unsafe situation in order to intimate the driver in front of them.

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.

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

Not using your phone while driving

If you're using your brakes a lot it's probably because you were using your accelerator a lot a few seconds prior.

Your headlights are for other people as much as they are for you. Get them adjusted every so often, don't put LED lights in halogen lenses.

Just because the car in front of you went through the yellow doesn't entitle you to do the same, if you're behind a large truck and can't see the color of the light, back off just a tiny bit, or use the other turn signals located 45 degrees to your left for your safety and convenience. If you're so close you can't see the light, you're probably so close traffic getting ready to move can't see you.

Getting out of the slow lane, passing, then getting off at the next off-ramp, and having the only car you just passed continue on past the offramp you just took saves you literally no time. And even if you're behind that car on the off ramp, you've probably saved no time.

Roundabouts. Why don't people understand these? You wait for the car already in the circle to go, then you can go.

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

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)

As an add on to your post. People that think AWD means they can drive in the snow. AWD helps to prevent them from getting stuck, it does not help them slow down

Deliberately riding in someone's blind-spot for gods know how long is not only unsafe, it's also fucking obnoxious. It might not be legally your "fault" if you do this and get sideswiped for it, but you brought it on yourself. Doubly so if the person you're pacing has had their signal on the entire time and all you're doing is blocking them from changing lanes.

You need to speed up when changing lanes.

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.

If I start blinking well before I turn from a multi-lane road, and if the lane next to us is open, I don't understand why so many people slow behind me instead of passing me in the other lane. I'm probably signaling so early because I know I'm going to bleed speed before the turn (to reduce brake wear), and I'm going to turn slowly and smoothly like I'm chauffeuring my grandma. When the person who stayed behind me (instead of conveniently passing) runs up my ass and there's still an empty lane beside us, now I'm prolonging my turn just hoping they'll get so impatient they finally go around. Maybe they'll learn something?