How to Reduce Car Crashes and Road Rage

[OriZ 3,165]

7 hours ago, spookyturtle said:

Ya, but Vermont is special. 

Gary? Is that you?

 

7 hours ago, Teddy B said:

In the 12 years I owned a house in NH, I got 3 tickets for speeding on the highway (all on Rte 95) and all 3 were for going 81 or higher. I would zip right past state troopers with the radar gun doing 78 and they wouldn't blink an eye. Nowadays I'm a bit smarter and keep it around 70mph max on the highway.

Yeah, I usually keep it around 75ish here when it's 65, and 65 when it's 55, although there were a couple times I was around 75 even in the 55 areas and they didn't seem to care. In areas where I know they can't sit however that 75 can sometimes turn into 80's. In 16 years of driving I've only been pulled over for speeding twice; One was in Israel when I went 85 in a 45 area(it was in km but I already converted it), somehow I got off with only a warning lol. The second time was after we moved here, for going 57 in a 35 area, got a fine. Now I use cruise control quite a bit, that way I don't need to keep track of my speed. We should have an epic mud season this year! Snow's already starting to melt, bring on the floods!

 

7 hours ago, bcking said:

I've been thinking of making a post about this issue here for awhile. It is a huge pet peeve of mine.

 

I've lived long term in 4 states, and driven in a lot more. People are pretty bad all around, but honestly I've never seen it as bad as it is in Texas. Granted I'm talking only Houston, but still. It is absolutely insane.

 

1. Turn signal - Completely agree with the cop and his sarcasm. It is crazy how many times I'm following along someone driving incredibly slowly and I'm thinking "This is really weird, everyone else is going 40-50" and then they suddenly come to an almost complete stop and turn. That is why you have your signal. Tell people you are preparing to turn so that we can have some insight into your behavior. Same goes for change lines on the interstate.

2. Changing lanes without looking - As someone else mentioned, just because you manage to use your signal (in rare occassions) doesn't mean you automatically have "right of way". Honestly if your changing lanes on the interstate causes the person in the lane to touch their brakes, you have NOT merged correctly. The person in the lane you are entering should not have to even touch their breaks for you to enter the lane. So much of the traffic on interstates in the US is due to just people constantly tapping their breaks because of idiot people swerving in and out. The people behind that person sees the lights, so then they tap theirs, and so on and so forth.

3. Following too closely - This makes the above problem worse. It is absolutely crazy how close I've seen people follow. Not just to "ride" someone to force them to get over. Even in the right hand lanes people will get up within a few feet while going 60 miles an hour. If you give a reasonable gap, then people swerve in and out seeing it as an opening.

4. Passing on the right - Absolutely pet peeve of mine and yet in this country you just can't help but do it because so many other people do. It is FAR more dangerous to pass on the right. The blind spot is bigger, it is harder for people to check their right sided blind spot. In Europe they are much more strict that you always pass on the left (UK obviously it is the right since it's flipped). This is a GROUP effort because it means the slower person should be getting over to the right, while the faster person moves to the left.

5. Merging - Everyone seems like they want to "get ahead" so then everyone ends up slamming brakes. If it is going onto an interstate, the people on the round have right of way. You have to adjust your speed accordingly. If it's a merge of two lanes on a road, just take turns. It's not that hard and it will move things along faster.

6. Two way traffic in residential roads - This is something I've only noticed in Texas and I find it absolutely hilarious. On highways people seem to drive like a lunatic, but on a side road with cars parked on either side drivers seem to need essentially the entire rest of the road in order to move so they either expect you to stop, or they will stop when a car is parked taking up some space. It is hilarious to see an SUV essentially drive all the way over to the left just because a car is on the side of the road. They leave an entire car's length between them and the parked car. Yes some roads are very narrow, but people in the US don't even know the definition of narrow. Even with a car parked on one side, an average road in Texas is still about 50% wider than most streets in the UK with two way traffic. 

 

Honestly I think if people were better drivers in this country we would not only have less accidents, but less traffic. It seems like almost all of the "traffic jams" I'm in don't actually have any real cause. They are "ghost jams" caused by people making other people brake. 

 

My sister lives in Germany now and I absolutely love driving there (and I'm not a speeder, I love driving there even as a slower driver just because there is more order on the road). UK is also much better. I used to hate round abouts but they have grown on me quite a bit. Seeing one in the US though is a disaster since people don't understand them. 

#1 absolutely, they do that here too...ridiculous.

#2 yeah that was me who mentioned that, the part in bold very true. 

#3 also agree, that's how chain accidents happen, and then the road is backed up for the rest of us only because you(them) were clueless. Like you, I drive quite a bit, about 35,000-40,000 miles a year. I have never been in a single accident because I keep my distance. That and the fact I always try to predict what kind of stupid thing other drivers will do before they even think about it. Anticipating other drivers' behavior is key IMO. Saved me several times when I reacted in less than a split second because I already knew what they were thinking.

#4 for me is tricky. You mentioned Europe so again I'll have to bring up Israel again because many of the laws there are actually more similar to hose in Europe than in the US. Indeed there it is also enforced more often when someone passes on the right, however there are ways around even that...instead of passing on the right and getting right back to the left, you drive on the right for a bit till you actually need to pass someone using the left lane, and there's nothing they can do about it. 

#6 in bold AHA! again I have to bring up my experience and the roads I learned to drive on back in Haifa which are alot more narrow. I want to kill people here sometimes that take FOREVER if for some reason the road is narrow or there's cars on each side of the road, I'm not sure if their peripheral vision is screwed up or what it is, really people it's not that difficult to get by without scratching the other car, without hitting your brakes all the time. I do it all the time if you let me assuming I'm not behind one of you. lol. Had a situation here several times: Semi blocking like 3/4 of my lane, but road is still wide enough that I can get between the semi and oncoming traffic and make it safely. I usually do it without thinking twice but the oncoming traffic freaks out and honks at me, Really people, it's not that difficult. Also had situations where I had to sit behind people if I wasn't first because they wouldn't dare because god forbid, there's only enough room for 2.5 cars still. Grrrrr. Even worse, had times when the truck was blocking the other people's lane and they were going onto my lane, expecting me to stop for them. When I didn't, simply because I KNEW there was enough room for all of us, I got honked as if I did something wrong. Look moron, to start with you're going into my lane not the other way around, and second there is no reason for me to not continue going when there's enough room for both of us. Omg I can go on forever; People getting jittery  when you start backing out of a parking spot and honking at you - yes I see you don't worry, but if I don't start moving I'll never get out. Hey if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen and stay the hell off my road. Something else people here like doing is on the freeway they will ALWAYS move over when there's emergency vehicles even if they are FAR FAR on the shoulders. You're supposed to either slow down or move over if you can do it safely, but they always move over and always almost cause an accident or a traffic jam, ridiculous.

 

I also hate it when people seem to get confused between parking and turning, and don't realize that you don't need to come to a complete stop to make a turn into a driveway or another road. Also, when they're turning left onto another road and won't move far enough that I can keep going while their ### yields for oncoming traffic. Also, when they take 10 seconds to start moving once the light turns green or when they refuse to turn on red even though there's nobody coming.

 

Last but not least, you bring up roundabouts. I absolutely LOVE them(again, where I come from they are very common). I DETEST Stop signs. They are so pointless and useless 99% of the time. But you are right, people here don't know how to use roundabouts and it either causes an accident, or they think there is an imaginary stop sign before they enter the roundabout and they have to wait for all traffic to make 100000000% sure nobody god forbid is coming their way from 20 miles away before entering it. Alright, I'm done ranting.