Why is driving and parking so hard for so many people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Driving's an incredibly complex activity and it's actually shocking there aren't even more accidents. You are controlling a huge extension of your body, the edges of which you cannot see, that is moving faster than you ever could in nature and doesn't stop all that well. While you do this you must also watch all the people around you, sometimes using mirrors to do so, and also watch road signs and think about where you're going next. It's culturally normalized to pull this off while also eating, listening to the radio, or talking to somebody in the car (let's not mention texting). And while yes you should keep driving if you miss your turn, in this area that could easily add 15 minutes and we're all scheduled in smaller increments than that and stressed about it. It's frankly not a realistic expectation for the average brain and motor skills.

But just try suggesting that we should close roads to improve walking/biking, or change literally anything about jobs/zoning to minimize driving, and people lose their minds. We really really like our cars here.

Better 15 minutes than dead. I have NO patience for dangerous people who ask to be let in at the last minute. Don't enable this behavior. Doing so makes the roads more dangerous. It is ok to miss your turn/exit 10000% of the time.

Are you one of the dolts who doesn't understand zipper merges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a mistake to remove drivers education (classes and behind-the-wheel instruction) from public schools. We are paying for it by having more ignorant and unskilled drivers on the road.

What year did this happen?

We definitely cannot rely on parents to teach their kids how to drive. Or instead, buy their son/daughter a "smart" car with all kinds of safety features, but don't actually teach their kids road etiquette and safety.

California stopped in 1990.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Driving's an incredibly complex activity and it's actually shocking there aren't even more accidents. You are controlling a huge extension of your body, the edges of which you cannot see, that is moving faster than you ever could in nature and doesn't stop all that well. While you do this you must also watch all the people around you, sometimes using mirrors to do so, and also watch road signs and think about where you're going next. It's culturally normalized to pull this off while also eating, listening to the radio, or talking to somebody in the car (let's not mention texting). And while yes you should keep driving if you miss your turn, in this area that could easily add 15 minutes and we're all scheduled in smaller increments than that and stressed about it. It's frankly not a realistic expectation for the average brain and motor skills.

But just try suggesting that we should close roads to improve walking/biking, or change literally anything about jobs/zoning to minimize driving, and people lose their minds. We really really like our cars here.

Better 15 minutes than dead. I have NO patience for dangerous people who ask to be let in at the last minute. Don't enable this behavior. Doing so makes the roads more dangerous. It is ok to miss your turn/exit 10000% of the time.

Most times, letting someone in is not "dangerous" and no one is going to end up dead. Don't be a jerk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a mistake to remove drivers education (classes and behind-the-wheel instruction) from public schools. We are paying for it by having more ignorant and unskilled drivers on the road.

What year did this happen?

We definitely cannot rely on parents to teach their kids how to drive. Or instead, buy their son/daughter a "smart" car with all kinds of safety features, but don't actually teach their kids road etiquette and safety.

DH went to high school in New Jersey and they still had it in 1979. Maybe someone can chime in when it ended there.

[Anonymous]

DC only recently added back the requirement to parallel park for new drivers. Maryland still doesn't require it. There are thousands of drivers out there who have never had to demonstrate basic parking and driving skills -- and it shows. My pet peeve is people who don't even bother to try to parallel park -- they just stop the car while it's still in the driving lane and get out and go into a store or wherever. Often they do this when there is an available parking spot right next to them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a mistake to remove drivers education (classes and behind-the-wheel instruction) from public schools. We are paying for it by having more ignorant and unskilled drivers on the road.

What year did this happen?

We definitely cannot rely on parents to teach their kids how to drive. Or instead, buy their son/daughter a "smart" car with all kinds of safety features, but don't actually teach their kids road etiquette and safety.

DH went to high school in New Jersey and they still had it in 1979. Maybe someone can chime in when it ended there.

They still had it through the 80s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a mistake to remove drivers education (classes and behind-the-wheel instruction) from public schools. We are paying for it by having more ignorant and unskilled drivers on the road.

What year did this happen?

We definitely cannot rely on parents to teach their kids how to drive. Or instead, buy their son/daughter a "smart" car with all kinds of safety features, but don't actually teach their kids road etiquette and safety.

DH went to high school in New Jersey and they still had it in 1979. Maybe someone can chime in when it ended there.

They still had it through the 80s.

I graduated HS in Fairfax County in the late 90s, and we had driver's ed. I also took behind the wheel.

[Anonymous]

People who park next to you in a lot that has 150 spaces available.
People who drive at 25 mph on roads where speed limit is 45 mph.

[Anonymous]

Distracted driving. Driving under the influence.
Lack of spacial awareness. Lack of driving experience. Any combination of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people actually suck as drivers, but most of the bad drivers just don’t care how other people feel about their driving. The only thing they care about is that they suffer the absolute least inconvenience possible, so yes, they will cut you off, turn left into the path of oncoming traffic, refuse to yield, ignore stop signs, whatever suits them.

I'm one of the ones who is just a bad driver. Trust me I hate that I'm that way - hence my apologetic wave after I do something stupid and cut you off on accident because I somehow didn't see you even though it was blaringly obvious.

I've gotten somewhat better over time, but I think the root problem is that it's just hard for me to focus on the world around me and always has been.

This isn't an option as a driver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Driving's an incredibly complex activity and it's actually shocking there aren't even more accidents. You are controlling a huge extension of your body, the edges of which you cannot see, that is moving faster than you ever could in nature and doesn't stop all that well. While you do this you must also watch all the people around you, sometimes using mirrors to do so, and also watch road signs and think about where you're going next. It's culturally normalized to pull this off while also eating, listening to the radio, or talking to somebody in the car (let's not mention texting). And while yes you should keep driving if you miss your turn, in this area that could easily add 15 minutes and we're all scheduled in smaller increments than that and stressed about it. It's frankly not a realistic expectation for the average brain and motor skills.

But just try suggesting that we should close roads to improve walking/biking, or change literally anything about jobs/zoning to minimize driving, and people lose their minds. We really really like our cars here.

No driving competently is not insurmountable so no we do not need to just well give up on cars ans follow the urbanist agenda.

[Anonymous]

People lost common sense.

[Anonymous]

Well, we do need some special certifications for things like driving in the left lane, turning left at an intersection and backing into parking spaces.

Those things are fine if you know what you are doing but we can't just allow every Tom, Dick and Harry to do these things badly.

A decade ago I dreamed that self-driving cars would come to our rescue but it remains a mirage receding into the distance, just like the metric system and the zipper merge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, we do need some special certifications for things like driving in the left lane, turning left at an intersection and backing into parking spaces.

Those things are fine if you know what you are doing but we can't just allow every Tom, Dick and Harry to do these things badly.

A decade ago I dreamed that self-driving cars would come to our rescue but it remains a mirage receding into the distance, just like the metric system and the zipper merge.

I live in an area where we do have Waymo. They’re great but only operate in a limited area and not on highways yet. The only problem is they only go the speed limit which is fine but when the flow of traffic is way above they do cause backups. But you know they will follow traffic laws. Police or other human direction not so much. They get very confused when it’s not a normal traffic situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Driving's an incredibly complex activity and it's actually shocking there aren't even more accidents. You are controlling a huge extension of your body, the edges of which you cannot see, that is moving faster than you ever could in nature and doesn't stop all that well. While you do this you must also watch all the people around you, sometimes using mirrors to do so, and also watch road signs and think about where you're going next. It's culturally normalized to pull this off while also eating, listening to the radio, or talking to somebody in the car (let's not mention texting). And while yes you should keep driving if you miss your turn, in this area that could easily add 15 minutes and we're all scheduled in smaller increments than that and stressed about it. It's frankly not a realistic expectation for the average brain and motor skills.

But just try suggesting that we should close roads to improve walking/biking, or change literally anything about jobs/zoning to minimize driving, and people lose their minds. We really really like our cars here.

Better 15 minutes than dead. I have NO patience for dangerous people who ask to be let in at the last minute. Don't enable this behavior. Doing so makes the roads more dangerous. It is ok to miss your turn/exit 10000% of the time.

Are you one of the dolts who doesn't understand zipper merges?

No I love the free Fastpass lanes. I just waive at everyone I pass before the merge point.