Why are so many people such terrible drivers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're all on their phones. All. the. time. Literally ppl are texting and driving constantly. I've seen ppl facetiming and driving (not looking @ the actual road of course).

And then there are just really bad drivers who lack any idea.

I was almost run into a few weeks ago by someone literally merging into traffic on Viers Mill Rd from the R without even looking!!! Then she did it again onto 355. I considered reporting her to the police but ppl are so crazy didn't want anyone to potentially target me.

Cellphones are a massive part of it, but a lot of people are just clueless. They leave absurd amounts of spaces between their cars, they park terribly, they make turns like a truck, they don't know how to stop for school buses (either don't stop, or stop when it's on the other side of the median), clog the left lane, take forever to switch lanes or get in the turn lane, and are utterly mindless about simple driving tasks.

I grew up learning to drive in this area, in the 90s. It's not hard. It just takes paying attention and watching your surroundings. Some are on their phones. A lot of people are just spaced out and stupid.

Space between cars (following distance) is extremely important and following too closely a major cause of collisions, especially when distracted.

Distractions are a huge problem. So is the “me first, everybody else is just a hologram” mindset that seems to have become the norm. But too many cars and not enough road is also a root cause.

PP here - I'm not necessarily talking about while driving, but stopped at a light. You do not (and should not) leave an entire car's length between the vehicle in front of you. You are wasting road space and creating needless traffic. It doesn't mean 6" from their bumper, but a couple of feet is plenty. Not 15 feet.

My dream is to get a mini cooper and squeeze right in front of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're all on their phones. All. the. time. Literally ppl are texting and driving constantly. I've seen ppl facetiming and driving (not looking @ the actual road of course).

And then there are just really bad drivers who lack any idea.

I was almost run into a few weeks ago by someone literally merging into traffic on Viers Mill Rd from the R without even looking!!! Then she did it again onto 355. I considered reporting her to the police but ppl are so crazy didn't want anyone to potentially target me.

Cellphones are a massive part of it, but a lot of people are just clueless. They leave absurd amounts of spaces between their cars, they park terribly, they make turns like a truck, they don't know how to stop for school buses (either don't stop, or stop when it's on the other side of the median), clog the left lane, take forever to switch lanes or get in the turn lane, and are utterly mindless about simple driving tasks.

I grew up learning to drive in this area, in the 90s. It's not hard. It just takes paying attention and watching your surroundings. Some are on their phones. A lot of people are just spaced out and stupid.

Space between cars (following distance) is extremely important and following too closely a major cause of collisions, especially when distracted.

Distractions are a huge problem. So is the “me first, everybody else is just a hologram” mindset that seems to have become the norm. But too many cars and not enough road is also a root cause.

PP here - I'm not necessarily talking about while driving, but stopped at a light. You do not (and should not) leave an entire car's length between the vehicle in front of you. You are wasting road space and creating needless traffic. It doesn't mean 6" from their bumper, but a couple of feet is plenty. Not 15 feet.

My dream is to get a mini cooper and squeeze right in front of them.

I would do this when I had a motorcycle. It pisses people off.

[Anonymous]

Too important and dgaf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're all on their phones. All. the. time. Literally ppl are texting and driving constantly. I've seen ppl facetiming and driving (not looking @ the actual road of course).

And then there are just really bad drivers who lack any idea.

I was almost run into a few weeks ago by someone literally merging into traffic on Viers Mill Rd from the R without even looking!!! Then she did it again onto 355. I considered reporting her to the police but ppl are so crazy didn't want anyone to potentially target me.

Cellphones are a massive part of it, but a lot of people are just clueless. They leave absurd amounts of spaces between their cars, they park terribly, they make turns like a truck, they don't know how to stop for school buses (either don't stop, or stop when it's on the other side of the median), clog the left lane, take forever to switch lanes or get in the turn lane, and are utterly mindless about simple driving tasks.

I grew up learning to drive in this area, in the 90s. It's not hard. It just takes paying attention and watching your surroundings. Some are on their phones. A lot of people are just spaced out and stupid.

Space between cars (following distance) is extremely important and following too closely a major cause of collisions, especially when distracted.

Distractions are a huge problem. So is the “me first, everybody else is just a hologram” mindset that seems to have become the norm. But too many cars and not enough road is also a root cause.

PP here - I'm not necessarily talking about while driving, but stopped at a light. You do not (and should not) leave an entire car's length between the vehicle in front of you. You are wasting road space and creating needless traffic. It doesn't mean 6" from their bumper, but a couple of feet is plenty. Not 15 feet.

THANK YOU, this drives me bananas.

This mostly happens to me when I need to get in the left turn lane and if the one car in front of me wouldn't do this, I could get in the lane. So, I will miss the green arrow and have to wait again, for the next one. Thanks terrible drivers!

[Anonymous]

My pet peeve is people who play traffic cop and let people who have no right of way enter a road or pull out of a parking lot or something like that. You are not being courteous, you are creating a dangerous and inefficient situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s only going to get worse. The bar to getting a drivers license is so low. Most parents don’t actually do the “required” hours of observed driving with their kids because no one actually checks. And the behind-the-wheel portion is a joke (at least where I live). The DMV says you’re supposed to have 8 sessions, I think, but most will do it all in a single session just to check the box.

This is a part of it. We also have NO continuing education so we are able to renew our driver's license for life as long as our vision checks out.

Another part is that we have driver's from all over the world driving in our country. We have all learned in different areas, ways, different cars, different streets, different signs. Someone in North Carolina was not taught the same way as someone in Wyoming.

We also have really old cars on the road with bad stop-and-go. They could be 500 miles late to change the tire or their brakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're all on their phones. All. the. time. Literally ppl are texting and driving constantly. I've seen ppl facetiming and driving (not looking @ the actual road of course).

And then there are just really bad drivers who lack any idea.

I was almost run into a few weeks ago by someone literally merging into traffic on Viers Mill Rd from the R without even looking!!! Then she did it again onto 355. I considered reporting her to the police but ppl are so crazy didn't want anyone to potentially target me.

There's so many people taking videos or selfies on their phones and posting the video. I call them out on Reddit and I always get downvoted and told off.

[Anonymous]

I am so sick of people who don't know who has the right of way. The person turning left from the median or the person turning left from the street side? They don't know, so they use hand signals. People think they're being friendly by letting you go in front of them, but what's more friendly is knowing what's correct and causing less accidents.

I do think that some of it is a clash of cultures. Different countries/states have different way of driving and different laws. I think to get a drivers license in a new state you should have to take a test. At least a written test like 16 year olds take, which would be very inexpensive (free?). A driving test would require more personnel and would be more expensive. I came from out of state and the laws here in Virginia were different than where I came from, but I read up on it. Things like U-turn laws vary by state.

[Anonymous]

Well, my MIL says she pays more taxes so pays for the right to park in the left lane. I imagine there is some selfishness/individualism at play culturally where people don't care about other people having an efficient drive.

I grew up in NY and we had to take driver's ed to get our license. I am not a natural driver and I learned so much in that class. My dad also made me drive him back and forth to work in midtown manhattan for a week before I could go take my test, so I between that and driver's ed, I got the hang of it. I now live in MO, and you can just sign up at 15 to get your permit. My DH had to take 4 right turns for his driver test. Fortunately he is a good driver (but I always had to do the parallel parking pre-back up cameras).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's too many cars for the amount of road capacity and/or poor road planning, along with the combo of cars playing Frogger, racing, and weaving through traffic at high speeds and the high/hungover/distracted/new drivers (who are not necessarily teenagers) in both the left and right lanes going 20 mph under the limit. Both of those extremes piss off the majority who are otherwise safe, normal drivers and are just trying to get from point A to point B in peace. So no one is happy and it shows.

Just getting lights synced up would cut road rage. I'm very laid back, but when I hit 4 lights in a row on my way to work, I'm angry. The next person that cuts me off is getting the horn. I'm on the main road too, and the main road should have priority over side streets.

[Anonymous]

Many drivers think that the speed limit is the 'lower' speed which you should drive. In fact, it is the maximum speed limit. They must have gotten that question wrong on the driver's test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many drivers think that the speed limit is the 'lower' speed which you should drive. In fact, it is the maximum speed limit. They must have gotten that question wrong on the driver's test.

That’s true, but when your vehicle is in good working order, the road condition is good, the weather is dry and sunny, and there are no pedestrians or bicyclists around, there is absolutely no reason to drive 12 mph below the speed limit. There’s no reason to be in the passing lane if you’re unwilling to pass the car next to you in the right lane when you have the opportunity. It’s a real a-hole move to cut someone off and then drive significantly slower than they were driving.

Slow drivers should also take note: driving slowly does not make stop signs optional. Driving 11-18 mph in a 25 mph zone doesn’t mean you don’t have to stop. I’m surprised by the number of drivers who do this in my neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many drivers think that the speed limit is the 'lower' speed which you should drive. In fact, it is the maximum speed limit. They must have gotten that question wrong on the driver's test.

And yet you can do 150MPH on the Autobahn and people move over just fine. But every single day on 495 there are people camping in the left lane in their cars refusing to move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many drivers think that the speed limit is the 'lower' speed which you should drive. In fact, it is the maximum speed limit. They must have gotten that question wrong on the driver's test.

And yet you can do 150MPH on the Autobahn and people move over just fine. But every single day on 495 there are people camping in the left lane in their cars refusing to move.

I pass them on the left shoulder. I don't have time for their foolishness.

[Anonymous]

People are selfish. I’m an incredibly defensive driver and have no problem letting people over and try to be mindful about the speed and space. Everyone is not doing that.