Polite Driving, Various Perspectives
Perspective One:
As I got into my car this morning, I noted that there was a truck parked along the street right across from my driveway. Not really an issue, but it does reduce the roadway to a single lane so I'll have to be careful backing out. I get into my car, and as I am backing up past the trees that line my driveway, the intersection not ( Read more... )
As I got into my car this morning, I noted that there was a truck parked along the street right across from my driveway. Not really an issue, but it does reduce the roadway to a single lane so I'll have to be careful backing out. I get into my car, and as I am backing up past the trees that line my driveway, the intersection not ( Read more... )
I remember my friend's grandfather telling her that he *will not* stop (outside of a marked pedestrian crossing) for a pedestrian to cross the street - because he's seen it happen where one car stops for the pedestrian, who crosses confidently in front of that car, and gets hit by the car flying up in the next lane who doesn't realize why that car is stopped in the middle of the road....
When I was learning to drive, my mom taught me the basics, then paid for 10 hours of "official" training - she said that way they could nip any bad habits in the bud that I picked up from her :) Also, the training included a practice exam. The one thing I still remember from the training is the instructor saying "think of the road as a stream - you DO NOT want to be the rock sticking up out of the stream, forcing the water to move around it - you want to be the leaf floating on the stream, being *one* with the traffic flow" - he said this means sometimes you're going slower than the speed limit, and sometimes you might be going slightly faster than the speed limit - he actually said that it's safer to drive a bit faster, and keep up with traffic, than to be the slower car, that everyone has to go around.
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he actually said that it's safer to drive a bit faster, and keep up with traffic, than to be the slower car, that everyone has to go around.
Lots of truth in that. That's what I preach to everyone else, and what I hope I captured when distilling the concepts into the ADD safe "Don't deviate from established traffic patterns" phrase.
State of Alaska puts it into print. The speed limit on a road is whatever 85% of the people are doing, regardless of what is posted. This works in both directions: impeding or speeding. Further, they have posted "Slower Traffic Keep Right" signs posted. Take these two concepts together, and you end up with "Left lane is the fast lane, and the speed limit is what everyone agrees to".
Put simply, "If you see nothing but miles of empty road ahead of you and miles of headlights behind you, move right."
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