I’ve noticed that many drivers don’t know the rules. I would like to refresh a few memories.
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1) A 4-way stop means stop, wait your turn, and then go. It does not mean stop and then go in and of itself. In other words, it does not mean stop and then go regardless of whose turn it is.
2) If you are taking a right at a 4-way stop, you still have to stop and wait your turn.
3) If you are taking a left at an intersection and don’t have an arrow, you do NOT have the right of way.
4) It’s okay to turn right on red if there is no sign that says “No turn on red”.
5) At the same time, you cannot turn on red if the sign says you cannot, so quit honking at me asshole and read the fucking sign.
6) A yellow light does not mean hurry up and speed through. Neither does a red light.
7) A green light does not mean slow down to almost a halt 100 yards before the light just in case it may suddenly turn red. (old people love to do this)
8) When someone is passing you on a two lane highway, this is not your cue to suddenly remember what a slow ass driver you are and speed up. This is in fact very dangerous.
9) Cruise control is your friend. If I pass you on a 4-lane highway, I am maintaining a constant speed, I caught up to you,so I went around you. It’s not personal. So why do you catch up to me again? Worse, why do I THEN catch up to YOU, AGAIN? Get with the program. I don’t feel like playing this game for 60+ miles.
10) Slamming on your brakes because you see a cop does no good. By the time you see the cop, it’s too late, sucka.
11) Slamming on your brakes to stop a tailgater also does no good. It’s not like they are going to say, “Oh, gee, I guess I AM being a jerk. I will politely back off”.
12) Honking at a semi-truck who cuts you off is pointless. They don’t give a shit. They can’t see you, or if they can they are bigger than you, and they do what they want.
13) If you ride a motorcycle, you do not have the right to run red lights so that your “gang” can stay together. I personally don’t think weaving in and around cars is a smart idea either.
14) Getting mad at bad drivers really does no good at all. Flipping them off just makes you look stupid. Honking isn’t going to teach them anything. I would suggest only honking if a wreck is imminent, or if someone doesn’t know the light is green. Otherwise, it’s pointless. Bad drivers aren’t going to change because you get mad at them. 9 times out of 10, I would guess that people are just not paying attention. It is not a personal vendetta against you when people drive so poorly or cut you off, get in your way, etc.
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Driving around here annoys the hell out of me. The list could go on and on. I am working very diligently at following rule #14, a personal challenge. I want to be a good role model for my son, not some cussing, bird-flipping, white trash maniac.
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7 comments:
LOL! Ahhhh yes you never cease to amaze with your FAB insights! Tee hee! ...but darlin...you should try to drive up here in Vancouver sometime...really ..it's painful!
Karla I could have written this same article. We think very much alike. Some differences are obvious.
I fee like yanking morons out of their car and stomping on them.
When I see a cigarette thrown out the window I want to pick it up and toss it on their floorboard at the first stop. I know a girl this happened to, except the guy opened her hatch back. and tossed it in.
The one you really should have added was the dreaded zombie cell-phone user.
I saw a guy a couple weeks ago hitting the pipe at a red light next to me. I steered clear.
Pamela - Vancouver cannot be worse than Indiana, but it's good to know bad drivers are not limited to the U.S.
Greg - Oh, believe me, it takes every last bit of willpower to ignore morons. And, I figured I covered cell phone usage in another post. :) But yeah, they are annoying, too.
And the cig tossers. Who do they think they are?
On our last trip on the interstate, some asshole was throwing shit out his window at 80 mph, and a Sprite bottle flew back and hit my car! Matt & I both lost our cool. We tailgated him for some time, then Matt who wasn't driving melodramatically got his cell phone out and called the police to report the dude.
The dude flipped us off (the nerve), we flipped him right back, and then he took off at like 500 mph so we couldn't see his plate, but we got it anyway and reported it. I don't know if anything came of it, but we felt like model citizens, lol.
However, I felt bad for losing my cool. Our baby was with us. That's exactly why I need to work on this.
I was going to post on this topic; now I'll just tag on a comment!
Four way stops: 1) When you pull up, stop gabbing and take notice of who's there so you'll know when it's your turn. 2) Sometimes at a 4-way you actually don't have to "wait your turn," but you'd better know the rules and apply them properly in light of item 1.
Traffic lights: We have a good friend who ALWAYS slows down dramatically at traffic lights, even if the light is green. She's not a U.S. native, but is from the Carribean, so we chalk it up to a combination of cultural issues, though her husband doesn't drive the same way. She justifies it with, "Hey, I've never had an accident." My wife usually offered to drive, before she totalled her van which we haven't replaced yet, thereby reinforcing our friend's bad habit. (Fortunately our friend wasn't with her.)
Tailgaters & attitude: I find that lightly tapping the brake sometimes works. If not, I then turn my rearview mirror to the ceiling, to avoid the constant visual reminder that the driver behind is being inconsiderate and unsafe.
TG - Sometimes at a 4-way stop, you don't have to wait your turn? LOL! When is that?
Your friend's claim: That would be an interesting discussion: Does never having a wreck mean that you are a good driver?
I've done that b4, esp. in the snow/ice when I tend to be more on edge. Someone is tailgating and I know I'm fixating, making matters worse, so I've turned my mirror down befoe like that, too (and probably a bit too melodramtically so the driver behind me can see that I'm doing it). It's okay for short distances, but it's really disconcerting to not have that mirror up, actually! ;)
oh...also in snow/ice when someone is tailgating, I've been known to pull over before and let them pass me, if it's just us two on a back road, b/c I can't take it anymore. I'm sure to glare at them as they past though and secretly hope they wreck (without killing anyone, of course).
You know, there have been plenty of times that I've seen SUV's pass me going too fast, thinking their bigger, heavier vehicles can handle the conditions, and then I catch up to see that they have slid off the road.
Of course, some drivers drive *too* slow in snow/ice.
Too long comment here. Sorry.
Okay, maybe I'm wrong about this, as I can't seem to find what I was taught in driver's ed (back when we were a modern stone-age family) anywhere online. Or maybe they've simplified the rules since then.
You mention right turns, but I was specifically taught one sort of scenario that was otherwise.
For instance: A car arrives on my right, then a car opposite me, then me, in close succession. I'm turning right; both other vehicles are turning left. Since the driver opposite me must wait for the driver on my right to clear his path, I was taught to proceed with my right turn (after stopping, of course) simultaneously with the driver on my right making his left turn. The driver opposite me has to wait anyway, and I'm out of his way before he can proceed. (Likewise for a driver opposite me going straight before a driver on my left going straight.)
As I say, maybe they've simplified since then, or maybe the driver's ed instructor wasn't the expert authority that I understood him to be. (I was pretty naive back then!)
Also, if my path doesn't interfere with anyone else's route (for instance, a driver on my left is turning right while I'm going, well, pretty much anywhere legal), I may proceed after stopping without waiting for him/her. I can't be charged with failure to yield if there's no one to yield to.
But at 4-ways, I far more often encounter people who don't go when it is their turn than people going when it isn't. Fortunately, our worst former 4-way around here is now a traffic signal.
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