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This is fantastic advice. The only thing I can really add is you should be keeping track of what’s around you, don’t look just before a lane change. Having good

by mveety 8y ago

This is fantastic advice. The only thing I can really add is you should be keeping track of what’s around you, don’t look just before a lane change. Having good situational awareness is the most important thing when driving.

danjayh 8y ago
Absolutely, this is the best advice in this thread. In the event that I lose track of what's behind me, I will even sometimes go as far as intentionally varying my speed a bit to get something to go around me so I can re-establish a complete mental picture with 100% certainty.
- blattimwind 8y ago
  Or maybe use your mirrors or shoulder check instead of flying blind.
  - danjayh 8y ago
    Thanks for the snarky but uninformed reply. I will edify you: There are some vehicles in which mirrors and should check alone are not enough to get a complete picture, and the only way to know what's around you is to keep track. Large RVs, trucks towing large trailers, etc. all fall into this category. Sedans, compact crossovers, and large SUVs with decent visibility are all comparatively simple to drive.
InitialLastName 8y ago
Biking, I'm perpetually baffled by the people who drive up behind me, overtake me, and seem to forget I'm there before they even finish passing me. The worst case is when they expect to turn right soon; I consistently have drivers half-overtake me and then start moving towards me, or turn right across a bike lane without looking.
- wahern 8y ago
  For a stretch of a few hundred feet (like a city block) where you'll both likely come to a stop, do you prefer cars overtake you beforehand or to trail behind? Do cars trailing you make you anxious? I don't think I've ever forgotten about a biker I've passed, but I also like to avoid situations where I might forget, which put the biker in a position to surprise me, or which impede my maneuverability if something else happens. But while I'm okay poking along for a block, if there's traffic behind me then that could result in an impatient driver overtaking both of us, which could be far worse. It's a tricky balancing act.
  - analog31 8y ago
    I'm an avid urban cyclist. My preference is for you to behave the same way as if I'm driving a car. Pass me if you can. If you're alongside me, a gentle tap on my brake will get rid of you quickly enough. ;-) I will admit to having a mildly "political" motive, in that I would like drivers to have a positive experience dealing with cyclists. So I'm probably more courteous than the bare minimum required by the traffic laws. I get out of the way if I'm backing up traffic, whether driving a car or riding my bike. My general preference is to find routes where there's minimal car traffic.
    - Casseres 8y ago
      > I will admit to having a mildly "political" motive, in that I would like drivers to have a positive experience dealing with cyclists. Me too, except the other way around. I will make sure there is a ton of room before merging in front of a bicyclist, and I will give them the full lane on a two lane road when passing them even if they're hugging the curb. When riding on the streets, they are given the same legal protection as any other vehicle. I just wish that every bicyclist also knew that they have to follow every law a car does too - including stopping at red lights and stop signs.
      - analog31 8y ago
        Oh, we know. :) Just like car drivers know about the speed limit and texting.
wahern 8y ago
I used to emphasize and practice that, back when I drove a '93 Honda Civic. It was a useful skill as I would naturally adjust my speed to prevent cars from cruising in my blind spot or to give myself more room for maneuvering. But newer cars have such poor visibility that it takes too much effort to track movement such that it becomes a diversion. In my '93 Civic any kind of movement in my peripheral--direct or in the mirror--registered immediately; and that peripheral was wide and tall and clear. It was also easier to hear the road and traffic, which also helped. Newer cars make you feel like you're entombed and deaden the senses, compounding the problem. I know part of my degraded situational awareness is getting older, but since we keep a '98 Civic for when I have to commute by car, I have an idea about which changes are more objective than subjective. The sight lines in the '98 Civic aren't as great as the '93, but still incomparable to the post-2010 cars I've leased or rented. I drive both our family car (new lease every 2-3 years) and the '98 in roughly equal proportion and pretty much all of my unforced traffic errs have been in newer cars. (The most egregious of which are not noticing pedestrians about to cross at a four-way intersection. Modern A pillars seem deviously sized and placed to perfectly obscure the far corners of an intersection. Though I suppose these are the errs I'm most likely to notice as the pedestrians are revealed the moment you begin to enter the intersection from a stop. Most other potential collisions probably go unnoticed.) Thankfully this year we finally leased a car with lane departure warning. It hasn't actually prevented an unforced err, yet, but I'm glad it's there. (I know it's there because it'll beep if there's an adjacent car when I initiate signaling, even if I'm not moving into the lane. If a car sneaks up after signaling it only warns when you begin the lane change.)
- ncmncm 8y ago
  Poor visibility is an ironic consequence of automakers responding to women's increasing role in vehicle purchase decisions. Automakers insist that women choose cars with poor visibility because they thereby feel less "exposed" to people in other cars. Is it true? It's true that automakers think so. They compete to make cars with bad visibility. It will probably take a lot of lawsuits to turn the trend around. We might not get there before driving your car is outlawed, obviating the whole problem.
  - 8y ago
ummonk 8y ago
I’ve found that adaptive cruise control has really helped here. Instead of having most of my driving effort put into managing the distance and speed between myself and the car in front (something that is hard for a human but easy for a computer) I can let the computer handle it, only sanity checking to make sure it isn’t messing up, and put much more focus on situational awareness (something humans are good at but computers are bad at), constantly checking what is happening around me and scanning the road and traffic ahead for potential dangers.
brianpgordon 8y ago
I do this as well but you can't rely on it. That one time out of a thousand, some maniac will be going 110mph and come out of nowhere.

by mveety 8y ago

danjayh 8y ago

Absolutely, this is the best advice in this thread. In the event that I lose track of what's behind me, I will even sometimes go as far as intentionally varying my speed a bit to get something to go around me so I can re-establish a complete mental picture with 100% certainty.

blattimwind 8y ago
Or maybe use your mirrors or shoulder check instead of flying blind.
- danjayh 8y ago
  Thanks for the snarky but uninformed reply. I will edify you: There are some vehicles in which mirrors and should check alone are not enough to get a complete picture, and the only way to know what's around you is to keep track. Large RVs, trucks towing large trailers, etc. all fall into this category. Sedans, compact crossovers, and large SUVs with decent visibility are all comparatively simple to drive.

InitialLastName 8y ago

Biking, I'm perpetually baffled by the people who drive up behind me, overtake me, and seem to forget I'm there before they even finish passing me. The worst case is when they expect to turn right soon; I consistently have drivers half-overtake me and then start moving towards me, or turn right across a bike lane without looking.

wahern 8y ago
For a stretch of a few hundred feet (like a city block) where you'll both likely come to a stop, do you prefer cars overtake you beforehand or to trail behind? Do cars trailing you make you anxious? I don't think I've ever forgotten about a biker I've passed, but I also like to avoid situations where I might forget, which put the biker in a position to surprise me, or which impede my maneuverability if something else happens. But while I'm okay poking along for a block, if there's traffic behind me then that could result in an impatient driver overtaking both of us, which could be far worse. It's a tricky balancing act.
- analog31 8y ago
  I'm an avid urban cyclist. My preference is for you to behave the same way as if I'm driving a car. Pass me if you can. If you're alongside me, a gentle tap on my brake will get rid of you quickly enough. ;-) I will admit to having a mildly "political" motive, in that I would like drivers to have a positive experience dealing with cyclists. So I'm probably more courteous than the bare minimum required by the traffic laws. I get out of the way if I'm backing up traffic, whether driving a car or riding my bike. My general preference is to find routes where there's minimal car traffic.
  - Casseres 8y ago
    > I will admit to having a mildly "political" motive, in that I would like drivers to have a positive experience dealing with cyclists. Me too, except the other way around. I will make sure there is a ton of room before merging in front of a bicyclist, and I will give them the full lane on a two lane road when passing them even if they're hugging the curb. When riding on the streets, they are given the same legal protection as any other vehicle. I just wish that every bicyclist also knew that they have to follow every law a car does too - including stopping at red lights and stop signs.
    - analog31 8y ago
      Oh, we know. :) Just like car drivers know about the speed limit and texting.

wahern 8y ago

I used to emphasize and practice that, back when I drove a '93 Honda Civic. It was a useful skill as I would naturally adjust my speed to prevent cars from cruising in my blind spot or to give myself more room for maneuvering. But newer cars have such poor visibility that it takes too much effort to track movement such that it becomes a diversion. In my '93 Civic any kind of movement in my peripheral--direct or in the mirror--registered immediately; and that peripheral was wide and tall and clear. It was also easier to hear the road and traffic, which also helped. Newer cars make you feel like you're entombed and deaden the senses, compounding the problem. I know part of my degraded situational awareness is getting older, but since we keep a '98 Civic for when I have to commute by car, I have an idea about which changes are more objective than subjective. The sight lines in the '98 Civic aren't as great as the '93, but still incomparable to the post-2010 cars I've leased or rented. I drive both our family car (new lease every 2-3 years) and the '98 in roughly equal proportion and pretty much all of my unforced traffic errs have been in newer cars. (The most egregious of which are not noticing pedestrians about to cross at a four-way intersection. Modern A pillars seem deviously sized and placed to perfectly obscure the far corners of an intersection. Though I suppose these are the errs I'm most likely to notice as the pedestrians are revealed the moment you begin to enter the intersection from a stop. Most other potential collisions probably go unnoticed.) Thankfully this year we finally leased a car with lane departure warning. It hasn't actually prevented an unforced err, yet, but I'm glad it's there. (I know it's there because it'll beep if there's an adjacent car when I initiate signaling, even if I'm not moving into the lane. If a car sneaks up after signaling it only warns when you begin the lane change.)

ncmncm 8y ago
Poor visibility is an ironic consequence of automakers responding to women's increasing role in vehicle purchase decisions. Automakers insist that women choose cars with poor visibility because they thereby feel less "exposed" to people in other cars. Is it true? It's true that automakers think so. They compete to make cars with bad visibility. It will probably take a lot of lawsuits to turn the trend around. We might not get there before driving your car is outlawed, obviating the whole problem.
- 8y ago

ummonk 8y ago

I’ve found that adaptive cruise control has really helped here. Instead of having most of my driving effort put into managing the distance and speed between myself and the car in front (something that is hard for a human but easy for a computer) I can let the computer handle it, only sanity checking to make sure it isn’t messing up, and put much more focus on situational awareness (something humans are good at but computers are bad at), constantly checking what is happening around me and scanning the road and traffic ahead for potential dangers.

brianpgordon 8y ago

I do this as well but you can't rely on it. That one time out of a thousand, some maniac will be going 110mph and come out of nowhere.