4 ms·

Tailgating is against the law. Tailgating causes hard braking. I recently pulled my travel trailer from OK to Charleston, SC and back. I never drive over 65 MP

Tailgating is against the law. Tailgating causes hard braking. I recently pulled my travel trailer from OK to Charleston, SC and back. I never drive over 65 MPH for safety and MPG reasons. I always stay in the right hand, slow lane except if I have to take a left lane exit. Since I was always driving slower then everyone else, not once did I have to hard brake. Tailgating is a choice and a dangerous one. I was never honked at, even by the crazy semi truck drivers.

rconti 8mo ago
Even that can be tricky, with the indecisive behavior people use when merging.
- tadfisher 8mo ago
  That one's easy: leave space in front of you for those merging onto the highway. So much of road etiquette boils down to leaving adequate space so others can maneuver around you. Trying to optimize your travel by destroying any gaps as soon as they appear actually has the opposite effect.
  - HPsquared 8mo ago
    James May calls this "Christian motoring". Golden Rule etc
  - dekhn 8mo ago
    While leaving space is nice, the person on the highway already typically has right-of-way.
  - rconti 8mo ago
    It's really not. I drive at an upper-percentile pace, so I am rarely dawdling along in the right lane. However, on the rare occasion I've found myself going slowly in the right lane, it's stunning how incompetent most people are at merging. It's like they don't even consider looking for an opening in traffic, matching the freeway speed, etc. They just lumber in front of you at 43mph, and maybe, if you're lucky, look in their mirrors after they've already caused you to slow for them.
- bloomingeek 8mo ago
  Very true and it's the reason I will always leave several car gaps in front of me in heavy traffic. Just because I have electric brakes on my travel trailer, it doesn't mean I can slow down normally, they just assist. Most people really don't think about that, of course, so they ignore the trailer and just weave in and out. Speed is a very dangerous thing when pulling any type of trailer and it always amazes me when I see a truck pulling one at break neck speeds and somehow thinking they can maneuver normally when someone causes a situation where they have to make a split second decision.
cucumber3732842 8mo ago
>I was never honked at, even by the crazy semi truck drivers. Because you were towing a camper and "slow and in the right lane" fits people's mental model of how recreational/nonprofessional heavy traffic or otherwise "handicapped" vehicles ought to behave. When you have problems is when you behave to a standard beneath what other people expect from whatever kind of traffic you are.
- its_magic 8mo ago
  In the Atlanta area I've experienced a few times people FLYING up on me in the right hand lane while I'm cruising along at a conservative, gas sipping 55 MPH in my old truck, blaring their horn at me like I'm some kind of maniac. I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
  - cindyllm 8mo ago
    [dead]
  - duncangh 8mo ago
    Driving and living in Atlanta after living in Charleston and Raleigh felt like transitioning from a modern cooperative society to an island of cannibals. The amount of aggression needed to change lanes largely regardless of attempts to signal good faith and politeness is baffling. Driving is a fascinating ritual with vastly differing norms across regions. It would be interesting to learn if anthropologists have studied this
    - rramadass 8mo ago
      > Driving is a fascinating ritual with vastly differing norms across regions. It would be interesting to learn if anthropologists have studied this And Psychologists! Reading the comments in this thread is quite amusing. As a driver in India, i can tell you anything goes as long as you don't get into an accident (which may/may-not kill you) or get caught by the police. No rules matter and the only goal is to "one-up" everybody else on the road and if they are trying to "one-up" you, then prevent it by any means possible. It is a "game of chicken" in its purest form; game theory in action. Rules are mere suggestions only followed by the meek and the weak. You have no idea how invigorating it is to drive in India.

rconti 8mo ago

Even that can be tricky, with the indecisive behavior people use when merging.

tadfisher 8mo ago
That one's easy: leave space in front of you for those merging onto the highway. So much of road etiquette boils down to leaving adequate space so others can maneuver around you. Trying to optimize your travel by destroying any gaps as soon as they appear actually has the opposite effect.
- HPsquared 8mo ago
  James May calls this "Christian motoring". Golden Rule etc
- dekhn 8mo ago
  While leaving space is nice, the person on the highway already typically has right-of-way.
- rconti 8mo ago
  It's really not. I drive at an upper-percentile pace, so I am rarely dawdling along in the right lane. However, on the rare occasion I've found myself going slowly in the right lane, it's stunning how incompetent most people are at merging. It's like they don't even consider looking for an opening in traffic, matching the freeway speed, etc. They just lumber in front of you at 43mph, and maybe, if you're lucky, look in their mirrors after they've already caused you to slow for them.
bloomingeek 8mo ago
Very true and it's the reason I will always leave several car gaps in front of me in heavy traffic. Just because I have electric brakes on my travel trailer, it doesn't mean I can slow down normally, they just assist. Most people really don't think about that, of course, so they ignore the trailer and just weave in and out. Speed is a very dangerous thing when pulling any type of trailer and it always amazes me when I see a truck pulling one at break neck speeds and somehow thinking they can maneuver normally when someone causes a situation where they have to make a split second decision.

cucumber3732842 8mo ago

>I was never honked at, even by the crazy semi truck drivers. Because you were towing a camper and "slow and in the right lane" fits people's mental model of how recreational/nonprofessional heavy traffic or otherwise "handicapped" vehicles ought to behave. When you have problems is when you behave to a standard beneath what other people expect from whatever kind of traffic you are.

its_magic 8mo ago
In the Atlanta area I've experienced a few times people FLYING up on me in the right hand lane while I'm cruising along at a conservative, gas sipping 55 MPH in my old truck, blaring their horn at me like I'm some kind of maniac. I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
- cindyllm 8mo ago
  [dead]
- duncangh 8mo ago
  Driving and living in Atlanta after living in Charleston and Raleigh felt like transitioning from a modern cooperative society to an island of cannibals. The amount of aggression needed to change lanes largely regardless of attempts to signal good faith and politeness is baffling. Driving is a fascinating ritual with vastly differing norms across regions. It would be interesting to learn if anthropologists have studied this
  - rramadass 8mo ago
    > Driving is a fascinating ritual with vastly differing norms across regions. It would be interesting to learn if anthropologists have studied this And Psychologists! Reading the comments in this thread is quite amusing. As a driver in India, i can tell you anything goes as long as you don't get into an accident (which may/may-not kill you) or get caught by the police. No rules matter and the only goal is to "one-up" everybody else on the road and if they are trying to "one-up" you, then prevent it by any means possible. It is a "game of chicken" in its purest form; game theory in action. Rules are mere suggestions only followed by the meek and the weak. You have no idea how invigorating it is to drive in India.