Road Rage Self-Check?

[Fedup]

Sounds like an arms race to the biggest/baddest tank. Now all you need are firing weapons.

Yeap, my car is a weapon. No firing weapons are necessary.

 

[scrabbler1]

A related tip: If you are in the intersection, wanting to turn left, waiting for a gap in oncoming traffic, DO NOT turn your wheels until you're actually ready to go. Keep them pointed straight ahead.

If you're rear-ended, you don't want to be pushed into the turn, where you'll be T-boned by an oncoming car. It's far better to instead be pushed into a stationary car waiting to make a left turn in the opposite direction, or the median on the other side of the intersection, or really pretty much anything else other than another car hurtling straight at you at the speed limit!

I remember a deadly accident in my area back in the 1990s where the driver of the car (and maybe his passenger, too) were killed because he had precut the wheel and got rear-ended, pushing him into oncoming traffic just the way you described.

When I am the first car at a red light waiting for it to turn green, I keep a close eye on the cross traffic, making sure they are slowing down when I get the green light. Not infrequently do I see that car still going at full tile so I know I won't be moving forward even after I get my green light.

And when I am on a multilane road and the first car at a red light, if there is a large vehicle like a truck or a bus next to me, I don't start moving forward until the other vehicle begins to move forward first. I remember the phrase "never leave your interference" from my Driver Ed days, guarding against a pedestrian blocked from my view crossing the street in front of the big vehicle and about to cross in front of my car.

Another little thing I often do while at red lights is, if I am on level ground and not the first car, to put my car into neutral while waiting for the light to change. This is a holdover habit from my days driving a stick shift car. Drive and Neutral are next to each other on the gear shifter and you don't need to press the little button on the handle to shift it. There is plenty of time to shift gears once the light turns green if I am not the lead car. Keeping the car out of gear will lessen the chance of being pushed forward if I get rear-ended because even the slightest decrease in pressure on the brake will enable the car to move forward into the car in front of me.

 

[tinlizzy]

At the risk of putting words in Tinlizzy's mouth, "Not your fault" is not the same as "Couldn't be avoided."

Take red light runners for example. These are folks that see the light turn yellow as they're approaching the intersection, and instead of stopping, they speed up to try and catch the yellow. Often, the light turns red a second or two before they get there, but they're going to fast to stop, so they run the red. Many cities (mine included) now have dozens of cameras installed at intersections to catch exactly this scenario.

The cameras became necessary to discourage this behaviour, because a lot of accidents were occurring where the light would change, and the perpendicular traffic would get the green light and start to move, but the guy who was hoping to make the yellow light (and who now has a red light) is committed to going through the intersection, so he T-bones someone.

Now, the "victim" in this scenario is totally not at fault. The police report will assign 100% of the blame to the red-light runner. Their insurance will cover everything.

However, and I think this might have been the point tinlizzy was trying to make, that doesn't mean the collision couldn't have been avoided.

Whenever I'm sitting at an intersection and the light turns green, I always look both ways anyway, before hitting the gas, just in case some moron is rushing to try and beat their yellow (now red) light. Sure, I could just blindly go on into the intersection, and if anyone hits me, I would be totally absolved of blame. I totally had the right-of-way.

But that's little consolation when I'm dealing with insurance companies, trying to replace my car, recovering from an injury, or worst-case, dead.

Far better instead to be extra-vigilant and avoid a collision altogether. If the goal is to arrive home collision-free (different from remaining "blameless"), then taking responsibility for your own driving isn't enough. You must take responsibility for other people's habits as well.

Now, of course, if you're trapped behind another vehicle, and blocked on both sides, and someone rear-ends you, there's not much you can do to avoid that situation. But even then, you can mitigate it a little by leaving a bit of extra room in front of you between you and the next car, so that if someone does come up and rear-end you, you can at least avoid hitting the vehicle in front of you and incurring a "double-whammy" impact (not to mention convincing the insurance company it's not your fault you rear-ended the car in front of you).

Don't just sit at an intersection, staring at the stop light, waiting for it to turn green. Leave yourself an "out," and visually scan your surroundings. Be aware of the pedestrian running up behind you who is clearly planning to jaywalk, and who you'd otherwise hit if you just hit the gas when your light changed. Things like that.

Tinlizzy, I apologize if this is not at all what you were talking about.

It was a perfect explanation! Leave yourself an out is drilled into our heads! There's an acronym for safe driving that's very old. AGKLM or All Good Kids Like Milk.

Aim high in steering
Get the big picture
Keep your eyes moving
Leave yourself an out
Make them see you

Backing accidents are the most common accident. Intersection accidents are the second most common and are very deadly.

I mentioned thousands of near misses before and intersections were a lot of them. People opening car doors and adults, but mostly children, running into the street were also common.

Killing a child that darted into the street between parked cars wouldn't be my fault as a driver but you would be thankful if that was my mindset and I was always scanning the sidewalks and cars for your child and stopped in time. I have had a child as little as three run into the street in front of my truck and once had a mom take her toddler out of his car seat and put him down and he lost his balance and fell backward into the street in front of the truck.

A hundred of the avoided accidents were people turning a corner too fast in the winter and I would gauge that they would probably slide into my lane and stop where I was well before the stop sign.

 

[tinlizzy]

These are the five seeing habits, in depth, that promote safe driving as taught by UPS.


Aim High in Steering
· Imaginary target — baseball/dart board.
· Centers car in traffic lane. Safe path on turns.
· “Find a safe path well ahead.”

Get the Big Picture
· How wide and deep? What’s in it? Objects and ground.
· Keeps you away from billboards. Smooth stops and turns. Buys time.
· “Stay back and see it all.”

Keep Your Eyes Moving
· Move eyes. Front: 2 seconds. Rear: 5-to-8 seconds.
· Keeps you alive at intersections. Keeps eyes ahead of car.
· “Scan — don’t stare.”

Leave Yourself an Out
· Have an escape out. Take path of least resistance.
· Space on all four sides, but always in front.
· “Be prepared. Expect the unexpected.”

Make Sure They See You
· Communicate in traffic — horn, lights, signals.
· Establishes eye-to-eye contact.
· “Don’t gamble. Use your horn, lights, and signals.”

 

[tinlizzy]

These are also taught and all these tips work.

1. Stopped in Traffic - leave a car length in front of vehicle, apply parking brake
2. Start up at intersections - Look left, right, left and check mirrors
3. Count 123 before proceeding into intersection. It creates a space cushion, check mirrors
4. When pulling from curb - left blinker, mirror, look left, watch tail swing
5. Following distance - 4-6 seconds under 30 mph, 6-8 seconds over 30 mph
6. Eye lead time - 8-12 seconds
7. Scan steering wheels - look for occupied vehicles, use horn
8. Make eye contact - use horn, lights, signals
9. Use your mirrors - check them every 5-8 seconds
10. Stale green lights - make a decision point ahead where you will decide to safely stop or proceed

and if you can't say the word 'smooth' when you're braking then you're braking too hard and should probably slow down.

 

[Big_Hitter]

These are the five seeing habits, in depth, that promote safe driving as taught by UPS.

smith system?

 

[Major Tom]

Riding a bicycle is a great way to avoid road rage. Very occasionally, drivers annoy me. I don't have a bell, so I improvise by yelling out a choice phrase, which I doubt they can hear. Once, I did an abrupt u-turn after a driver cut me off. I caught up with him, knocked on his window and explained what he just did to me. He looked sheepish, and was very apologetic.

I thoroughly recommend riding a bicycle, for health and peace of mind.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I thoroughly recommend riding a bicycle, for health and peace of mind.

depends on where you live - here, yes very bike friendly - houston, no way I'd ride a bike

 

[HFWR]

In some places it's not a crime at all. Many states, like mine, allow legal open carrying of weapons hence there is no "brandishing" law to break. Being attacked for not breaking any laws would provide such a person with a reasonable defense for use of deadly force if attacked by a vehicle that had already exhibited "aggression" however. Just food for thought in case anyone is ever in a state where firearm rights are more prevalent than some other areas.

Texas is pretty "gun friendly", but...

PENAL CODE

TITLE 9. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ORDER AND DECENCY

CHAPTER 42. DISORDERLY CONDUCT AND RELATED OFFENSES

Sec. 42.01. DISORDERLY CONDUCT. (a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly:

(8) displays a firearm or other deadly weapon in a public place in a manner calculated to alarm

More practically, you hop out of your car, start "showing" a weapon, and get your ass shot off...

 

[exnavynuke]

Texas is pretty "gun friendly", but...



More practically, you hop out of your car, start "showing" a weapon, and get your ass shot off...

One of the many reasons it's good to know the laws of the state you're physically in, not just where you normally reside. What's legal in one state can be a crime in another. For instance, signs at a business prohibiting carrying guns can make carrying a gun in that business a crime in Texas, not so here in Georgia.

 

[Bestwifeever]

A related tip: If you are in the intersection, wanting to turn left, waiting for a gap in oncoming traffic, DO NOT turn your wheels until you're actually ready to go. Keep them pointed straight ahead.

If you're rear-ended, you don't want to be pushed into the turn, where you'll be T-boned by an oncoming car. It's far better to instead be pushed into a stationary car waiting to make a left turn in the opposite direction, or the median on the other side of the intersection, or really pretty much anything else other than another car hurtling straight at you at the speed limit!

Thanks for this, which I had never considered--I don't consciously set my wheels to the left but now I will consciously keep them pointed straight ahead when waiting to make a left turn.

 

[dasranger]

One of the many reasons it's good to know the laws of the state you're physically in, not just where you normally reside. What's legal in one state can be a crime in another. For instance, signs at a business prohibiting carrying guns can make carrying a gun in that business a crime in Texas, not so here in Georgia.

Geez, I wonder what businesses the criminals target in Texas.

 

[HFWR]

Geez, I wonder what businesses the criminals target in Texas.

Just because customers aren't carrying, legally anyway, doesn't mean the clerk isn't armed...

 

[Walt34]

I thoroughly recommend riding a bicycle, for health and peace of mind.

depends on where you live - here, yes very bike friendly - houston, no way I'd ride a bike

Same thing here - I'd have a life expectancy of about 20 minutes.

 

[Sunset]

At the risk of putting words in Tinlizzy's mouth, "Not your fault" is not the same as "Couldn't be avoided."

Take red light runners for example. These are folks that see the light turn yellow as they're approaching the intersection, and instead of stopping, they speed up to try and catch the yellow. Often, the light turns red a second or two before they get there, but they're going to fast to stop, so they run the red. Many cities (mine included) now have dozens of cameras installed at intersections to catch exactly this scenario.

The cameras became necessary to discourage this behaviour, because a lot of accidents were occurring where the light would change, and the perpendicular traffic would get the green light and start to move, but the guy who was hoping to make the yellow light (and who now has a red light) is committed to going through the intersection, so he T-bones someone.

Now, the "victim" in this scenario is totally not at fault. The police report will assign 100% of the blame to the red-light runner. Their insurance will cover everything.

However, and I think this might have been the point tinlizzy was trying to make, that doesn't mean the collision couldn't have been avoided.

Whenever I'm sitting at an intersection and the light turns green, I always look both ways anyway, before hitting the gas, just in case some moron is rushing to try and beat their yellow (now red) light. Sure, I could just blindly go on into the intersection, and if anyone hits me, I would be totally absolved of blame. I totally had the right-of-way.

But that's little consolation when I'm dealing with insurance companies, trying to replace my car, recovering from an injury, or worst-case, dead.

Far better instead to be extra-vigilant and avoid a collision altogether. If the goal is to arrive home collision-free (different from remaining "blameless"), then taking responsibility for your own driving isn't enough. You must take responsibility for other people's habits as well.

Now, of course, if you're trapped behind another vehicle, and blocked on both sides, and someone rear-ends you, there's not much you can do to avoid that situation. But even then, you can mitigate it a little by leaving a bit of extra room in front of you between you and the next car, so that if someone does come up and rear-end you, you can at least avoid hitting the vehicle in front of you and incurring a "double-whammy" impact (not to mention convincing the insurance company it's not your fault you rear-ended the car in front of you).

Don't just sit at an intersection, staring at the stop light, waiting for it to turn green. Leave yourself an "out," and visually scan your surroundings. Be aware of the pedestrian running up behind you who is clearly planning to jaywalk, and who you'd otherwise hit if you just hit the gas when your light changed. Things like that.

Tinlizzy, I apologize if this is not at all what you were talking about.

Glad we agree : "I partially agree that a person should be a careful, defensive driver, alert and all those other good things."

When I was going for my drivers license, during the actual test as I drove along a street lined with cars, I saw a kid miss the soccer size ball they were playing with and it went towards the cars.
I stopped the car in the road, the examiner started to ask "why did you..... " and the kid ran out right behind the ball in front of the car. The kid was surprised to see the car, and I think I passed the test right there

 

[Car-Guy]

These are also taught and all these tips work.

1. Stopped in Traffic - leave a car length in front of vehicle, apply parking brake
2. Start up at intersections - Look left, right, left and check mirrors
3. Count 123 before proceeding into intersection. It creates a space cushion, check mirrors
4. When pulling from curb - left blinker, mirror, look left, watch tail swing
5. Following distance - 4-6 seconds under 30 mph, 6-8 seconds over 30 mph
6. Eye lead time - 8-12 seconds
7. Scan steering wheels - look for occupied vehicles, use horn
8. Make eye contact - use horn, lights, signals
9. Use your mirrors - check them every 5-8 seconds
10. Stale green lights - make a decision point ahead where you will decide to safely stop or proceed

and if you can't say the word 'smooth' when you're braking then you're braking too hard and should probably slow down.

A few of these make some sense but a couple are not really practical or even ridiculous.

Example # 5. A car traveling at 40mph travels over 400 feet in 7 seconds. That is well over the length of a football field. (About 1 and 1/3 actually) Can you envision that happening on a Houston freeway (or any big city for that matter) that was moving along at ~40mph? Anyone leaving that much space would be hearing lots of horns, seeing lot's of birds (not the flying kind), hear obscenities screamed at them they may have never heard before and would be cutoff countless times every few minutes.

 

[moneyviking]

I used to live in the city, my commute was 8.5 miles, it took 30 minutes and I have gotten out of the car to fight more than once.
Then I moved to nowhere, my commute is still 30 minutes but it is now 32 miles and I smile every minute of it as I peacefully enjoy the quiet drive. Quality of Life people.

 

[gerntz]

+1 (+2 if you drive a manual transmission)

What's manual got to do with it?

 

[street]

I live very rural area so I don't have traffic per say. Yesterday went hiking if I remember right I crossed paths with 3 outfits. I don't like traffic but I don't get to upset when I have to be in the city.
I bet the city slickers hate me when I come to town. Lol

 

[gerntz]

These are also taught and all these tips work.

2. Start up at intersections - Look left, right, left and check mirrors
3. Count 123 before proceeding into intersection. It creates a space cushion, check mirrors

and if you can't say the word 'smooth' when you're braking then you're braking too hard and should probably slow down.

If you're not doing this before the light turns & ready to go immediately when it does turn, you're wasting others time & fuel particularly when not all cars get thru the light. I can not stand drivers who don't start moving soon after the light turns. So inconsiderate. You don't have to have a jack rabbit start that risks what you're worried about, but you do need to concentrate & be ready to go.

 

[gerntz]

As a corollary, if I'm coming up on a red light, I try to look at the perpendicular lights to see if it's still green (i.e., my light isn't turning green any time soon, so get off the gas an onto the brake), or if it's already turned yellow (i.e., my light will turn green soon, so don't waste as much energy on the brakes just yet - traffic should be moving by the time I get to the intersection). It's helped smooth out my driving, which I like to think translates into better fuel efficiency, and less brake wear.

I think there should be yellow lights in both directions with the direction waiting for green delayed a second or two.

 

[gerntz]

As long as you can ignore the horns or drivers swerving around you!

If there's a red light ahead, who cares if they honk? And I do have a middle finger available. And if they go around me to get to the red light faster, it's their waste, not mine.

 

[SteveNU]

What's manual got to do with it?

I think Nemo2 is referring to the ability to downshift instead of braking. By using the engine to do the braking the brakes didn't get applied until you are almost stopped so they didn't wear much. With my manual transmission vehicle my front brakes lasted for 230k miles! I had to do the rears at 125k only due to a stuck caliper. I drove a lot of highway miles and used the engine to do the braking as much as possible.

 

[gerntz]

I think Nemo2 is referring to the ability to downshift instead of braking. By using the engine to do the braking the brakes didn't get applied until you are almost stopped so they didn't wear much. With my manual transmission vehicle my front brakes lasted for 230k miles! I had to do the rears at 125k only due to a stuck caliper. I drove a lot of highway miles and used the engine to do the braking as much as possible.

OK, but revving up the engine consumes more fuel.

 

[Alan]

OK, but revving up the engine consumes more fuel.

Yes you burn fuel at a rate determined by the RPM of the engine. However, if the engine is using no energy to move the car forward, e.g. you are going down a steep hill in a low gear and your foot is not on the accelerator, you actually use NO fuel at all, since ALL the energy used to turn the engine is being converted from kinetic energy from the wheels, this is called engine braking.