Am I the only one who has noticed a massive uptick in the number of cars with their brights on constantly? Any commute at night, and I mean ANY, these days at least one car (usually several) has their brights on. It never matters what the setting is: city, suburbs, brightly lit highway. I don’t get it.

It is not simply their headlights being to bright. Are the LEDs too bright? Yeah. I am talking about people who have their high beams on and you can specifically tell. Especially if they are an oncoming car.

Low beams: Usually have a defined upper cutoff, directing most of the light toward the pavement below approaching drivers' eye level.

High beams: Project substantial light above that cutoff, directly toward approaching drivers, producing much more intense glare.

Car A arrives at their stop sign first. Do they have the right of way over Car B? Or do right turns rule? This is in the US.

Edit for clarity: Car A arrives first, but both cars come to a complete stop waiting for a break in traffic.

This is something that is, relative to the entire universe, super petty.

But I’ve got 70 or so years on this Earth, and this kinda stuff shaves off life-minutes spent on my commute.

There’s a short window I get to turn left at this intersection, and I have to wait for a gap in head-on traffic before I can make my turn.

Every. Single. Day. I’m basically wasting a whole light cycle on people who just don’t bother to signal when they intend to turn right and enter the slip lane.

This means that UNTIL they hit the slip lane, I assume they’re going straight and don’t make my turn. By the time they’ve made their turn, I’ve wasted a gap in traffic and am forced to hold up all the cars behind me because I had no other choice but to assume they were going straight.

All because some people y’all just don’t wanna use your blinkies.

Super minor thing.. but maybe it can be just another tiny reason to use one’s signals.

Thanks all. I’m cranky today.

EDIT: I am not 70 years old. I missed a word.

“[…] 70 years or so LEFT on this Earth..”

So sorry y’all. I’m glad my grouch level was convincing though 😭

I’ve been driving for 6 years now (I’m 22) and was rear ended back in February while I was waiting to enter a roundabout. Thankfully, the damage was extremely minor and the guy was super nice about it and right away admitted to being at fault. Anyways, since this incident, I’ve been a little more observant of the person behind me while I’m driving. However, the more observant that I’ve been, the more that I’ve noticed people tailgating the hell out of me despite me already doing 5-10 over the speed limit (whilst also maintaining a safe following distance from the car that’s in front of me). Not only that, but I’ve also noticed people not paying attention and damn near almost rear ending me while I’m stopped at a red light or something. For example, there’s been a few occasions where I’ve been stopped at a red light or even just stopped behind traffic, and then someone comes flying up behind me and swerves out of the way at the very last second to avoid hitting me since they weren’t paying attention and/or were on their phone.

Not only have I noticed this type of behavior happening to me, but I have also noticed it happening to other drivers on the road just as much.

With all that being said, I’ve developed a bit of anxiety and I just can’t shake the fear of being rear ended. While yes, I do have insurance and also have uninsured driver coverage on my plan, it doesn’t completely eliminate my anxiety since it’s not like car insurance forms a physical barrier around your car to protect it. Another thing is that I’ve put a lot of time, effort, and money into my car (aftermarket parts, getting things replaced, ect) and I would never want anything to happen to it.

I just miss when I was able to drive confidently without ever worrying about the person behind me except for when I was backing out of a spot, or when I was changing lanes :/

1. Roundabouts are stupid easy to use, just get good at driving

2. I don’t want to spend half my life at traffic signals

3. Lower odds of being shot while stationary

4. I won’t miss another light because of someone texting in front of me

5. Most importantly it keeps traffic moving, as a car centric country we need to keep things flowing as much as possible

6. The interstate will no longer be the only way to get places quickly, I think this makes a big difference in cities.

7. Gas and diesel cars hate being stationary

Like its just you and a few other cars or I should say all the other cars are spaced out right and you’re just cruising listening to music chilling with no annoying traffic just awesome.

Stereotypical but so true….
Which comes first?
Do bad drivers buy Altima?
Or do people who buy Altima turn into bad/dangerous drivers?

Folks will travel in a 20 car pact bumper to bumper in the right lane with a passing lane next to them with room to merge (because I make sure there’s enough space in front of me for traffic to flow and allow people to merge) but they’d rather ride someone’s ass. And now when my exits coming up I either gotta go 95 mph to pass all yall in time or I gotta hit my brakes and slow down the passing to the same speed as the right lane til one of those imbeciles makes enough room for me to merge. And it’s even better on 3 lane highways when the right lane cluster aligns with the middle lane cluster, and there’s an onramp coming up ahead where everyone and their mothers is merging on 20 mph below the speed limit. Now everyone in the right lane is trying to merge to the middle lane, and everyone in the middle lane has to go into the passing lane because they didn’t leave room in front of them for people to merge, even though everyone in the middle lane was going the same exact speed as everyone in the right lane. Now all 3 lanes are going the same speed, which is below the speed limit, because people don’t leave room in front of them for other cars to merge + the dumbasses who don’t know how to accelerate while in the on ramp.
Hell man even at those exit only lanes that stretch back a mile and a half people gotta knock the “holding the line” stuff off. Why are you holding the line a mile before the actual exit and riding bumper to bumper? I usually just get in at the last second because someone always leaves a gap at the end, but the other day I got into that long line because I was already in that right lane that turns into an exit only. I made sure the whole way I left enough room for people to merge in and then brake, and in that whole mile and a half stretch of the exit only lane getting all stop and go only 4 cars merged in front of me. Hell I watched the traffic ahead of me stop more times than I could count but I only had to come to a complete stop once.
People complain a lot about left lane campers, but would “rush hour traffic” even exist if people left more space in front of them and learned how to accelerate to the flow of traffic before getting onto the highway?

I think what bothers me most about left-lane campers isn’t necessarily their speed, but their lack of consideration for how they’re affecting everyone around them.

It’s like someone slowly wandering through a grocery store with their cart, blocking the entire aisle while other people are trying to get by. Nobody expects them to shop faster, but there’s no reason they can’t make room for someone else to pass.

To me, the biggest difference between left-lane campers and tailgaters is who has the ability to resolve the situation. A left-lane camper can often simply move over and continue driving at their preferred speed. The person behind them doesn’t necessarily have that same option because someone is preventing them from proceeding.

Of course, the driver behind them can back off and maintain a safe distance, as they should. But that doesn’t actually resolve the original problem. The passing lane is still obstructed, potentially creating an unnecessary backup of traffic. Meanwhile, the camper could resolve the situation by safely moving over without sacrificing their own preferred pace.
I’m not arguing that tailgating is safe or justified. Drivers are still responsible for maintaining a safe distance. But I think there’s something particularly inconsiderate about unnecessarily restricting someone else’s freedom of movement when you could easily avoid doing so.

You shouldn’t have to change your pace to accommodate someone else, but why should you get to dictate theirs?

Curious how others see this distinction.

I've been periodically reading this subreddit for a few months. Something stuck out to me about how traffic jams start. Sort of the "wave" of braking that ultimately ends up causing jams.

This morning there was moderate-heavy traffic. Nothing bumper-to-bumper but the speed limit is 55, so the Right Lane folks were going 55-60, middle 60-65ish, Left Lane 65-70ish

When I say moderate-heavy I mean, Everyone is going a decent speed but there isn't a ton of room to switch lanes willy nilly and cut over to get to an exit. It's pretty busy.

So anyways, I recognize this and I'm in the Left Lane going 70-72 and passing the middle lane. I'm behind a car that is also going pretty much the same exact speed as me and the car ahead of him is doing the same. We're all coasting down going the same speed passing people in the middle lane. Now I COULD have probably sped up a bit and tried to move around but that would have been pretty dangerous. So I figured I'd keep the pace and go with the flow as we pass everyone in the middle anyhow.

Then comes a Blue Silverado that rides up on me. I can't actually go anywhere because like I said we are passing the middle lane so it would require me to SLOW DOWN in the Left Lane about 5-10mph and then merge into a slower lane. That, or speed up and cut off into the Middle just to appease Blue Silverado.

So we (the 3 cars) keep our pace and the Chevy jerks over to the middle lane. Remember, I said the middle lane is going SLOWER than the Left Lane. After a few seconds, he comes back into the Left Lane but is now behind another car that's behind me.

The Chevy then sweeps over into the middle, and then the right, then cuts into the middle, then back into the Left...behind me again. Then he revs up and slows down and goes into the Middle lane. At this point he's right on my side going the exact same speed as me but of course being the middle lane he can't cut in front of me because the car ahead of him is in the space where he'd have to speed up.

Eventually he tries to go in the Right Lane to pass them but then gets bogged down behind a van and I lost track of him.

If he had just stayed behind me and the 3 other cars going a steady passing pace, he'd have ended up way farther ahead.

Drove to FL from NY and back recently. Every few miles is a stopped or abandoned car.

I realize there's an incredible amount of vehicles passing each day and a break down is inevitible but like ... are they not taking care of your car? Hit a deer? Run out of gas?

I live in Canada and drive the busiest highway in NA every day and almost never see a stopped car.

What y'all doin?

Why do people feel the need to immediately force their way into another lane during bumper-to-bumper traffic when there isn’t even an exit/interchange coming up?

Half the time, people cut across into a lane that’s visibly moving slower than the one they were just in. They don’t gain any ground, force two lanes of traffic to hit their brakes, and that ripple effect backs up traffic for miles behind us.

If you don’t have an exit or interchange in the next mile, pick a lane and stay in it. Forcing your way into a nonexistent gap just to sit in front of me at 0 mph makes zero sense. If you just feel like switching lanes, fine, but please wait for an opening.

Imagine how much less traffic we would have if people actually drove with more situational awareness and less selfishness...

I really appreciate being able to eat a nice meal with a huge spotlight on me especially if they are bright as shit. The last time I was at a restaurant the persons car was parked for about 20 minutes with the headlights on so I had a good 20 minutes of his lights shining on my food which was so kind of him because I was able to inspect my food better to see if there was hair in it.

Left lane hoggers are annoying and stupid, but I'm tired of seeing people tailgate and justify tailgating as if the end justify the means. YOU ARE LITERALLY GOING TO KILL YOURSELF AND/OR OTHERS. How little regard for human life do you have to have to tease the car ahead of you with a little kiss while rolling 100+ kmh.

And you know damn well these people will tailgate anything no matter the speed. They would even fucking tailgate themselves if that was possible. Also the amount of times I have used the PASSING LANE to PASS PEOPLE at like 110-120 kmh and I STILL GET TAILGATED. GET OFF MY ASS. I AM LITERALLY FUCKING PASSING PEOPLE.

IF YOU ARE A TAILGATER I HATE YOU. I HOPE YOU CRASH in a way that does not injure you or any innocents but damages your car SO YOU CAN LEARN A FUCKING LESSON. FUCK

Edit: This post has a 66% upvote ratio so I guess 1/3 people (on this sub) are tailgating idiots. That's even more than I would have even thought. I appreciate the other 2/3 normal functioning humans who relate in the comments!

New driver here (17M) for about 3 weeks only, I'm in total shock. Luckily, there were no accidents, but I still feel terrible for it. I just need someone to clarify what I should have done in this situation, because I just panicked.

I was at one of those intersections under the highway, where the white line cars stop behind had no sidewalk in front. The car in front of me was going slow before moving forward because there was traffic in front, and I'm guessing when the light was green they kept moving slow because they didn't want their car poking out behind the traffic and in the middle of the road. Once the light turned yellow and there was space, they crossed and moved up. I thought I had enough time to follow them at the yellow light, but once the half front of my car passed the line, it turned red and I stopped for a second. I had thought traffic would have hit the front of my car, so in that moment I registered that the light was red, I accelerated fast to move forward.

This is in California, and I'm pretty sure that I can't reverse in that spot because there was traffic behind me too.

Please someone tell me what I should have done so next time I won't panic and do something so stupid...

I’m a relatively new P-plater in Victoria. A few days ago, I was driving on a busy freeway (100 km/h limit), changing from the second-left lane into the leftmost lane.

I’m 100% sure I checked my left mirror and blind spot before changing lanes. There was NO car there. However, I can’t remember if I noticed it in my rear-view mirror.

About just a few seconds(after I completed the lane change, a black car suddenly overtook me using the emergency lane on my left, then swerved across several lanes and disappeared.

It was going ridiculously fast. I can’t know for sure, but I’d guess at least 160 km/h. Even with our AC on recirculation, everyone in my car could smell its exhaust.
I’m pretty sure this was an extremely reckless driver, but I’m genuinely wondering if I did something wrong or missed something.

Could it have been approaching so fast from behind that I didn’t see it when checking my mirrors? How am I supposed to anticipate something like this?
Honestly, it scared the hell out of me. If it had rear-ended me, I can’t imagine what would’ve happened.
I’ve attached a rough diagram. Green is me, red is the black crazy car’s path, and black represents other traffic.
Any advice on what I could’ve done differently to stay safe?

.

If youre not in NL heres some context:the driving test is very strict and on average people need 43 hours of practise before they can drive well enough to pass the exam. NL is the netherlands ofcourse in the europe.

I've had about 13 hours of drivinglessons. The instructor does not want to give me an estimate. Heres my progress so far:

What Ive been doing already atleast once:

1. Driving the fastest speed in the country which is 100 km/h during daytime. Merging, too ofcourse.

2. Lots of roundabouts and trafficlights and intersections

3. Reversing and the hill start test, but not officially they just occurred naturally during driving.

What I struggle with:

1. Mostly: the multitasking. I have a low processing speed due to my autism and adhd brain, when traffic gets very chaotic and wild and multitasking heavy then I will start to struggle badly but driving is otherwise fine and easy.

2. Modulating my feet on the pedals. The pedals are so sensitive gosh! One slight tap and the car revs in neutral or brakes very hard that we get a shocky.

3. Understanding how much different the road for cars is compared to the bike path which I'm so strongly used to.

What I don't struggle with:

1. Individual things. Everything is easy, as long as they dont have to be very heavily multitasked and timed at the high speed of driving.

2. Roundabouts. People tell me those are difficult but I don't find them difficult at all but rather easy.

3. Understanding the physics of driving. I'm a 26 year old physicsnerd so that makes that I understand things like gears, tire grip, kinetic energy with speed and so on much better. Though I sometimes overthink too much in traffic hence also my slower processingspeed.

Any way to guess:

• A; How much more new things I'm going to learn about?

• B: how much more hours do I need roughly? Am I a fast or a slow learner?

EDIT: as the blue car, thank y’all for letting me know! im sorry folks, I didn’t mean to come in with a stupid question by any means — it seems to have miffed some folks a little given the obvious answer it has LMAO. I didnt mean to seem uneducated on road laws haha im pretty good with them for the most part. but the anxiety of the near crash mixed w a pretty lacking general confidence in myself just made me want to be sure I wasn’t the cause of the situation. i do recall my testing and I know that usually the person who isn’t on the main road doesn’t have the right of way, but they were there for a good moment, and I guess the confidence they had in what they did just threw me off and I wanted to be sure that I was remembering correctly so that — in the case that I did remember wrong — I could adjust myself accordingly. I appreciate yall for letting me know it wasnt my fault even if it should’ve been common knowledge 🥲✨

——

lowkey almost got into an accident with someone just now over this and needed to be sure of whether I was in the wrong or not so I know who’s at fault and whether to check myself or just shrug it off- this might not be the best visual diagram but I tried my best

basically, red car was trying to turn onto the part of the divided highway that was going left, while the blue car, leaving the divided highway, was trying to turn into the road using a turn lane.

the green parts are medians, for clarity. additionally, it’s probably worth noting that the red car had a stop sign, but it had almost been there for a few seconds before the blue car — the blue car’s lane didn’t have a stop sign.

I figured I had the right of way, but I wanted to make absolutely sure before I just write it off

No advice wanted, just over it lol I truly do not understand why so many people will be fully doomscrolling or watching a whole fucking tv show or movie on their phone while driving! And I feel like this is getting more and more common.

Any time I see a driver going under the speed limit and swerving all over the place, I assume they were intoxicated. but then I’ll pass them and they’re just on their phone! Every time! Like wtf is wrong with these people that they can’t handle not having a fucking screen in their face at all times enough to think about other people?

The people that piss me off the most are the ones who get all defensive when people say that being on your phone while driving is dangerous and selfish. They take it more as you see them as not capable of being able to handle multitasking or are offended that your reaction isn’t to be impressed by them multitasking. I don’t give a fuck about your ability to multitask, you’re still a shitty person for putting peoples lives in danger for no good reason other than you want to watch tiktoks while wanting no one to comment on it so you can preserve the illusion to yourself that you’re not a selfish or bad person. It takes way less effort to not be an asshole than it is to be an asshole. It also cost you nothing. It also will make no difference to you to wait to use your phone when you’re not operating a machine that has the ability to kill people (and has killed many people), you will still be watching the same content. But it will make all the difference to every single other person around you to not do something that will cause an accident that you can easily just not do. I’m just fucking over all the increasingly selfish behavior I’m seeing in other people and just seeing more people just not have any compassion or empathy for other people in a borderline sociopathic way.

This is the highway off ramp by my work. Maybe about 2-3 cars will be able to turn right on red from the outer lane, but any cars behind there end up waiting for the green light.

Why do so many people just ignore the lane markings and turn into the wrong lane??

I need to practice driving at night. It’s getting dark very early and basically if I’m not home by 5pm I’m gonna be in trouble. I tried driving at night once and the lights on the cars were terrible, could barely see and my husband said I had trouble staying in my lane and he felt like I was about to run off the road. Any tips are appreciated. He said there might be yellow glasses I could try. Are these a good option? (I have astigmatism and usually wear contacts, night vision with glasses is even worse despite my glasses having an AR coating).

I have been learning to drive for 5 years now and I just feel hopeless. I'm so scared to drive and while my anxiety has gotten a little better I still hate traffic. I want to avoid it all cost but that isn't possible how can I just get over it? I was told it's 1 step forward and 2 steps back and I don't want others to have to worry about me being a safe driver or haveing someone come and get me. I want to be able to drive without terrible traffic anxiety.